Battle of Cer
Battle of Cer | |||||||
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Part of the First World War | |||||||
A map depicting the initial Austro-Hungarian invasion of Serbia, August 1914. | |||||||
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Belligerents | |||||||
Austria-Hungary | Serbia | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Units involved | |||||||
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Strength | |||||||
200,000 | 180,000 | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
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The Battle of Cer
The battle, part of the first Austro-Hungarian invasion of Serbia, began on the night of 15 August when elements of the Serbian 1st Combined Division encountered Austro-Hungarian outposts that had been established on the slopes of Cer Mountain earlier in the invasion. The clashes that followed escalated into a battle for control over several towns and villages near the mountain, especially Šabac. On 19 August, the morale of the Austro-Hungarians collapsed and thousands of soldiers retreated into Austria-Hungary with many of them drowning in the Drina River as they fled in panic. On 24 August the Serbs re-entered Šabac, marking the end of the battle.
Serbian casualties after nearly ten days of fighting were 3,000–5,000 killed and 15,000 wounded. Those of the Austro-Hungarians were significantly higher, with 6,000–10,000 soldiers killed, 30,000 wounded and 4,500 taken as
Background
Relations between
With Bosnia-Herzegovina firmly in Austro-Hungarian hands, Serbia and several other Balkan states turned to force the
Fighting in
Austro-Hungarian forces assigned to the invasion were placed under the command of General
Battle
Prelude
From 29 July to 11 August, the Austro-Hungarian army launched a series of artillery attacks in northern and northwestern Serbia and subsequently managed to exploit the bombardments by constructing a system of pontoon bridges across the Sava and Drina rivers.[20] The Serbians knew that it was impossible for their forces to line the Austro–Serbian border, which extended 340 miles (550 km). Putnik thereby re-ordered the Serbian army to fall back on a traditional line of defence as he grouped the bulk of his forces in Šumadija, from where they could rapidly move either north or west. Strong detachments were posted in the towns of Valjevo and Užice, and outposts were stationed at every important point on the frontier. At this stage, all the Serbian General Staff could do was wait until the Austro-Hungarian invasion plan materialized.[25]
Belgrade,
Combat
"The forward battalion had advanced during the night towards the Trojan peak, and when we made it to Parlog the shower began, followed by volcanic thunder and sheet lightning. Water was drenching us from all sides ... Suddenly another soldier, out of breath and excited, screamed:
"Major, sir, theKrauts!"
That's how the night-time clash between our Combined Division and the enemy's 21st Landwehr Division started and with it the battle of Cer Mountain."
Captain Ješa Topalović, of the Serbian army, recounting how his division encountered Austro-Hungarian forces on the slopes of Cer Mountain.[3]
Around 23:00 on 15 August, elements of the Serbian 1st Combined Division encountered outposts set up by the invading Austro-Hungarian army on the slopes of Cer Mountain and fighting erupted. The Austro-Hungarian positions were lightly held, and their defenders were driven back away from the mountain. By midnight, fierce clashes between the Austro-Hungarians and the Serbs were underway and chaos ensued in the darkness. By the morning of 16 August, the Serbians had seized the Divača Range and dislodged the Austro-Hungarians from their positions in the village of Borino Selo.[28] The Austro-Hungarians, who had suffered heavy casualties during the fighting, retreated in some disorder. As the day progressed, the Serbs drove the 21st Infantry Division off the slopes of Cer to prevent it from linking with the 2nd Army in Šabac.[29]
On 17 August, the Serbs attempted to retake Šabac, but their efforts failed. The 1st Combined Division attacked the villages of Trojan and Parlog before moving on toward the small town of Kosanin Grad. Elsewhere, the Austro-Hungarians succeeded in repulsing the Serbian 3rd Army, forcing it to manoeuvre one of its divisions to protect the approach to the town of Valjevo, which was threatened by the 42nd Mountain Division.[29]
