The reconstruction of South-Eastern Europe

SOUTH-EASTERN EUROPE

guns, which they were unable to get away owing to the bad roads.

The former suggestion that Rozan was the key to the position of Valevo proved quite accurate. Having abandoned Rodan, the Serbians evacuated Valevo without a fight, and took up a position on the right bank of the Kolubara. In the south, the second army, consisting of troops which had operated in Bosnia, retreated also in the direction of Visegrad and Uzicé. When they approached their base, the Serbian armies halted on the front Uzicé-Valevo-Lazarevac-Obrenovac, and here from the middle of November a series of most desperate battles was waged lasting almost uninterruptedly up to December 10th.

It was a real wrestle for life or death by two embittered foes. The Austrians fought bravely, but without the real patriotism or enthusiasm with which the Serbian Army was inspired. They were assisted by scientific leadership and stern discipline, and, compared with the Serbians, they were richly supplied with warm clothes, whilst they overwhelmed the Serbians by the quantity and weight of their artillery. Every Austro-Hungarian Army Corps operating in Serbia had about 100 pieces. Thus the whole army possessed over 600 guns. The Serbians opposed this force with a far smaller number of guns, but with very experienced gunners.

When the Austrians took Valevo, they imagined that the Serbian resistance was broken,

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