Serbian counter-offensive on the Kolubara

On 3 December 1914 the Serbian army went over to a counter-offensive against the Austro-Hungarian forces, which since the beginning of November had been pushing it back into the interior of the country. A British chronology of the war records the start of the Battle of the Kolubara under this date. Following Polish and Serbian historiography, we take it that the battle had been going on since mid-November, when the Austro-Hungarians reached the Kolubara river, and that its decisive phase began on 3 December. Some studies, including the English Wikipedia, date the start of the counter-offensive to 2 December. On that day, however, the orders were issued, and the attack itself began the following morning.

Frost and fog

This time the weather favoured the Serbs. After weeks of rain and thaw, a frost set in during the night. The sodden roads froze, so the artillery could keep up with the infantry. Until about 9 a.m. thick fog concealed the approaching units, and then came sunny, cloudless weather that lasted for the following days. Good visibility made the work easier for the Serbian gunners, who for the first time in a long while did not have to save shells. General Živojin Mišić ordered that from the first moments of the attack the enemy’s resistance be broken by powerful fire, clearing the way for the infantry.

The First Army strikes

The main blow was struck by Mišić’s First Army. According to Serbian sources, it went into the attack at 7 a.m. Three of its divisions struck on a front about 10 kilometres wide, on both sides of the two roads leading to the Suvobor ridge, with the task of taking the Prostruga range. The fourth, the Danube Division of the second levy, was only to pin down the enemy’s right wing. The attack fell on General Wenzel von Wurm’s XVI Corps of the Sixth Army. His soldiers, exhausted by the November fighting, had been ordered to push further into the mountains instead of resting, and they were short of ammunition.

The Danube Division of the first levy threw one of the Austro-Hungarian mountain brigades back onto the hills near the village of Banjani. The Drina Division of the first levy drove another brigade, with heavy losses, back onto the main position near Boljkovci. The line was held only with the help of neighbouring units. In the afternoon the commander of the neighbouring XV Corps, General Michael von Appel, on his own initiative sent two brigades to help, although he himself was expecting an attack. Serbian studies state that on the first day the First Army broke up to 10 kilometres into the enemy’s positions, took 3 officers and about 400 men prisoner and captured four guns. The Austrian official history describes this fighting more modestly, but admits that XVI Corps found itself in a very difficult position.

The other armies

North of Mišić, the Third Army of General Pavle Jurišić Šturm moved into the attack, but late, because it was waiting for the neighbouring units of the Second Army. The order for a general attack was issued at 1 p.m. To raise the soldiers’ spirits, they were told of the First Army’s morning successes, and the aged King Peter I came to the units at the front. The late start meant that the Third Army gained little that day. The Hungarian Honvéd troops of the 40th Division defended themselves stubbornly and gave way only under the fire of superior artillery.

The Second Army of Vojvoda Stepa Stepanović tried to regain the positions lost in November near Lazarevac. The Timok Division of the first levy stormed a hill by the road to the town, and the Morava Division of the first levy came up to the key Kremenica heights. The Serbs did not break off the fighting after dark and attacked through the night as well.

Celebration in Belgrade

Meanwhile, in Belgrade, taken the previous day, the troops of the Fifth Army made a ceremonial entry, and according to Serbian sources there was also a victory parade. The telegram of homage to the Emperor caused rejoicing throughout the monarchy. The delegations of the army and the Danube Flotilla that took part in the ceremony were granted a day of rest in the city.

In the evening General Oskar Potiorek’s headquarters concluded that the Serbs had carried out only a local sortie against XVI Corps, combined with feint attacks elsewhere. The enemy’s activity nevertheless prompted Potiorek to bring forward his own plans: the Fifth Army was to take up its positions for the attack as early as the evening of 4 December, not a day later. At 7.45 p.m. the message reached General Liborius von Frank. The promised day of rest in Belgrade was cancelled.