In the early morning of 18 August, the Austro-Hungarians launched another attack, with the intention of pushing the 1st Šumadija Division off the Šabac bridgehead to allow the 5th Army to advance. However, the attack failed as the Serbs defeated the Austro-Hungarians at the Dobrava River, forcing their surviving soldiers to withdraw.[5] Elsewhere, the Serbian 2nd Army's counter-offensive continued along the Cer and Iverak, with the 1st Combined Division attacking the village of Rašulijača and coming under severe pressure at Kosanin Grad. The first Serbian assault was fought off, but a wave of further attacks followed throughout the night. In the early morning of 19 August, the Serbs finally defeated the Austro-Hungarians and seized the small town. The 1st Morava Division drove the 9th Infantry Division from its position and fought off the division's subsequent counterattack, inflicting heavy losses. The 4th Corps renewed its attack against the Šumadija Division, forcing the Serbs to withdraw having only sustained light casualties. Because the 4th Corps did not break the Serbs, the Austro-Hungarian division was unable to alter the direction of its advance towards Cer Mountain, since doing so would have put the Šumadija Division in a position to attack the 4th Corps from the rear. As a result, the 4th Corps was unable to join other Austro-Hungarian forces fighting at Cer.[5]
The Serbs retook Rašulijača at noon, and the 1st Combined Division exploited this to advance towards Lešnica. Meanwhile, the 1st Morava Division attacked Iverak and managed to drive the Austro-Hungarians back. The village of Velika Glava fell to the Serbs before midday, and by late afternoon, the Rajin Grob ridge had been retaken. At around this time, the Austro-Hungarians began retreating with increasing rapidity, their will and cohesion apparently shattered. The 3rd Army had similar success, routing the 36th Infantry Division and forcing it to retreat in considerable disorder. The Serbs then moved to pursue the fleeing Austro-Hungarians all along the front. By 20 August, Austro-Hungarian forces were fleeing across the Drina River, still being pursued by the Serbs back into Bosnia, with the entire 5th Army being forced across the Austro-Hungarian side of the river.[5] Many Austro-Hungarian soldiers drowned in the water as they fled in panic.[3] Serbian military reports announced that "the enemy is withdrawing in the greatest disorder." Putnik then notified King Peter in a telegram, saying "The main enemy has been defeated in Jadar and on Mount Cer, and our troops are in hot pursuit."[2] Upon their triumph at Cer Mountain, the Serbs sought to recapture the heavily fortified town of Šabac. Violent clashes occurred on 21 and 22 August, during which Serb forces fought their way to the western approaches of the town. By 23 August, the Serbs had encircled the town and that evening they brought up their siege artillery. On 24 August, Serbian forces entered Šabac and discovered that the Austro-Hungarians had decamped the previous night.[30] By 16:00, the Serbs reached the banks of the Sava River, bringing the first Austro-Hungarian invasion of Serbia to an end.[30]
Casualties
Both sides suffered heavy casualties in the battles.
Estimates of the number of Serbian casualties also vary. Horne[30] and Jordan[5] both agree that approximately 3,000 Serbian soldiers were killed and 15,000 were wounded in the battle. Glenny counters that 3,000–5,000 Serb soldiers were killed in the battle.[31] Nevertheless, the number of fatalities suffered by both sides heralded the massive cost in human lives of the First World War. French journalist Henry Barby reported:
The area between Cer and the river Jadar where this tremendous battle took place was nothing but mass graves and putrefying flesh ... From the shadow of the woods emerged a stench so foul that it rendered the approach to the summit of Cer impossible. The number of corpses there was so enormous that the Second Army was constrained to abandon their burial due to a lack of time.[32]
Atrocities were committed by both the Austro-Hungarians and Serbs, although, according to author Lawrence Sondhaus, the majority were committed by the Austro-Hungarians. General Pavle Jurišić Šturm recounted:
