Chapter 215： Serbia is occupied

On October 5, 915, in accordance with the three-nation military agreement, the German and Austrian armies began their offensive. The Confederate Army gathered 1,700 heavy artillery pieces and 72 mine-throwers to prepare for the Serbian positions. Under the two-day artillery bombardment, 90% of the Serbian positions were destroyed, with heavy casualties.

On October 7, the right-wing Austro-Hungarian 3rd Army (a total of 7 divisions) crossed the Drina River under the command of Austro-Hungarian General Corvez.

Soon afterwards, the German 11th Army (7 German divisions) under the command of German General Gowitz also crossed the Danube River to attack Belgrade with the support of the Austro-Hungarian Danube Fleet's shallow-water heavy gunboats.

However, in the rubble and almost ruined city of Belgrade, the remnants of Serbian troops fought stubbornly. These remnants from almost 27 different units organized spontaneously and fought violently when their backstops were cut off. And the arduous street fighting, house by street, every street, every ruin, had to be covered with several layers of corpses, stained with several layers of blood, in order to determine the final belonging.

Under the onslaught of the German-Austrian army, Belgrade fell on October 9.

With the frontline tight, the Serbian 2nd Army, which was assembled on the border between Bulgaria and Serbia in response to the general mobilization of Bulgaria, began to deploy troops to reinforce the Serbian 1st and 3rd Army to deal with the German and Austrian armies.

So Bulgaria entered the war on October 13. Afterwards, the Bulgarian troops, which had been deployed on the left and right wings, attacked Serbia. The right wing attacked Macedonia and Kosovo on the southern frontier, while the left wing attacked Niš. Niš is located in the northern part of the Morava River Basin and the southern part of the Vardar River Basin, and its geographical location is very important. It is located on the way to the main transportation corridor between Greece and Central Europe, and the railway connecting Sofia and Istanbul also passes here.

Occupying Niš means that the four countries of Germany, Austria and Tubao are integrated, and it can be said that Ottoman Turkey is a long-term drought to supplement the urgently needed German and Austrian arms. At that time, Ottoman Turkey was almost alone in the Gallipoli Peninsula, Sinai, Caucasus and Mesopotamia4 Fighting on all fronts at the same time is busier than the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Although the Bulgarian First Army has the most troops and the best equipment, the Serbian army it faces is not strong, and its strength is only less than half of the Bulgarian First Army. However, due to the Serbian default fortress group in the main area of ​​Piro, the bad weather has caused the road to be very muddy, and the frequent fog makes the visibility extremely low. The early progress is not fast. It was not until November 5 that the Bulgarian First Army finally occupied Niš.

Compared to the slowness of the First Army, the Bulgarian Second Group performed best as a partial division. The 2nd Army occupied the town of Vanlange on October 16, 1915, only three days after Bulgaria entered the war. This town is located in southern Serbia, directly east of Kosovo, because it is on the Belgrade-Salonika railway. In one stop, the occupation of Van Lange cut off the connection between Serbia and Macedonia, and further cut off the main artery of the Allied Powers supplying Serbia.

The offensive of the 2nd Army was very smooth, and the momentum was like a broken bamboo. Kumanovo was captured on October 20, and Skopje, the largest city in Macedonia, was captured on October 23. One third of the total population of Serbia Macedonia lives here, and it is the political, cultural, economic, and academic center of Macedonia. The name of the city during the Ottoman Empire was Uskup, which was later renamed Skopje by the Serbs.

October 5, 1915 seemed to be a meeting point of destiny, and other places in the Balkan Peninsula were not peaceful. Other countries in it, such as moths fighting the fire, were involuntarily involved in the world war.

It was also on this day that King Constantine I of Greece once again dismissed Eleftherios Venizelos from the post of prime minister, delaying Greece's entry into the Allied Powers for almost two years. From the perspective of relatives, the British, German and Russian royal families are all close by blood, which does not hinder the life and death of nations between nations.

The Prime Minister of Venizelos actively advocated joining the Allied Powers in the war. According to the 1913 Treaty of the Seich Alliance, when either of the two parties is attacked by Bulgaria, the other is obliged to participate in the war. Constantine I said that the attacking party was the Austro-Hungarian Empire. Bulgaria remained neutral on the grounds. In fact, Constantine I was pro-German, his wife was the sister of Kaiser Wilhelm II, and received the honor of Marshal of the German Empire on August 8, 1914, when the war had just begun.

On the same day, the Allied forces, with the French as the main force, landed in the neutral Greek port of Paralia at the time in the name of supporting Serbia. More and more Allied forces gathered at the center of Paralia, and finally formed During the First World War, the fourth war front in the European battlefield-the Macedonian front, Bulgaria was almost independently supported on this front.

