科卢巴拉河战役

Background

On 28 June 1914, the Bosnian Serb student Gavrilo Princip assassinated Archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria in Sarajevo. The assassination precipitated the July Crisis, which led Austria-Hungary to issue an ultimatum to Serbia on 23 July because it suspected that the assassination had been planned in Belgrade. The Austro-Hungarian ultimatum was designed to be unacceptable to Serbia and was indeed rejected. The Austro-Hungarians declared war on Serbia on 28 July. The same day, the Serbs destroyed all bridges on the Sava and Danube rivers to prevent the Austro-Hungarians from using them during any future invasion. Belgrade was shelled the following day, which marked the beginning of World War I.

Fighting in Eastern Europe began with the first Austro-Hungarian invasion of Serbia in early August 1914, under the command of Oskar Potiorek.……

Prelude

Austro-Hungarian plans

The Armeeoberkommando (AOK) acknowledged that an undefeated Serbia severed Austria-Hungary's connection to the Ottoman Empire and prevented the completion of the Berlin–Baghdad railway. The AOK also realized that the Austro-Hungarian Army's inability to defeat Serbia would discourage neutral countries such as Bulgaria, Romania and Greece, from joining the Central Powers and would tempt Italy to open up a third front against Austria-Hungary. Nevertheless, the AOK hesitated to authorize a third invasion of Serbia. That changed in September 1914, when Austro-Hungarian troops discovered a map in an abandoned Semlin bookshop titled The New Division of Europe. Originally printed in a Russian newspaper, the map was widely sold in Serbia and depicted the borders of Europe as they would appear after the war. Germany was to be divided into northern and southern confederations.……

Battle

16–26 November

The Austro-Hungarians reached the Kolubara on 16 November and launched an assault against Serbian defensive positions there the following day. The Serbs managed to force the Austro-Hungarians back, and for the next five days, both armies fought a series of battles under heavy rain and snowfall. Both sides suffered heavy casualties, with a large number of soldiers succumbing to frostbite and hypothermia.

The Austro-Hungarian assault began at Lazarevac, a strategically located town just south of Belgrade whose capture would have given them access to the Mladenovac railway line and the ability to outflank the Serbian forces holding the road to Belgrade. Further south, the Austro-Hungarians attacked the Serbian 1st army.……

Aftermath

The battle ended in a decisive Serbian victory. A directive issued by the Serbian Supreme Command on 16 December reported: "The recapture of Belgrade marks the successful end of a great and magnificent period in our operations. The enemy is beaten, dispersed, defeated and expelled from our territory once and for all." Franz Conrad von Hötzendorf, the Austro-Hungarian Chief of the General Staff, attributed the defeat to a Serbian "thunderbolt from the south." The battle achieved none of Austria-Hungary's objectives: it failed to knock Serbia out of the war, induce Bulgaria to join the Central Powers, and convince Romania to stay neutral.……