The reconstruction of South-Eastern Europe

THE RECONSTRUCTION OF

and they rejoiced. Vienna was illuminated, and General Potiorek, the commander of the troops, was decorated with an Order specially created for that occasion. But their jubilation was premature, and the real fight had yet to be fought. On the Rudnik Hills the Serbians disputed every inch of territory, and the Austrian Army paid dearly for every tactical success. A hundred snow-white hills were stained crimson; a hundred streams ran with blood; but the Serbians could not be defeated. Dispersed over a front 250 kilométres long, they avoided a fixed battle, but adopted tactics calculated to exhaust the enemy, retiring always before a direct engagement.

Such tactics had their drawbacks, for the Austrians penetrated further and further into the country, and soon they arrived at the watershed of the Kolubara and Morava. Their goal now seemed to be at hand, and definite success, in the occupation of Kraguevae and the whole valley of Morava seemed certain.

But the greatest danger for Serbia was the loss of faith in the value of further resistance, and such doubts began to contaminate the rank and file of the Serbian Army like a contagious disease. Happily, the contagion was not general, as the headquarters staff worked miracles, doing everything humanly possible to organise resistance and assure ultimate victory.

The Serbian headquarters were aware that the

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