Serbs retake Vranje

The British chronology of the war records under 5 October 1918 the recapture by the Serbs of Vranje, a town in the valley of the South Morava, which the Bulgarians had taken in October 1915. The date agrees with most accounts. The Austro-Hungarian war communiqué of 6 October reported that the day before “our advanced detachments were withdrawn from Vranje”. Local Serbian accounts date the liberation of the town to 4 October, after fighting that had begun the day before.

The race for Niš

After the armistice with Bulgaria General Louis Franchet d’Espèrey set the Allied armies a new objective. The first was to be Niš, a railway and road junction through which the Germans and Austrians could bring up reinforcements from the north. The task fell to the Serbian First Army of Vojvoda Petar Bojović. The start was planned for 1 October, but according to Serbian accounts it was delayed by a day by the Bulgarians’ slowness in laying down their arms. The army advanced up the valley of the South Morava: the cavalry in front, behind it the Danube and Drina Divisions on both banks of the river, and in the third echelon the Morava Division. On the right flank advanced General Jouinot-Gambetta’s French cavalry brigade.

The German command wanted to hold the Serbs on the Priština–Vranje line for as long as possible in order to cover the detraining and deployment of the reinforcements being hurriedly brought into Serbia. The first obstacle in the Serbs’ path was the Austro-Hungarian 9th Infantry Division, brought straight from the Italian front. According to Cyril Falls’s British official history, it was a unit that had been badly mauled in Italy, with a large proportion of Czech soldiers, and its resistance proved weak.

The town regained

According to Falls, the Serbs made contact with the enemy on 3 October and after a short engagement threw him back in disorder. Local accounts describe a decisive attack that day on the pass near the village of Milanovo, from which the Austro-Hungarian 17th Brigade was driven, and Serbian artillery fire on the positions on the hill of Sveti Ilija above the town. The same sources state that about 500 Austro-Hungarian soldiers surrendered in Vranje and a further thousand were captured in the surrounding area. The inhabitants, who had lived under Bulgarian occupation for three years, helped round up stragglers and welcomed the troops with flowers and flags. These figures come from Serbian accounts and are hard to confirm in other sources.

The pursuit

The Austro-Hungarian division and the German detachments withdrew through the gorge at Grdelica. The Serbs, joined by their Cavalry Division, pursued them relentlessly. On 7 October they drove the rearguard out of Leskovac, while the French and Serbian cavalry went round the town on both sides. According to Falls, the Austrians lost about 3,000 prisoners in these days and in six days fell back 60–70 miles, that is about 100–110 kilometres, to just short of Niš, where they passed behind the lines of the German 219th Division. The speed of the Serbian advance upset the German plan: the Serbs stood before Niš before the reinforcements could detrain and take up positions.