The Austrian army has committed frightful atrocities in our territories. A group of nineteen (men, women and children) has been found by the Krivajica tavern. They had been roped together and then horribly massacred. Such a group of fifteen people was found in Zavlaka. Small groups of slaughtered and disfigured people, mostly women and children, are to be found throughout the villages. One woman had belts of skin cut off and another had had her breasts cut off ... Another group of twelve women and children has been found who had been tied together and massacred. Peasants say such sights are to be seen everywhere.[37]
Legacy
Although they succeeded in repelling the Austro-Hungarian attack, the Serbs used up much of their ammunition during the battle, needing 6.5 million cartridges and 35,000 shells to prevail.[16] The commander of the Serbian 2nd Army, General Stepa Stepanović, was promoted to the rank of field marshal (Serbian: војвода, vojvoda) for his successful command.[38] In contrast, Austro-Hungarian commander Oskar Potiorek was humiliated in defeat and determined to launch a second invasion of Serbia. In September, he was given permission to launch such an invasion provided that he "not risk anything that might lead to a further fiasco."[39] Defeat at Cer Mountain also affected the morale of the Austro-Hungarian troops.[2] The first aerial dogfight of the war occurred during the battle, when Serbian aviator Miodrag Tomić encountered an Austro-Hungarian plane while performing a reconnaissance mission over enemy positions. The Austro-Hungarian pilot fired at Tomić with his revolver. Tomić managed to escape, and, within several weeks, all Serbian and Austro-Hungarian planes were fitted with machine guns.[31][40]
The battle was the first Allied victory over the Central Powers in the First World War.[4][31][41] Serbia's triumph on the battlefield drew worldwide attention to the country and won the Serbs sympathy from both neutral and Allied countries.[41] A number of foreigners flocked to Serbia in late 1914, offering financial, political, humanitarian and military aid. Articles in defence of Serbia became more frequent in the British press. Certain cultural circles in Italy advocated entering the war on the Allied side, citing Serbian and Montenegrin battlefield successes.[42]
The Serbian patriotic song March on the Drina was written by Serbian composer Stanislav Binički shortly after the battle to commemorate the victory. Binički dedicated the march to his favourite commander in the army, Colonel Milivoje Stojanović, who was killed during the fighting.[43] A Yugoslav war film also titled March on the Drina was released in 1964 and is loosely based on the battle.[44]
See also
Footnotes
- ^ This range takes into account that the first clashes between Serb and Austro-Hungarian forces over Cer Mountain occurred on 15 August and that the first Austro-Hungarian invasion of Serbia ended on 24 August. Sources present a differing range of dates during which the battle was fought. All historians and analysts agree that the first Austro-Hungarian invasion of Serbia began on 12 August. Neiberg indicates that the battle of Cer was fought from 16–23 August.[1] Mitrović contends that it was fought from 15–20 August,[2] while Glenny reports that the battle began on 15 August and lasted for three days before Austro-Hungarian lines collapsed.[3]
- ^ Serbian: Церска битка, Cerska bitka; German: Schlacht von Cer; Hungarian: Ceri csata. Also known as the Battle of the Jadar River[6][7] (Јадарска битка, Jadarska bitka; Schlacht von Jadar; Jadar csata).
References
- ^ Neiberg 2006, p. 55.
- ^ a b c Mitrović 2007, p. 69.
- ^ a b c d Glenny 2012, p. 315.
- ^ a b Pavlowitch 2002, p. 94.
- ^ a b c d e f Jordan 2008, p. 28.
- ^ Tucker & Roberts 2005, pp. 604–605.
- ^ a b Hickey 2002, p. 38.
- ^ Mulligan 2010, p. 64.
- ^ Fischer 2011, p. 8.
- ^ a b Bideleux & Jeffries 2007, p. 236.
- ^ a b Strachan 2001, p. 335.
- ^ Jordan 2008, p. 16.
- ^ Pavlowitch 2002, p. 93.
- ^ Jordan 2008, p. 17.
- ^ Palmer 2010, p. 93.
- ^ a b c Stevenson 2004, p. 60.
- ^ a b Jordan 2008, p. 20.
- ^ a b Stevenson 2004, p. 59.
- ^ Tucker & Roberts 2005, p. 605.
- ^ a b c Glenny 2012, p. 314.
- ^ Neiberg 2006, p. 54.
- ^ Griffiths 2003, p. 57.
- ^ Hall 2010, p. 28.
- ^ Jordan 2008, p. 21.
- ^ Horne 2005, pp. 4–5.
- ^ a b Horne 2005, p. 5.
- ^ Thomas 2001, p. 4.
- ^ Jordan 2008, p. 26.
- ^ a b Jordan 2008, p. 27.
- ^ a b c d Horne 2005, p. 7.
- ^ a b c d e f g Glenny 2012, p. 316.
- ^ Glenny 2012, pp. 315–316.
- ^ Sondhaus 2011, p. 81.
- ^ Horne & Kramer 2001, p. 79.
- ^ Sondhaus 2011, p. 82.
- ^ Mitrović 2007, pp. 73–74.
