higher mountains. By the evening of the i6th, the positions were: Obrenovats group, Obrenovats-Konatitsa; Cavalry di- vision, Konatitsa-S.W. of Stepoyevats;II.Army, Voluyak-Laza- revats-Chavka;III. Army, Chibutkovitsa-Ivanovatsa; I. Army, Gukoshi-Mednik-Bachinovats-Ruda-Malyen; Uzhitse Army, right S.E. of Yasenovats-Yelova Gai, and left Shargan and Leshka Gora.
The weather was terrible, but Potiorek, sure of success, drove on his troops to new efforts, although communications became worse and longer day by day. On the i;th the cavalry at Kona- titsa was threatened, and had to be reinforced, while the moun- tain troops of the XVI. Corps, pushing along the ridge of Malyen, reached Strazara (pt. 1000). On the i8th the position of Choka on the front of the II. Army was attacked. But the main bodies of the invaders' columns were not yet up to the front. The Serbs thus enjoyed a relative respite, and their left, at Malyen, was able to reestablish patrol communication with the Uzhitse Army.
On the igth the Austro-Hungarian main bodies began to exer- cise general pressure, their efforts being specially directed on the angle of the Kolubara and the Lig, and on the point where the line crossed the Yadar river (Gukoshi and Mednik heights) . On the zoth the battle followed the same course, and Putnik ordered an offensive to be resumed on both flanks. But the time was not ripe, and the army and divisional generals re- ported themselves unable to carry it out.
On the 2ist the Austrian XVI. Corps broke the Gukoshi- Malyen line in its centre and the defence was brought back to Gukoshi-552-Rayats-Suvobor-Malyen, and on the 23rd the Malyen position was evacuated and touch with the Uzhitse Army again lost. Nothing now intervened between the XVI. Corps and the head of the western Morava valley, but the weather and the distance of its supply sources, and the liability of the convoys to be cut off by descents of the Uzhitse Army, imposed caution, and for some days only minor fighting occurred here.
In reality, it was not here that Potiorek intended to win his victory, but farther north. The initial phase of the operations was complete when Valyevo was in his hands, and secured against attack from the S. by a sufficient foreground. The next was to be the driving back of the Serbs from the Lower Kolubara, the cutting off of Belgrade, the opening of the Obrenovats- Valyevo railway for supply, and finally the advance in the dry and not too hilly country N. of Lazarevats into the Morava valley, accom- panied in its last stages by a descent upon Chachak and Gorni Milanovats in the enemy's rear.
The weather had, however, converted the poor roads of the Ub country into deep mud, and the regulation military transport foundered in this mud, so that the intended rapid advance by Krauss and the VIII. Corps to the Kolubara had been impossible. The mountain troops had outpaced the scheme, and it was not till the 22nd that the Austrian V. Army was able to open a real attack on the Kolubara. By the 25th it had made good the passage, but progress was slow, and at that date only Chopka and Konatitsa had fallen. Obrenovats still held.
Putnik had now resolved to give up Belgrade. Ammunition was expected, but had not arrived. Moral was becoming lower and lower, and only ruthless concentration on essentials would enable the army to last till the day when, with pouches and wagons refilled, counter-offensives could be launched. Meanwhile, his policy was to fight for time, so as to evacuate Belgrade as thoroughly as possible. 1 Then the Belgrade and Obrenovats forces were combined and posted on the line Varovnitsa-Kosmai- Sibnitsa (night of 2o-3oth), in touch on the right with the Pozharevats (or Branicevo) force, which held the Danube front astride the Morava. The Austrians entered Belgrade on Dec. i.
On Dec. 2 the Serbian positions were as follows:
Belgrade-Obrenovats force, Varovnitsa-52O|-3 1 3-Rogacko Brdo-28 1 .
//. Army (4 divisions and cavalry division), Sibnitsa Olbrezak Ravani (3i8)-Medvyednik (36s)-Vayan (490).
1 Some French naval guns had to be blown up, as they could not be removed. Before destruction they fired all their ammunition into Bezania.
