12 – Serbian Front (1)
Serbian Front (1)
The northwestern part of Serbia, along the Sava River.
On August 12, 1914, while other fronts remained calm, the Serbian front was an exception. Austria had been raining fierce artillery fire since the beginning of the war to retaliate against Serbia, which had become the spark of this war.
The artillery and naval forces relentlessly bombarded Serbian territory across the border, making it impossible to sleep even at night near the front lines. Austria bombarded everything visible along the river for two weeks. Whenever there was a suspected location resembling a military position, shells would rain down without fail.
As a result of the large-scale pre-shelling that took place between July 29 and August 11, most of the Serbian outposts and strongholds established before the war were effectively neutralized.
Believing that the preparations for the invasion were complete, the Austrians set up large pontoon bridges across the Sava and Drina Rivers and began their river crossing. Chief of Staff Conrad von Hötzendorf, aiming for victory before Emperor Franz Joseph’s birthday, pressured the generals to come to the front.
“With Germany’s support, we can concentrate our forces in the Balkans. If we let the Serbian villagers tie our legs, it will be difficult to face Berlin. The Governor-General will also have difficulties, but I hope we can get the surrender of those Serbian bastards before His Majesty’s birthday.”
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General Oscar Potiorek, who was appointed as the commander of the invading army, accepted the Chief of Staff’s demand for a swift victory. He believed that with overwhelming force, they could easily subdue the Serbians.
“We don’t need to spend much time on these Serbian barbarians. It won’t even take a month to avenge these beasts who are far removed from European civilization.”
Potiorek, who was responsible for the safety of the Crown Prince during the Sarajevo incident, held a deep resentment towards the Serbians, who had left an indelible mark on his career. He sincerely despised Serbian nationalism, which sparked the war with dreams that were disproportionate to their national power.
Even before the invasion began, Potiorek expressed his anti-Serbian sentiment through policy. In Sarajevo, where the incident took place, he instigated anti-Serbian riots and massacred the Serbians, and in the rear, he rebuilt the anti-Serbian paramilitary force, the Schutzkorps, to “cleanse” the Serbians in Bosnia.
Potiorek’s “anti-Serbian” attitude was not suitable for a military administrator responsible for managing the occupied territory, but Conrad did not consider it a problem. The animosity and hatred towards Serbia were shared by anyone in the ruling class of the empire.
The infantry divisions, having completed the forced march in an orderly manner, moved as planned. The Serbians could not dare to resist the offensive of the Austrian army, which deployed overwhelming numbers.
The Austrian army advanced into the interior after crossing the Sava River. The resistance of the Serbian army in the front was minimal.
The Austrian army was victorious, but as the front line moved deep into Serbian territory, the situation began to change gradually. Despite the long supply lines and the increasing distance between the headquarters and the front line, Potiorek did not grant discretion to frontline commanders.
Colonel Rosberg, who received orders from the Kaiser and became an observer, was puzzled by this situation.
“The Austrian generals can’t be so ignorant as to not know Moltke’s maxim. Why don’t they give discretion to frontline commanders?”
After observing Potiorek’s headquarters for a long time, Rosberg finally understood the reason.
“He couldn’t give discretion even if he wanted to.”
Unfortunately, it was difficult for the Austrian army, which had as many as nine languages spoken internally, to allow freedom of discretion to subordinate units. If they did so, they would not be able to handle the excessive information that unplanned movements would cause.
“The size of the army has only grown, but it hasn’t changed much from the Boer War.”
Rosberg anticipated that the Austrian army would inevitably fail.
His prediction soon came true.
The Austrian army planned to encircle and annihilate the Serbian main force by crossing the Sava River from both sides, but the Serbians did not fall into the enemy’s trap. As soon as they realized the enemy’s intention to encircle, the Serbian army marched 60 miles in 48 hours, escaping the Austrian encirclement. It was a tactical maneuver that shocked the Austrians, who were crushed by strict control and could not dream of movements beyond the planned operations.
At the point when the attempt to encircle and annihilate the Serbian army failed, the Austrian plan completely collapsed. The Serbians tore apart the excessively stretched flanks of the Austrian army in order to achieve a double-flanked encirclement.
And the moment when Potiorek was moving his headquarters along with the advancing troops, the offensive began.
“For the victory of the Serbian nation!”
The Serbian army’s attack was fierce, even as they marched on, exhausted and collapsing.
The Austrian army, facing a powerful offensive from an unexpected position, couldn’t regain their composure. Officers brought back despairing news every time they entered headquarters.
“The Serbian attack is too overwhelming. Each division and brigade is in disarray, making it difficult to send reinforcements in time.”
“What are the Hungarians doing? It’s been a whole day since the order to intercept!”
The Austrian army hoped for commanding officers to give appropriate orders, but Potiorek’s instructions couldn’t keep up with the speed of the Serbian advance.
“If we crush them with our numbers, they will have no choice but to retreat. Reinforcements! Deploy additional troops!”
Potiorek, though confused, believed that by leveraging the superiority of his forces, he could push back the Serbians. He sent a message to Conrad, requesting additional troops. Conrad, now with the resources thanks to Germany diverting forces to the east, sent a positive reply, but it was clear that the Serbian army’s determination could not be broken.
