United States or France ? Vote for the TOP Country of the Week !
Meanwhile a portion of the right wing of the Serbian line was detached to keep the Austrians inside Shabatz. Farther to the south the Serbians were not so decidedly successful. The center of the Serbian Second Army, that directed against the southern slopes of the Tzer Mountains and the Iverak ridges, had arrived at Tekerish at midnight.
The center and left of the Second Army now prepared to advance along the Tzer and Iverak ridges. The Austrians in this section, who had suffered so severely the day before at Belikamen, were now concentrated around Troyan, the most easterly and the second highest peak of the chain. At dawn on August 17, 1914, the Serbians located the Austrians.
The two important mountain ridges, Tzer and Iverak, which dominated the whole theatre of operations, were definitely in the hands of the Serbians. And finally, the Third Army had at last broken down the opposition against it. Next morning, August 20, 1914, dawned on a situation that was thoroughly hopeless for the Austrians.
To the southeast a rolling valley is divided by the River Dobrava, while due south the Tzer Mountains rise like a camel's back out of the plain and stretch right across from the Drina to the Dobrava. The southern slopes of Tzer are less abrupt than those on the north and descend gradually into the Leschnitza Valley, out of which rise the lesser heights of the Iverak Mountains.
If they advanced too far they would expose their flank to the Austrians over on Iverak. As a general rule, it is always dangerous for any body of troops to advance any distance beyond the general line of the whole front, and this case was no exception. However, though delayed, this division did advance. Oxen were employed in dragging the heavy field pieces along the trails over the rocky ridges.
Still farther up the valley the foothills of the Iverak ridges are lost in a series of fairly important summits which closely flank the Jadar River. To the south of the Jadar River the valley stretches into a rolling plain, which rises abruptly into the giant Guchevo Mountains.
On the Serbian side the right wing of the Second Army, screened by the cavalry division, were preparing to cut off the Austrian forces in the north from their juncture with those advancing along the Tzer ridges; the center and left was marching on the enemy on the Iverak ridges, in conjunction with the right of the Third Army, then north of Jarebitze.
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.
The Austrians now began intrenching themselves on the heights of Kosaningrad, the loftiest portion of the Tzer range. Along the Iverak ridges the Austrians made a determined advance. The situation of the Serbian troops in this section, the left wing of the Second Army, was extremely dangerous, for their left flank was becoming exposed by the continued retreat of the Third Army.
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.
Word Of The Day