Serbian government leaves Kraljevo

On 3 November 1915 the Serbian government of Prime Minister Nikola Pašić and the army’s Supreme Command left Kraljevo on the Western Morava. They set off up the valley of the Ibar to Raška. The British chronology of the war records under this day that the Serbian government left Niš. In reality it had left the wartime capital about a week earlier, and Kraljevo was only the first stop on the way.

The evacuation of Niš

Niš had been Serbia’s wartime capital since the summer of 1914, when the government, the Skupština and the ministries were moved there from Belgrade. It came into danger in mid-October 1915, when Bulgaria entered the war. The Bulgarian First Army was advancing from the east along the valley of the Nišava, and the Second Army had already taken Vranje on 16 October and cut the railway from Niš to Salonika. According to the British history of the war published by Nelson, the last train to pass along this line carried the assets of the Serbian national bank and reached the coast riddled with bullets. The Austrian official history mentions that the state archives were also got away to Salonika in time. According to the Serbian historian Dejan Antić, Pašić had already ordered the evacuation of the archives, the most valuable book collections and the museum collections in mid-October.

At the end of October, as the Bulgarians were approaching Niš and from the north the troops of Field Marshal August von Mackensen were nearing Kragujevac, the government left. According to “The Times History of the War”, the ministers went by rail to Stalać and from there by a branch line to Kruševac. On the same day the Entente legations left Niš and went straight to Kraljevo. The government joined them two days later. Antić states that on 26 October about a thousand people left Niš: officials of the ministry of war and foreign diplomats and officials. Serbian studies close the period of the “wartime capital” on 16 October, but it is not always clear which calendar they are counting by. According to the Julian calendar, which Serbia then used, this would correspond to 29 October.

From Kraljevo to Raška

Kraljevo did not offer refuge for long. On 1 November the Germans and Austrians entered Kragujevac, abandoned by the Serbs after they had blown up the arsenal, and the forces of the Central Powers were pressing on towards the valleys of both Moravas. According to “The Times History”, on 2 November the Serbian Supreme Command moved from Kruševac to Kraljevo, and the next day, 3 November, the government and the staff set off together for Raška. Much equipment was left behind in Kraljevo, including several dozen guns, which fell into enemy hands. The Germans occupied the town a few days later.

The road south from Kraljevo was crowded. Troops, columns of ox-drawn carts and thousands of refugees moved along it. From Raška onwards the government no longer travelled together. The diplomatic corps had been in Mitrovica since 1 November, and according to “The Times History” all members of the government had arrived there by 13 November. Two days later, on news of the enemy’s approach, the government, the staff and the diplomats moved on to Prizren.

Niš itself held out for a few more days. It was defended by soldiers of the Second Army of Vojvoda Stepa Stepanović, which was falling back before the Bulgarians. The government, which since the summer of 1914 had run the country from Niš, now became a government on the road, moving together with the retreating army.