Battle of the Kolubara
Operations in the Battle of the Kolubara
| date | November 16 to December 15, 1914 |
|---|---|
| place | The Kolubara catchment area |
| output | Victory of the Serbian Army |
| Parties to the conflict | |
|---|---|
| Commander | |
| Troop strength | |
| 450,000 - based on the entire Serbia campaign in 1914 | 400,000 - based on the entire Serbia campaign in 1914 |
| losses | |
|
28,000 killed, 120,000 wounded, 76,500 prisoners - based on the entire Balkan campaign in 1914 |
22,000 fallen, 92,000 wounded, 19,000 prisoners and missing - based on the entire Serbia campaign in 1914 |
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The Battle of the Kolubara is considered the most important battle between the armies of Austria-Hungary and the Kingdom of Serbia in the First World War . It was conducted from November 16 to December 15, 1914 on a front length of over 200 km. During the Serbia campaign in 1914, 450,000 Austro-Hungarian soldiers faced around 450,000 Serbian soldiers. The fighting took place in the Kolubara catchment area in western Serbia. The battle ended with the victory of the Serbian army led by Radomir Putnik over the Austro-Hungarian forces commanded by Oskar Potiorek .
prehistory
After the Battle of the Drina , Potiorek began a new offensive on November 5, 1914, which pushed the Serbian army back to Valjevo and the Kolubara River. The Austro-Hungarian 5th Army under General of Infantry Liborius Frank crossed the Sava and Jadar and pushed the Serbian 2nd Army southwards, while the Austro-Hungarian 6th Army further south drove the Serbs from the Jagodnija Plateau and the Serbian 1st and 3rd Army further south Army also forced to withdraw. On November 15, Valjevo was by the 48th division of the kuk XV. Corps occupied. At that time, the Serbian High Command was debating a withdrawal to the south of the country or even a ceasefire, which Putnik was able to prevent.
The battle
The Austro-Hungarian 5th Army reached the Kolubara between Obrenovac and Lazarevac on November 16 and launched an attack on the Serbian defensive positions the following day. The Combined Corps Krauss , located in the northern section , sent the 29th Division to attack near Konatice, but could not even push the Serbs out of the marshy lowland west of the Lukavica. The 7th Division, which had got its hands on the Kolubara Bridge at Skobalj, advanced its advance guard on the Lukavica on November 17th. The VII Corps (FML Viktor von Scheuchenstuel ) set up south of it did not fully catch up with the Kolubara until that day and was only preparing to break through to Lazarevac. The XIII. Corps ( General of the Infantry von Rhemen ) had crossed the river with the 36th Division (FML Claudius von Czibulka ) at Slovac and the 42nd Honved Division (FML Johann Salis-Seewis) at Divci and was in the retreat train of the Ljig -Section of the declining Serbian 3rd Army (General Pavle Jurišić Šturm ) pushed into it. At Mionica there were almost hopeless movements with Serbian trains around the crossing of the Ribnica. On November 18, the 8th Corps with the 21st Rifle Division (FML Artur von Przyborski ) managed to cross the river and conquer Lazarevac, the 9th Division (Major General Franz Daniel) stuck to the Serbian counter-resistance in front of Lajkovac. The main objective of the VIII Corps was to break through the defense of the Serbian 2nd Army around Lazarevac, the Serbian 3rd Army should be thrown back towards Arandjelovac .
On November 19, the war bridge of the 7th Division at Skobalaj was inundated by floods, and a detachment under Major General Letovsky was able to hold onto the corner of the mouth of the Turija. The 21st Rifle Division did not advance near Lazarevac without artillery arriving. In contrast, the batteries of the 9th and 36th Divisions at Zupanjac were able to break the Serbian defense at Vrače Brdo. The supplies for the XV. and XVI. Corps got stuck between Loznica and Zavlaka, and the second route followed the Šabac road via Preadi to Valjevo and brought no improvement because of the bad weather conditions.
On November 20, the XIII. Corps because of the strong Serbian resistance the arrival of the Grn. Toplica previous XV. Corps ( FZM Wenzel Wurm ) wait. The XV. Corps renewed its attack against the 1st Army on November 21, the Danube II Division, reinforced by the Rogatica Detachment, was thrown back in the direction of the Maljen Mountains. The Serbs only withdrew from this mountain after three days of heavy fighting. On November 27th, the VIII. And XIII. Corps the line Vis-Glavica-Volujak. The troops of the XV. Corps in the Maljen Mountains, they operated against Čačak and Gornji Milanovac . The terrain became more and more difficult for the Austro-Hungarian troops, the tired soldiers were exhausted. On November 30, the order for the Serbian 3rd Army ( Jurišić ) to withdraw to Arandjelovac followed.
