Battle of Drina

The Battle of Drina (Serbian: Bitka na Drini) was fought between Serbian and Austro-Hungarian armies in World War I, in September 1914. The Austro-Hungarians engaged in a significant offensive over the Drina river at the western Serbian border, and battles commenced, the heaviest being Battle of Mačkov Kamen and Battle on Gučevo. In early October, Serbian army was forced to retreat, and later regrouped to fight the subsequent Battle of Kolubara.

Prelude

After the lost Battle of Cer in August 1914, Austro-Hungarian army retreated over the Drina river back into Bosnia and Syrmia. Under pressure of its allies, Serbia conducted a limited offensive across the Sava river into the Austro-Hungarian Syrmia with its Serbian First Army. Meanwhile the Timok division I of the Serbian Second Army suffered a heavy defeat in a diversionary crossing, suffering around 6,000 casualties while inflicting only 2,000.

With most of his forces in Bosnia, general Potiorek decided that the best way to stop the Serbian offensive was to launch another invasion into Serbia to force the Serbs to recall their troops to defend their much smaller homeland.

The offensive

September 7 brought a renewed Austro-Hungarian attack from the west, across the river Drina, this time with both the Fifth Army in Mačva and the Sixth further south. Initial attack by the Fifth Army was repelled by the Serbian Second Army, with 4,000 Austro-Hungarian casualties, but the stronger Sixth Army managed to surprise the Serbian Third Army and gain a foothold. After some units from the Serbian Second Army were sent to bolster the Third, the Austro-Hungarian Fifth Army also managed to establish a bridgehead with a renewed attack. At that time, Marshal Putnik withdrew the First Army from Syrmia (against much popular opposition) and used it to deliver a fierce counterattack against the Sixth Army that initially went well, but finally bogged down in a bloody four-day fight for a peak of the Jagodnja mountain called Mačkov Kamen, in which both sides suffered horrendous losses in successive frontal attacks and counterattacks. Two Serbian divisions lost around 11,000 men, while Austro-Hungarian losses were probably comparable.

Marshal Putnik ordered a retreat into the surrounding hills and the front settled in a month and a half of trench warfare, which was highly unfavourable to the Serbs, who were inferior in heavy artillery, ammunition stocks, shell production (having only a single factory producing around 100 shells a day) and also footwear, since the vast majority of infantry wore the traditional (though state-issued) opanaks, while the Austro-Hungarians had soak-proof leather boots. Most of the war material was supplied by the Allies, who were short themselves. In such a situation, Serbian artillery quickly became almost silent, while the Austro-Hungarians steadily increased their fire. Serbian daily casualties reached 100 soldiers from all causes in some divisions (notably in Combined division).

During the first weeks of trench warfare, the Serbian Užice Army (one strengthened division) and the Montenegrin Sanjak Army (roughly a division) conducted an abortive offensive into Bosnia. In addition, both sides conducted a few local attacks, most of which were soundly defeated. In one such attack, the Serbian Army used mine warfare for the first time: Combined division dug tunnels beneath the Austro-Hungarian trenches (that were only 20-30m away from the Serbian ones on this sector), planted mines and set them off just before an infantry charge.

References

• http://www.rastko.org.yu/svecovek/ustrojstvo/namesnistva/radjevina/krupanj/spomen_crkva_l.html
• Mitar Đurišić, Prvi svetski rat - u bici na Drini, http://www.graduzice.org/userfiles/files/prvisvetskiratubicinadrini.pdf