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prepared to threaten the flank of the Salonika railway from Stru- mitsa, the Ovchepolye from Kyustendil, and Vranya from Trn. The I. Army advanced on the various routes to attack Zayechar, Knyazhevats and Pirot; on these the Serbs had advanced to meet them, always with the idea of gaining time, and by the i6th very little progress had been made by the invaders, except by one regiment which by a daring mountain march seized Vranya and cut the railway there. This success weakened the position of the, Serbian forces on the Egri Palanka road at Stratsin, and when, farther S., Todorov turned their right by Kochana and pushed cavalry to Veles, they evacuated the Ovchepolye (Oct. 18-19). On the zist Uskub itself fell into the hands of the Bulgarians and the Salonika line was lost, though a counter-attack recovered Veles from the Bulgarian cavalry two days later.

At that moment for the first time, the French from Salonika came into action, threatening Strumitsa and Todorov's left. It was too late.

On the northern wing of the Bulgarian army, Boyadiev's cen- tral columns cut the road between Zayechar and Knyazhevats on the 2ist, and farther to the Bulgarian right, Negotin was occupied by the invaders, who there made contact with the Orsova detachment of the XI. Army. The Serbs in this quarter offered little resistance, their rear being already threatened by Gallwitz's progress in the Morava valley.

In that region the fighting had been heavy, the weather severe, and it was not till the igth that Mackensen's two armies mastered the Ralya line. On the 2ist, the date on which the Bulgarians seized Uskub and the French came on the scene at Strumitsa station, Mackensen's N. front was marked by the line Shapina- Selevats-S. of Kosmay. On the 23rd it lay on the line Lazare- vats-N.of Arangyelovats-N.of Palanka-Petrovats, and the Ser- bian eastern fronts began to be in difficulties, though some days were still to elapse before Goykovich's force finally disappeared and junction was effected between Boyadiev's right and Gall- witz's left. In W. Serbia the Austrians from Bosnia were begin- ning to be active, and the country-side was being evacuated by men, women and children, with their animals and belongings. From Uzhitse as well as from Valyevo, the emigration had set in towards Novipazar.

Putnik's left armies were now falling back concentrically towards Kralyevo-Krushevats, in proportion as his E. front caved in. On Oct. 30, after no light efforts, the XIX. Austro- Hungarian and XXII. Res. Corps of Kovess's army were S. of Gorni Milanovats, the VIII. Austro-Hungarian Corps S. of Raibrovats, Gallwitz's army to the S. of Lapovo-Petrovats. The Serbs had evacuated Zayechar on the 25th, Knyazhevats on the 2yth, and after a fierce resistance and repeated counter-strokes from Pirot, Stepanovich had retired on Bela Palanka on the 29th. Farther to the S., Todorov's attention had been thoroughly attracted to the Strumitsa side, and the position at Uskub and on the Upper Vardar had scarcely changed.

From Nov. i onwards, the final desperate effort was made by the Serbians to gain time for the arrival of the French and British by holding the arc Chachak-Kraguyevats-Yagodnya-Nish-Les- koyats. Still the Bulgarians were held back in this phase, but the Germans and Austrians steadily advanced. Kraguyevats fell, with its arsenal, on Nov. i ; Yagodnya on the 3rd, Kralyevo on the same day, Paratyin on the sth. For some days longer the defence continued stubborn on the S. side of the W. Morava and about Varvarin in the Morava valley, where a salient was held to enable the last elements of the Serbian IV. Army (Goykovich) to extricate itself from the closing vice. But by the gth the defence on this line was at an end, and Mackensen was preparing the dispatch of the XXII. Res. Corps to another theatre, having received the Alpine Corps (division) in lieu.

On the E. front meantime, Stepanovich's counter-attacks had completely held up the Bulgarians at Bela Palanka, while a great part of the population flowed away through Nish into Kossovo. It was not until Nov. 4, when Boyadiev had received a fresh division (the 9th) and Paratyin had fallen, that orders were given to evacuate Nish, and that centre was held by rear-guards till the Sth. Leskovats resisted till the 7th.