777. Army (3 divisions), Mramor (398)-Kalanyevitse-489-52O- Motika (603).
7. Army (4 divisions), (now commanded by Mishich), Nakuchani- Vrnchani-Sinoshevtsi-Galich (7O3)-Vuskova Glavitsa.
Uzhitse Army (equivalent of 2 divisions) Kita-Kablar-Ovchar- Markovitsa.
On the Austro-Hungarian side they were :
V. Army: Combined Corps and VIII. Corps, area E. of Lower Kolubara and S. of Belgrade; XIII. Corps, Arapovats-Trbush- nitsa-Parlog-Liplye.
VI. Army: XV. Corps, Vrlaya-Golubats; XVI. Corps, Vrano- vitsa-Leusitsi-Ruyevitsa (583), detachments Godun, Pozhega, Arilye.
Both opponents were by now almost worn out. Suffering from their exertions, their losses, and the absence of food, shelter and ammunition, they were held together only by the inertia of the system. In this condition victory would fall to that side which first found a stimulus. This came to the defenders in two forms, the example of the old King, who took a rifle and fought in the ranks, and the arrival of the long-expected ammunition.
On the night of the 2nd, while Potiorek was slowly regrouping his forces to develop the attack on his left, Putnik issued orders for a general offensive S. of Sibnitsa "in order to profit by the enemy's present weakness and raise the moral of our troops."
The II. Army was to drive the enemy over the Kolubara; the III. (Drina II. and " Combined " division) to push towards the old line on the Lig; the I. to make good the line Krivareka-Lo- zany-Teochin (in order from right to left, Timok II., Morava II., Danube I., Danube II.); of the Uzhitse Army the available por- tion of Shumaja II. to attack N. and N.W. along Pranyani and Goina Gora; the Lira detachment to attack between the Lush- nitsa and Venchaska streams by Breziak N. ; the remainder of this undispersed army standing fast or forming a defensive flank for the advancing centre.
The counter-offensive was delivered or launched on the morn- ing of Dec. 3, and was quite unexpected by the Austrians. The Uzhitse Army's offensive wing reached a line astride its assigned ridges marked by Ruyevitsa and Godun. The I. Army drove the XVI. Corps back to the line Byezna-Ozrem-Kriva Reka. The III. Army reached the line Vrlaya-Lipet, the I. Okressak-Barose- vats-295-347, while on its right the cavalry maintained contact, at Slatina, with the defensive right flank, the Belgrade-Obreno- vats force.
Next day the Uzhitse Army's advance was sharply arrested, and it only maintained its ground on the line 37o-Ruyevitsa- Godun-Oruyewitsa-Krstats. But the I. Army drove a deep wedge, and by nightfall occupied Golubats-Prostruga-Rayets- Suvobor-Babina Glava. The III. and II. Armies met with stiff resistance. The III. made no progress, and the southern wing of the II. was hung up by the unshaken resistance of Kremenitsa^ the N. wing reached Arapovats and Sakulya. No serious fighting occurred on the part of the cavalry or on that of the Belgrade- Obrenovats force, and the commander of the latter, fearing that an envelopment was in progress, extended his right to the heights E. of Grotska. Next day Putnik, conscious also of the danger of allowing the regrouped Austrians to break through into the Morava region and envelop his right, caused the II. Army to extend its right (Timok II.) past Vitnitsa to Kosmay heights, behind the cavalry. The attack of the centre was in fact at a standstill, and it was evident that it was impossible to defeat the enemy's leftward regrouping of flank attack.
On this day (Dec. 5) the Uzhitse Army's attack, numerically weak and divided amongst several directions, came to a standstill. But the success of the I. Army on the ridge of Prostruga was made definitive, the Austrian XVI. Corps brigades retiring N. towards the Kolubara with heavy losses.
On the 6th the I. Army pursued its opponents N. and down- hill towards Valyevo, while on the left of its flank the Uzhitse Army made advances N., N.W. and W. against weakening oppo- sition, and on the right the III. Army reached the line of the Lig. But simultaneously, the storm broke on the extreme right, where the slowly prepared attack of Krauss and the VIII. Corps was launched at last. The line of defence held, but Timok I. from the II. Army was set in motion for the extreme right.
