100 years since first Allied victory in WW1

The Battle of Cer memorial (Tanjug, file)

100 years since first Allied victory in WW1

BELGRADE -- The decisive stage of the Battle of Cer, which ended as the first major Allied victory in World War I, took place in the night between August 15 and 16, 1914.

The battle was fought in western Serbia as the troops of the Serbian Kingdom defended against an invasion force of Austria-Hungary, attacking from the territory of what is today Bosnia-Herzegovina.

"The fact that tiny Serbia managed to defeat the Austro-Hungarian troops so comprehensively at Cer despite being at a great disadvantage in every sense was met with shock and disbelief in Vienna and Berlin, as well as with jubilation among the Allies, and Serbia's reputation grew unexpectedly," Tanjug noted in its report.

Greatly exhausted by the Balkan Wars against Turkey and Bulgaria - which it won at the cost of many casualties - Serbia was attacked by Austro-Hungary, which made no secret of its intention to destroy it completely.

The reasoning of top officials in Vienna was that the perfect time has come to wipe weak Serbia off the map in what was expected to be "a small war."

The Austrian Fifth Army began a forced march towards the Drina River in the Loznica area on August 12 as the Austro-Hungarian Second Army marched towards the Sava River in the area between Sremska Mitrovica and Šabac.

Squads of Serbian troops took up the fight on the two rivers, resisting the advance of an overwhelming, incomparably better-equipped Austro-Hungarian force for four days from August 12 to 15.

In the late afternoon of August 14, General Stepa Stepanović, who was in command of the Second Army following the return of Field Marshal Radomir Putnik, received the order to retake Šabac...

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