Serbs abandon Belgrade

On 30 November 1914 the Serbian units defending Belgrade left the capital and withdrew south. According to some sources the retreat began as early as the night of 29–30 November, according to Serbian studies on the morning of 30 November. The city was not taken in battle. The Serbian high command gave it up voluntarily to save the army, which for two weeks had been struggling to hold off the third Austro-Hungarian offensive on the Kolubara river.

A front too long

Since the beginning of November the Serbian army had been retreating into the interior. Exhausted by the fighting on the Drina and short of artillery ammunition, it abandoned Mačva, and in the middle of the month also Valjevo. On the Kolubara, in rain, snow and frost, the Serbs held back the troops of General Oskar Potiorek for two weeks, but kept losing positions. Things were worst on the southern wing, where on 28 November the Austro-Hungarians broke through the front of the First Army and reached the ridge of Mount Suvobor.

The commander of the First Army, General Živojin Mišić, then decided to pull his troops back a dozen or so kilometres, to the area of Gornji Milanovac, to let them rest before a counter-attack. The high command of Vojvoda Radomir Putnik had doubts, because the First Army’s retreat meant pulling back the whole front, and so giving up Belgrade without a fight. In the end it accepted Mišić’s plan. A shorter front was easier to hold, and the capital, lying right on the border, on the banks of the Sava and the Danube, had not been meant to be defended at all costs since the start of the war.

Evacuation

Belgrade had been a front-line city since the first day of the war. As early as the night of 28–29 July Austro-Hungarian artillery shelled it, and the government and authorities moved to Niš. The capital was defended by General Mihailo Živković’s group, made up mainly of regiments of older age classes. In the autumn it beat off weaker attacks from across the river, and twice even crossed the Sava and occupied Zemun, which lies opposite the city.

Now its units withdrew south, to the area of Mount Kosmaj, destroying bridges, viaducts and railway tracks behind them. A large part of the population fled with the army, remembering how Austro-Hungarian soldiers had treated civilians in Mačva. According to Serbian studies about 20,000 people remained in the city.

The Austro-Hungarians in Belgrade

Austro-Hungarian troops occupied the abandoned city without a fight. Most sources say they entered it on 2 December, although according to some studies the first units went in a day earlier. Croatian units are said to have been the first to enter the city. 2 December was the 66th anniversary of the accession of Emperor Franz Joseph I, and on that day Potiorek reported to him by telegraph the capture of the city and fortress of Belgrade. Vienna and Budapest celebrated, and at Potiorek’s headquarters it was thought that the war with Serbia was coming to an end.

The rejoicing proved premature. The Serbian army, which thanks to the retreat had gained a few days’ rest and had at last received ammunition from its allies, went over to the counter-offensive on 3 December. The Austro-Hungarians held Belgrade for less than two weeks. On the night of 14–15 December they withdrew across the Sava, and on 15 December the Serbs returned to their capital.