The Story of the Great War, Volume 2: History of the European War from Official Sources
History
The Story of the Great War, Volume 2: History of the European War from Official Sources
World War, 1914-1918
Offsetting these handicaps, however, and more than equalizing them, was
the moral strength of the Serbian fighting units. They had just emerged
through two victorious wars; they had triumphed so completely that there
was small wonder if the Serbian farmers had come to believe themselves
invincible and their leaders infallible. Practically every man in the
Serbian army was a seasoned veteran; he had had not only his baptism of
fire, but he had been through some of the bloodiest battles of modern
times. He had got over his first fright; he was in that state of mind
where danger and bloodshed no longer inspired either fear or horror. And
even the warlike savage trembles on entering his first battle. Finally,
he was now defending his country, his home, his very fireside and his
family against foreign invasion. And it is generally admitted that a man
fighting in that situation is equal to two invaders, all other things
being equal.
The Serb army opposing the Austrian invasions was composed of ten
divisions of the First Ban and five divisions of the Second Ban. Five of
the divisions of the First Ban and the five of the Second came from the
kingdom as it was prior to the two Balkan wars, but the second five
divisions of the First Ban were new creations recruited from Serb
Macedonia.
The principles on which the organization of the Serbian army was based
were very simple. The former kingdom was divided into five territorial
divisional districts--Nish, Valievo, Belgrade, Kragujevatz, and
Zaitchar. Each of these territorial divisional districts was subdivided
into four regimental recruiting districts, each of which provided one
infantry regiment of four battalions and one depot battalion. The
battalion numbered about a thousand men, so that the war strength of the
divisional infantry amounted to, about 16,000 men. Attached to each
division was a regiment of artillery, consisting of three groups of
three 6-gun batteries; in all, 54 guns. The divisional cavalry, existing
only in war time, consisted of a regiment of four squadrons, from men
and horses previously registered. To each division was also attached its
own technical and administrative units, engineers, and supply column,
and its total strength amounted to 23,000 officers and men of first-line
troops.
In addition to these five divisions of the First Ban, there was also a
regiment of mountain artillery, made up of six batteries, six howitzer
batteries and two battalions of fortress artillery. Then there was a
separate cavalry division composed of two brigades, each of two
regiments. Its war strength was 80 officers and 3,200 men. Attached to
the cavalry division were two horse artillery batteries, of eight guns
each. All told, this first-line army numbered about 200,000, with about
5,200 sabers and 330 guns.
[Illustration: Serbian and Austrian Invasions.]
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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