- ^ Mitrović 2007, p. 73.
- ^ Radan & Pavković 1997, p. 126.
- ^ Jordan 2008, p. 29.
- ^ Buttar 2014, p. 298.
- ^ a b Mitrović 2007, p. 104.
- ^ Mitrović 2007, p. 105.
- ^ Glas Javnosti & 3 March 2003.
- ^ B92 & 28 June 2011.
Sources
Books
- Bideleux, Robert; Jeffries, Ian (2007). The Balkans: A Post-Communist History. London: Routledge. ISBN 978-0-203-96911-3.
- Buttar, Prit (2014). Collision of Empires: The War on the Eastern Front in 1914. Oxford: Osprey Publishing. ]
- ISBN 978-1405142915.
- Cox, John K. (2002). The History of Serbia. Westport, Connecticut: Greenwood Press. ISBN 978-0313312908.
- Dragnich, Alex N. (2004). Serbia Through the Ages. Boulder: East European Monographs. ISBN 978-0-88033-541-6.
- Fischer, Conan (2011). Europe between Democracy and Dictatorship: 1900–1945. New York City: John Wiley & Sons. ISBN 978-0-631-21511-0.
- ISBN 978-1-77089-273-6.
- Griffiths, William R. (2003). The Great War. Garden City Park, New York: Square One Publishers. ISBN 978-0-7570-0158-1.
- Gumz, Jonathan E. (2009). The Resurrection and Collapse of Empire in Habsburg Serbia, 1914–1918. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0521896276.
- Hall, Richard Cooper (2010). Balkan Breakthrough: The Battle of Dobro Pole 1918. Bloomington: Indiana University Press. ISBN 978-0-253-00411-6.
- Hickey, Michael (2002). The First World War: The Mediterranean Front 1914–1923. Oxford: Osprey Publishing. ISBN 978-1-84176-373-6.
- Horne, John; Kramer, Alan (2001). German Atrocities, 1914: A History of Denial. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-10791-3.
- Horne, Charles F. (2005). The Great Events of the Great War: Part Two. Whitefish, Montana: Kessinger Publishing. ISBN 978-1-4191-3369-5.
- Jordan, David (2008). The Balkans, Italy & Africa 1914–1918: From Sarajevo to the Piave and Lake Tanganyika. London: Amber Books. ISBN 978-1-906626-14-3.
- Lyon, James B. (2015). Serbia and the Balkan Front, 1914: The Outbreak of the Great War. London: Bloomsbury. ISBN 978-1472580054.
- ISBN 978-1-55753-477-4.
- Mulligan, William (2010). The Origins of the First World War. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-88633-8.
- ISBN 978-0-674-04139-4.
- Palmer, Michael A. (2010). The German Wars: A Concise History, 1859–1945. Minneapolis, Minnesota: Zenith Imprint. ISBN 978-1-61673-985-0.
- ISBN 978-1850654773.
- Radan, Peter; Pavković, Aleksandar (1997). The Serbs and Their Leaders in the Twentieth Century. Farnham, England: Ashgate. ISBN 978-1-85521-891-8.
- Sondhaus, Lawrence (2011). World War One: The Global Revolution. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press. ISBN 978-0-521-51648-8.
- Stevenson, David (2004). Cataclysm: The First World War as Political Tragedy. New York: Basic Books. ISBN 978-0-7867-3885-4.
- Strachan, Hew (2001). The First World War. Vol. 1. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-820877-8.
- Thomas, Nigel (2001). Armies in the Balkans: 1914–18. Oxford: Osprey Publishing. ]
- Tucker, Spencer C.; Roberts, Priscilla Mary (2005). The Encyclopedia of World War I: A Political, Social, and Military History. Santa Barbara, California: ABC-CLIO. ISBN 978-1-85109-420-2.
Websites
- "Marš na Drinu: Iz blata i kaljuge do prve pobede saveznika u Prvom svetskom ratu". B92 (in Serbian). 28 June 2011.
- "Marš na Drinu: Stanislav Binički komponovao je jedan od najlepših marševa". Glas Javnosti (in Serbian). 3 March 2003.
Further reading
- Pavlowitch, Stevan K. (2001). Serbia: The History Behind the Name. London: C. Hurst & Company. ISBN 978-1-85065-477-3.