Many of these shells were fired from the Austrian batteries stationed over near Semlin, but presently there also appeared a fleet of river monitors, so heavily armored that no Serbian shell could pierce their sides. These would parade up and down the river channel with impunity, adding their share to the general destruction.
Finally, in the beginning of November, 1914, there arrived in Belgrade two big 14-centimeter cannon, sent by the French Government by way of the Adriatic, together with French gunners and 20,000 rounds of ammunition. These were put into position above the city and on November 8, 1914, the French gunners sent their first message over into Hungary. The damage inflicted so impressed the monitors that they did not again venture into range. Moreover, spies, of whom there were probably a number in Belgrade, had doubtless notified the Austrians that measures, were now being taken to mine the river effectively. In fact, many measures for a more effective offensive were being undertaken when the trend of operations in the interior forced the Serbian General Staff to order the evacuation of the capital.
It will be remembered that the Serbians had been beaten back from their main line of defense and that a rearrangement of the Serbian forces had thereby become necessary, in order that the line might be shortened.
This included the abandonment of Belgrade on November 29, 1914. The order was carried out during the night. But before retiring, the French gunners, who saw that they were going to lose their two big guns, determined to bid the enemy across the river a hearty good-by. In the early morning they fired off their stock of 240 rounds of ammunition and in a little more than half an hour deposited some twelve tons of melinite on the enemy's forts at Bezania, with such terrifying effect that the garrison abandoned it. Thus it came to pass that the two strongholds, having snarled and barked at each other across the dividing waters for nearly five months, were both evacuated at the same time.
As will be remembered, the right wing of the Serbian lines, now joined by the garrison of Belgrade, swung back and stretched across the Belgrade-Nish railroad, along the ridges of Varoonitza in the east and Kosmai in the west. The Austrian left, composed of two army corps, immediately covered the ceded territory and, of course, entered Belgrade. Then followed the strong Serbian counterattack against the Austrian center along the Suvobor ridges and the complete demoralization of the Austrian forces from the center south.
The northern wing of the Austrians, however, which held the country around Belgrade succeeded in holding its own, though it was presently cut off from the rest of the Austrian forces. But this was all according to the plans of General Putnik. Being much outnumbered he could not spare the forces necessary to rout the enemy's strong northern force. Having broken the center of Potiorek's front, the Serbian commander gave his chief attention to capturing the Austrian southern wing, operating in the Western Morava Valley.
On December 8 and 9, 1914, the Serbian right wing had been hard pressed along the line from Kosmai to Varoonitza, but the completeness of the Austrian defeat in the other theatres enabled General Putnik to rearrange his troops. He therefore dispatched the left wing of the Third Army against Obrenovatz, attached the rest of the Third Army and the cavalry division to the Second Army and placed this new combination of forces, together with the garrison of Belgrade, under the command of Voivode Stepanovitch, he who had made so brilliant a record at the first battle on the Tzer ridges.
CHAPTER LVIII
ATTEMPTS TO RETAKE BELGRADE
On December 10, 1914, General Stepanovitch immediately began a movement against Belgrade which had now been in the hands of the Austrians since the first of the month. At this time the Third Army was pressing on toward Obrenovatz, the cavalry division held the left bank of the Beljanitza River, the Second Army was holding a line from Volujak to Neminikuchir, the Belgrade detachment still maintained the ridges along Kosmai and Varoonitza and a detachment, which had come up from Semendria, occupied Pudarchi. The troops thus formed a crescent, with one horn touching the Save and the other the Danube, Belgrade being the star in the middle.
The Austrian main positions stretched from Obrenovatz up the right bank of the Kolubara to Konatitche and then across to Grooka through Boran, Vlashko and Krajkova Bara.
There now followed what was probably the most stubborn fighting of the third invasion: either the Austrian soldiers composing this northern army were better material, or the Austrian commanders were especially animated with the necessity of holding Belgrade.
On the morning of December 11, 1914, the Serbian advance began. As possession of the railroad was of first importance, the center pushed rapidly ahead until it reached Vlashko heights. Again and again the Serbians charged up the slopes of this eminence, only to be beaten back. But finally, toward evening, the Austrians fell back and the summit was taken, thereby giving the Serbians control of the railroad at Ralia; the terminus of the line, in fact, for a tunnel several miles farther north had been blown up by the Serbians on the day they had evacuated Belgrade.
Early the next day, December 12, 1914, the advance was continued and the left wing of the Third Army reached Obrenovatz and its right occupied a line from Konatitche to Boshdarevatz. The Second Army occupied the summits designated as Hills 418 and 287 and the Belgrade detachment advanced to a front from Koviona to Krajkova Bara.
Thus, with astonishing swiftness, and in spite of the stubborn resistance, the crescent was contracting and the Austrians were being squeezed back into Belgrade. But they continued their desperate resistance, fighting over every foot of ground before surrendering it. By December 13, 1914, the enemy had been routed from all the territory lying between the Save and the Drina, but with such desperation did the Austrians cling to Belgrade that they delivered repeated counterattacks upon the Serbian positions at Koviona and Krajkovo Bara before they finally retired north.
The triumphant Serbians, though they had suffered severely, followed up the retreat vigorously, pressing along the banks of the Topchiderska River on the left and up the main road on the right. The left wing had advanced up the Kolubara River toward its junction with the Save, which was eight miles behind the Austrian front. The enemy had to draw back for fear of being suddenly taken in the rear. Two monitors were sent up the river to check the Serbian cavalry division, which was trying to work its way around the marshes and thus cut off the Austrian force entirely. But this movement of the left wing was merely a feint; it was intended simply to make the Austrian line waver. While the Austrians were maneuvering in answer to this feint, the Serbian center was pushing its advance.
The Austrians had attempted to check the Serbian advance by intrenching heavy rear-guard forces in several strong positions, the nature of the country being especially suited to such tactics. The hills along the road north of Ralia are, indeed, strategic points of immense military value. But the Serbians, their capital now almost in view, pressed on with frantic vigor.
The Austrians fought manfully, giving them one of the best fights they had yet been through. Instead of merely clinging to their hill intrenchments, they made fierce and determined efforts to pierce the Serbian line. It was in one of these counterattacks, near the central height, where the railroad entered a tunnel, that the resistance of the Austrians was broken. After the Serbian riflemen, with their machine guns, had thrown back the enemy, the Serbian artillery caught the retiring masses of blue and gray clad soldiers of the Dual Empire.
This produced a panic in the densely packed retreating column, whereupon the Serbian infantrymen leaped out of their trenches and dashed forward in pursuit, forming two pursuing columns, one on either flank of the fleeing Austrians, like wolves worrying a wounded buffalo. And as these streams of Serbians ran uphill more rapidly