The Story of the Great War, Volume III (of 12): The War Begins, Invasion of Belgium, Battle of the Marne
History
The Story of the Great War, Volume III (of 12): The War Begins, Invasion of Belgium, Battle of the Marne
World War, 1914-1918
As dawn broke on August 16, 1914, they perceived a strong Austrian
column descending from above, coming in the same direction.
Unfortunately the Serbians were in the midst of bald, rolling foothills,
while the Austrians were up among the tall timber which clothes the
mountain slopes at this point. The Serbians deployed, extending
their line from Bornololye through Parlok to Lisena, centering their
artillery at Kik. The Austrians made the best of their superior
position.
For some hours there was furious firing, then, at about eight o'clock
the Austrian gunners got the range of the Serbian left flank with
their field pieces, which was compelled to fall back. But just
then timely reenforcements arrived from the rear, and the Serbians
dug themselves in. By evening the Serbians had lost over a thousand
men, though they had succeeded in taking 300 prisoners and several
machine guns from the Austrians.
The left wing of the Second Army had, in the meantime, arrived
against Iverak. That this division was able to arrive at such a
timely juncture was due to its having made a forced march of fifty-two
miles over the mountain roads during the previous day. Yet before
dawn on the morning of August 16,1914, it was ready to continue
its march to Poporparlok. But then came the news that the Austrians
had driven back the left wing of the Third Army from that position
and had occupied it.
The situation in which this division found itself was by no means
clear. Nothing had been heard from Shabatz. The division operating
along the Tzer ridges had been badly hammered. The Third Army had
lost Poporparlok. The commander decided to stay where he was and
simply hold the ground against any advance of the enemy from Iverak.
This division was, therefore, intrenched along a line from Begluk
to Kik, and a strong advance was thrown out toward Kugovitchi.
During the morning this advance guard made a strong attack against
Kugovitchi, drove the Austrians out, and established themselves
there.
At dawn, August 16, 1914, the left flank of this division, at Begluk,
was shelled by the Austrian artillery, which was followed by infantry
attacks. These were easily repulsed during the day. But then the
enemy was reenforced, and late that night they came on again in great
masses. The Serbians allowed them to almost reach their trenches:
then, emptying the magazines of their rifles at them, they piled
themselves over their breastworks and into them with bayonets and
hand bombs. This was too much for the Austrians; they fled in wild
disorder.
Least encouraging was the experience of the Serbian Third Army,
which was defending the territory south of the Iverak Mountains.
Here the Austrians developed a vigorous and persistent offensive,
hoping to turn the Serbian left and thus capture the road to Valievo.
Public-domain text, read in full here on John Shaqi.
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