Putnik ordered the withdrawal of the Serbian Northern Front (Serbian Corps Group Belgrade and 2nd Army) on Kragujevac in central Serbia, which allowed the Austrians to take Belgrade without a fight on December 2nd . The Austro-Hungarian High Command was now counting on a certain victory. However, the troops were exhausted and the supply situation deteriorated, while the Serbs received French ammunition supplies just in time.
Serbian counter-offensive
The Serbian Chief of Staff Putnik and General Živojin Mišić , who had meanwhile taken over the 1st Army, concentrated their troops on the Kolubara, neglecting their northern front, and began a counter-offensive against the section of the Austro-Hungarian 6th Army on December 3rd. The attack continued energetically until December 9th and completely surprised the Austrians, who were certain of victory. In a dramatic turn, the Austro-Hungarian offensive was stopped and their army was thrown back.
The main thrust of the Serbian 1st and 3rd Armies came from the vicinity of the Rudnik Mountains and from the Arandjelovac area in the direction of the Kolubara. The divisions Sumadija I and Timok I advanced against Lazarevac in order to throw the enemy back over the Kolubara. The divisions Morava I, Drina I and the combined division descended from the western slopes of the Rudnik Mountains and attacked the Golubac Heights in order to advance the road from Grn through the Stavica valley. Milanovac to reach Moravci. The Timok II and Morava II divisions broke from Green. Milanovac advanced against Brezna and Banjani and pushed the Austrians back over the Suvobor ridge.
The Austro-Hungarian 6th Army was attacked simultaneously from the east and south and had to fight its way back to Valjevo on the left wing over the Kolubara and the Ljig, in the center and on the right wing over the peaks of the Prostruga, the Gojnagora and the Maljen Mountains. Potiorek had to order the retreat behind the Kolubara and finally on December 15, 1914 the evacuation of the Macva and the recently conquered Belgrade.
consequences
The Serbian victory came as a surprise and even prompted the German Kaiser Wilhelm II to do a one-off act: He personally congratulated the Serbian Chief of Staff Radomir Putnik and thus an official war opponent.
Oskar Potiorek, on the other hand, was held responsible for the failure of the offensive against Serbia, was relieved of his post and retired early. This also meant a dishonor for himself. In the Austrian parliament, the Christian Social Representative Karl Niederist formulated particularly vehemently:
“Potiorek, who was governor in Bosnia at the time, but didn't even know what it was like there ... His first crime was that he sacrificed the heir to the throne Franz Ferdinand completely ignorant of the activities there ... You have to this man now given the high command in Serbia ... If he is not normal, he belongs in a sanatorium. If it is normal, it belongs on the gallows for the many people who have been sacrificed there. "
Field Marshal Lieutenant Alfred Krauss , who had served under Potiorek, however, described deeper causes:
“The Serbs were Austria's strongest and most dangerous enemy. The Serbian soldier was brave, very skilled, agile, frugal, and fanatical. The guide was very good. The Serbian artillery was far superior to ours in terms of range and effectiveness. The Serbs were much more serious enemies than the Russians, French and Italians ... Potiorek and all the other generals who failed: It is not they who are to blame, but the state system in which such generals could grow up and those people who were misunderstood of the values of the person brought unsuitable people into responsible management positions. In the old monarchy ... only fearful, reluctant, upwardly supple, avoiding all conflicts and taking every energetic demeanor, that is, comfortable people, could get into the highest positions. "
In December, Archduke Eugen von Österreich-Teschen became the new commander in chief on the Balkan front.
Nevertheless, the victory had cost the Serbian army heavy losses and deprived them of the ability to carry out further offensive operations. An invasion of Bosnia or Hungary, as feared at times by the head of the AOK Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf , was out of the question. The Austro-Hungarian Army could afford to move considerable parts of the Balkan Army to the Russian theater of war, where the winter battle in the Carpathians had begun.
literature
- James Lyon: Serbia and the Balkan Front, 1914. The Outbreak of the Great War. Bloomsbury Academic, London a. a. 2015, ISBN 978-1472580047 .
- Gunther E. Rothenberg: The Austro-Hungarian Campaign Against Serbia in 1914. In: The Journal of Military History , Vol. 2 (April 1989), pp. 127-146.
Individual evidence
- ^ Marshall Cavendish: History of World War I. Volume 1, 2002, ISBN 0761472312 , p. 153. S. Tucker, PMRoberts: World War I: Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO, 2005, p. 643.
- ^ D. Stevenson: 1914-1918: The History of the First World War, 2004.
- ↑ Austria-Hungary's Last War Volume I, p. 681 f.
- ↑ Olschewski, Malte (1998). The Serbian Myth. The belated nation .