II. THE CONQUEST OF SERBIA, 1915 The third expedition having ended in failure, Potiorek was relieved of his command, a portion of his troops transferred to other fronts, and General Tersztianski left with a much weakened force. The latter, however, were incapable of taking the offen sive, their sorely depleted ranks being further devastated by an epidemic of typhus. Meanwhile Falkenhayn (q.v.) had become convinced of the necessity of opening up direct railway corn munications with Turkey, and, the active support of Bulgaria hav ing been secured, a new combined offensive was prepared foc the autumn under a German commander, Marshal Mackensen.
His forces consisted of the Austrian III. Army (two Austrian, one German Corps), under Kovess, concentrated in Syrmia; the German XI. Army (three corps) under Gallwitz, in Banat ; the Bul garian I. Army (four double size divisions), under Bojadiev, be tween Vidin and Tsaribrod; and the Bulgarian II. Army, under Tokorov, between Kyustendil and Strumitsa.
The Serbian dispositions were influenced by the threat from the east which the Western Powers had forbidden Serbia to meet by a preventive offensive, and by the hope of assistance from Salonika. Serbian fighting strength was not more than 200,00o; but the help of Greece was invoked under the 1913 treaty, and that of the Western Powers promised. Putnik de ployed three-fifths of his forces facing north and guarded the route to Salonika with the rest.
Mackensen's Attack.—Mackensen assembled a mass of heavy artillery and modern appliances, and a heavy preliminary bombardment opened on Oct. 5, the 6th being fixed as the day of attack for Kovess and Gallwitz and the Ilth for the Bulgars. Kovess's main crossing, undertaken by two corps with the sup port of an intense bombardment, took place at Belgrade. After three days' fierce fighting, bridgeheads were secured and the Serbs forced to evacuate their capital (Oct. 9--io). His third corps, who crossed the Lower Drina and Sava, were held up in the Maeva. Simultaneously after a demonstration at Orsova and a Bulgarian threat towards Negotin, two of Gallwitz's corps secured crossings at Ram, and over Temessziget (Ostrovo) Is land, but his third corps was held up near Semendria.
On the 11th Putnik began a steady policy of fighting succes sive delaying actions on the northern front, keeping back the Bulgars on the right and rear in order to gain time for the arrival of French and British aid, the first elements of which (British oth, French 156th Div.) had started to land at Salonika on Oct. 3. Whilst heavy fighting was going on in the Morava valley and the mountains to the west, the Bulgarian advance began to threaten Pirot and the Salonika railway. Vranje was occupied on
Oct. 16, whilst further south Todorov occupied Skoplje (tYskiib) on Oct. 21, thus cutting the Salonika line, and driving a deep wedge between the Serbs and the advancing Anglo-French force under Sarrail.
Until then the Austro-German armies from the north had made but slow progress, but the Bulgarian successes on his right forced Putnik to withdraw his left and centre concentrically towards Kraljevo-Krugevac. From Nov. 1 onwards a desperate effort was made by the Serbs to hold the arc Caeak-Kragujevac-Jagodnja Nish-Leskovac. The Bulgars were held back at Bela Palanka, but the Germans and Austrians advanced steadily. Kragujevac fell with its arsenal on Nov. 1, and by the 9th Nish fell. The Orient railway, Falkenhayn's objective, was now clear from Germany to Constantinople.
Between Nov. 20 and 25, the historic plain of Kosovo Polje witnessed another last effort of the Serbian people, then every thing flowed away towards Pee, Djakovica and Prizyen. The pursuit ceased in the first week of December. The Bulgar II. Army then turned south and drove the Anglo-French force over the Serbian border. By Dec. 16 this force had withdrawn to Salonika (see SALONIKA CAMPAIGNS). Montenegro was com pletely occupied by the third week in Jan. 1916.
The end of the pursuit did not mean rest and reorganization for the remnant of the Serbian Army. A midwinter march through the Albanian mountains brought those whom its rigour left alive to the coast of the Adriatic. Thence they were trans ferred to Corfu, and later to Salonika, where the Western Powers provided food, clothing, equipment and stores, mitigating to that extent a disaster which might have been prevented by a more vigorous policy towards Bulgaria and Greece, and the earlier dispatch of the reinforcements which were ultimately sent.
See WORLD WAR: BIBLIOGRAPHY. (T. G. G. H.)