As soon as the French army landed, they disarmed the Palaliahi fort and took over the entire port. Greece did not participate in the war at the time. This was a gross violation of the neutrality of Greece by the Allies. The reason for Britain's participation in the First World War was that Germany used Belgium to brutally violated Belgian neutrality and did not have any historical data to make moral accusations against the French army for this action.

There is a direct rail link between Thessaloniki and Belgrade. If the three French divisions from Paralia who landed immediately attacked Thessaloniki, it would not only support Serbia’s resistance in manpower and material resources, but also spiritually. It will also stimulate the morale of the Entente and the enemy, and it will definitely have the effect of making two or two dollars. But the French army stopped at Paralia and stopped inexplicably.

At this time, the Bulgarian Second Army, which was attacking the Macedonia region, immediately transferred its left wing to the front line of Thessaloniki to defend against possible French attacks. At the same time, Bulgaria mobilized three divisions from the country to the front line of Thessaloniki, so Bulgaria formed the 2nd Army Plain Cluster in the Thessaloniki Plain, and defeated the Allied Powers that came to capture Thessaloniki with 6 divisions. The strength of 4 divisions (3 divisions of the French army and 1 division of the British army).

The Bulgarian First Army captured Niš and opened up the German-Austrian route to support the Ottoman Empire. Germany's main goal has been achieved and it has begun to transfer its troops to the Eastern Front.

Under the command of the old coach Putnik, the Serbian army was defeated without chaos. While withdrawing, the Serbian army cleared the country and burned the war preparations, destroying the road along the way.

All the bridges on the Morava River on the way forward of the Bulgarian First Army were blown up by the Serbian army. It took a lot of effort to cross the past two divisions. The same is true for the German and Austrian army. The delivery of troops and firepower.

Marshal Mackensen’s three-way joint attack and annihilation of the Serbian army on the Kosovo plains became a piece of paper, but it gave Serbia a fleeting opportunity.

The Kosovo battle, the last battle of the Serbian campaign in 1915, began. The Serbian army is centered on Pristina in Kosovo, and is prepared to defeat the Allied forces one by one with the advantage of the inside line.

At the beginning, it aimed at the Bulgarian First Army and launched an offensive against the Bulgarian army in the direction of Niš northeast of Pristina. Within two days, they occupied Pfaplje in southern Serbia.

Then clockwise and clockwise to the northern cluster of the Bulgarian 2nd Army, which had already invaded Kosovo, launched a big blow. In Granine, the northern group of the Bulgarian Second Army fought a fierce battle with Serbia. Both sides suffered heavy casualties. In the end, Serbia ended up with more than 30,000 casualties and 200 artillery pieces.

On November 23, the German 101st Division and the 9th Division of the Bulgarian 1st Army drove into the capital of Kosovo, Pristina, but the main Serbian army had already crossed the Stinka River to escape the pursuit of Germany, Austria and Bulgaria.

On November 25, Serbian Commander-in-Chief Putnik issued a general retreat order. The Serbian army crossed the high mountains in four routes and retreated to the port on the Adriatic coast of Albania. The fleet was taken over by the Allied Powers and placed on the Greek islands.

The first road departs from Kosovo Mitrovica and passes through Montenegro-Albania-Shkoder-Durres.

The second road departs from Pristina, via Pecs-Albania-Les-Durres.

The third road also departs from Pristina, via Prizren-Tirana, Albania-Durres.

The fourth road is the remnant army of Macedonia, starting from Struga-Diberat, Albania-Vlora ~ www.novelhall.com ~ So Serbia violated the neutrality of this new small country Albania. Moreover, the Serb soldiers and civilians were short of food and clothing after the cold weather, so they were naturally recruited from Albania. For the people of Albania, this is a group of bandits who **** their belongings.

420,000 Serbian soldiers and civilians fled. The Serb soldiers and civilians who were finally picked up from Albania by the British and French fleets were 260,000 when they arrived in Greece, of which 155,000 were soldiers. Many people on the Greek islands were due to excessive weakness and infectious diseases ( Mainly typhoid fever) and died one after another.

The Battle of Serbia ended in 1915, and Bulgaria ended its skirmish with the British on December 12, occupying the entire border between Greece and Serbia.

In the entire battle, Bulgaria invested a total of 424,375 people in the war, with 37,000 casualties, of which 24,000 were casualties of the Second Army. The result was that Serbia killed more than 90,000 people and captured 174,000.

Now the whole territory of Serbia is divided between Austria-Hungary and Bulgaria. They are both satisfied with the results this time. Now it is only necessary for Bulgaria to defend the Macedonian line. Apart from the worst occupied Montenegro and Serbia this time, Greece is regarded as the most tragic neutral country. The two camps completely ignored the neutrality of Greece and fought in Greece at will. In particular, Britain and France not only occupied Greek ports, but also forcibly used Greek islands to house the defeated Serb soldiers and civilians.

ps; The update is completed today, and the steamed buns are at home these days, so the update is not stable, I hope everyone will forgive me.