The Orient railway, the objective for which Falkenhayn had planned the campaign, was now clear from Germany to Con- stantinople, and with his usual economy he was already think- ing of withdrawing the German forces to other theatres. 1 The Serbian army, plainly in dissolution, had ceased to be a menace to the Danube monarchy. But new problems were arising the Albanian question, the problem of Greece and the Allied Salo- nika army, the question of a submarine base on the Aegean. In all these, each of the three victors had a different standpoint, and fresh difficulties set in between the three Governments. Belong- ing as they do to the Salonika phase of the Balkan campaigns, these problems will not be dealt with here, and it only remains to describe, briefly, the last stages of the Serbian tragedy.

Substantially, the results of the Bulgarian cooperation had fallen considerably short of what was expected. The tough resistance of Stepanovich, and even of the small IV. Army in the N.E. corner, had kept back the eastern danger until it was too late for an envelopment. Indeed, considerable portions of Boyadiev's army those oriented on Negotin and Zayechar, if not also that on the Knyazhevats route were already crowded out of the closing front. For effective envelopment of the Serbian right, there only remained the N. portion of Todorov's II. Army, and, with the increasing arrival of French and British in the region of Rahovo and Doiran, this Bulgarian general was obliged to be cautious, while encircling attack upon the Serbian left was practically excluded by the fact that the Bosnian forces had made a late start and were traversing very difficult country. Supply and weather conditions, moreover, were becoming serious for the invaders. Practically, nothing could now prevent the remnant of the Serbian army from escap- ing into Albania, should it choose to do so.

But for this desperate measure, which would involve the loss of all war material and of many thousands of lives in the road- less, snow-bound interior of Albania, the Serbian command was not yet prepared. It seemed preferable to attempt to break through towards the S., where the long-expected Allied army was now advancing and Todorov was in difficulties.

The II. Bulgarian Army had, after seizing Uskub and taking, losing and retaking Veles, moved out fan-wise against the mountains N.W. and W. of Vranya, Kachanik, Kalkandclen, and the Babuna pass, while its extreme left was on the defensive against Sarrail's Rahovo group, and its left centre column was moving down from Shtip on Krivolak and Kavadar, where also Sarrail was collecting a considerable force. In the existing con- ditions it was evidently more important, from Todorov's point of view, to bar the Vardar valley against Sarrail than to attempt to force the mountain barrier of the Kara Dagh and the Shar Dagh. He therefore placed his centre of gravity well to the S., leaving his N. flank covered by a mixed force drawn partly from the I., partly from the II. Army.

Against this force, Putnik assembled the remnants of 5 divi- sions E. of Prishtina, and with them assumed the offensive with all the violence of which his troops were still capable, on Nov. 9.

This began on the gth, driving the Bulgarian group of General Ribarov back to Vranya in the one direction and towards Kuma- novo in the other. By the isth Ribarov's right was in extreme difficulties. But the arrival of part of the I. Bulgarian Army from Leskovats on the left rear of the attacking wedge rescued it. By now the general front of the Austrian and German pur- suit had reached Uvats, the line of the Ibar, Yaver (Javor), Kurshumlye. Pressure on the rear was too close to allow of persistence in the southward break-through. The moral rally which had permitted that attempt was dying away on all the defended avenues, and Putnik made up his mind to escape through Albania with what could be saved of the army and the people. Between Nov. 20-25, the historic Kossovopolye witnessed another last effort of the Serbian people, then everything flowed away towards Ipek (Pech), Dyakovo and Prizren.

At these points the pursuit ceased in the first week of Decem- ber. It had practically become Bulgarian alone. Such German

1 As above mentioned, Mackensen was given orders almost on the battlefield to send away the XXII. Res. Corps.