“It’s just Serbia. A country that is nothing more than a single province of our empire. How can we face Russia if we struggle against these savages! I will give the order again. Even if we pile up mountains of corpses, push them back. This is a fight for the honor of our empire!”
“But, Your Majesty! Continuing the battle without stabilizing the front line will result in significant sacrifices.”
“So you’re suggesting that we retreat in front of the Serbians, who are not even half the strength of our troops? If you have such a weak command posture, immediately remove your rank insignia and stand beside the infantry. You are not qualified to command.”
Potiorek ordered the beleaguered division commanders to send messengers and spread the offensive.
Despite having overwhelming strength in equipment and numbers, the Austrian Imperial Army was ultimately faltering due to its inherent weaknesses. It was now impossible to retreat the troops. Giving the order to withdraw would have clearly exposed weaknesses due to communication issues. With the risk understood, it was difficult to choose the option of retreating and regrouping.
This is why it was important to achieve victory on the Sava River from the beginning, but that had already been lost. The already weak Austro-Hungarian army’s morale was rapidly declining along with the increasing casualties.
In such a situation, no matter how many troops there were, it was useless.
“It seems that Your Majesty’s concern for the Balkan Peninsula was not unfounded.”
Rosberg sympathized with the Kaiser’s concerns anew. He had vaguely thought that there might be problems with the multinational army, but experiencing it on the battlefield was beyond imagination. Could such an army defeat Serbia in a short period of time?
Rosberg sighed at the thought of the report he would send to Berlin.
*
August 12, 1914. Berlin, German Empire, Brandenburg Gate.
Soldiers of the Imperial Guard Corps, wearing Pickelhaubes, marched in goose-step as they passed in front of the reviewing stand one by one.
Soldiers moved mechanically, lifting their feet at a 50-degree angle with expressionless faces, resembling toy soldiers in a nutcracker set.
Beside me, Colonel Karl Freiherr von Platenberg, the commander of the division, and Lieutenant Friedrich Graf von der Schulenberg, the chief of staff, maintained a rigid posture as if they were statues made of Greek plaster. It had already been an hour, yet not a single human blinked an eye. The home of militarism, Prussia, had no trace of humanity.
I raised my hand in salute to the soldiers.
In truth, this military parade was a deliberately planned deception.
According to history, the Guard Corps should have been engaged in fierce combat on the Western Front, but with the cancellation of the Schlieffen Plan, they were only now leaving Berlin.
Since most of the subordinate units had already departed for East Prussia, the units leaving now were the rearguard that had held their positions until the very end.
However, to conceal this fact, we continued to rotate the soldiers participating in the military parade.
An officer passing by saluted grandly. I saluted back briefly and addressed the commander.
“Soon, an announcement will be made to the entire army, but the Guard Corps will also receive the new Stahlhelm instead of the Pickelhaube.”
“Excuse me? The Pickelhaube is nothing short of a symbol of the Imperial Army’s tradition.”
Tradition, huh?
Well, if we can maintain it, it wouldn’t be so bad.
“Hasn’t the times changed now?”
The problem was that in the First World War, in most of the battlefields that resembled a shooting range, the Pickelhaube was not useful. That damn spike sticking out of the helmet. It was an undeniable disadvantage that even if a soldier hid behind a trench, his position would be exposed because of that spike.
Of course, it looked visually impressive, but that didn’t really matter. Just by looking at how the British shed tears and changed their military uniforms, trying to maintain the tradition of the highly visible red coats like targets on the shooting range, it was clear that we had to change when the time came.
“…….”
I could wrestle and explain in detail, but I decided to leave that to the officers in the staff headquarters.
The military band approached, playing the most common military song in the Imperial Army, “O Deutschland, hoch in Ehren.”
At that moment, Lieutenant Zecht approached and handed me a note.
The note summarized the dire situation of the Austrian army that Colonel Rosberg had reported.
‘Those damn Austrians.’
While I was throwing a generous bait to Bulgaria, I still wanted Austria to show their own strength in winning. I even created an environment that was much more favorable than actual history and sent Lorschberg with an implicit pressure to “do well.”
But they are putting up quite a fight. How should I deal with these guys?
I crumpled the note and held it tightly, while Zecht spoke.
“Wouldn’t some additional measures be necessary?”
Expecting immediate participation from Bulgaria is difficult, and Romania and Greece are out of the question. Montenegro has sided with Serbia. Are there any other Balkan countries?
“Ah, Albania is still there.”
A small principality attached to the southwest of Serbia.
I heard they are managing the water flow that flows into Serbia these days.
I flicked the ashtray for a moment.
Albania was a country that could be brought to its knees with just diplomatic pressure. It was too weak to stand up against a major power like Germany.
“That would be good.”
“Pardon?”
I gestured to Lieutenant Zecht to come closer, and then whispered a few words in his ear. The lieutenant heard the words and took a step back.
“I will now convey Your Majesty’s statement to the Ministry of Foreign Affairs.”
“Such words are more effective when delivered by someone unrelated, rather than an ambassador. Instruct them to send someone unrelated.”
I didn’t know how much pain this measure would cause Serbia, but it didn’t matter.
It was enough if they weakened even just a little.