The reconstruction of South-Eastern Europe, S. 151

SOUTH-EASTERN EUROPE

Serbia was doomed, the crushing of her army by the united Bulgaro-Austro-German forces was inevitable, and her population was exposed to fearful sufferings and privations unparalleled in modern times.

But to the eternal glory of Serbia, even in the moment of such supreme danger she organised her small forces as best she could, and offered a resistance which, better than any victory could, speaks of the indomitable spirit of the Serbs.

At the end of September 1915 the AustroGerman forces were disposed along the Danube and the Save in the following way :—

Opposite the Serbian front Ram-SmederevoGrocka was the army of General Galwitz, consisting of nine German divisions. Against the front Grocka-Belgrade-Ostruznica were two German and two Austrian divisions. From Obrenovac to the mouth of the Drina was the 19th Austrian Army Corps, with some detached brigades along the Drina. That whole army numbered 111 German and 58 Austrian battalions.

To oppose them the Serbians could concentrate on the northern front only 116 battalions, of which 40 battalions belonged to the third ban. The remaining troops were engaged on the Serbo-Bulgarian frontier. Besides outnumbering the Serbs by three to two in the infantry, the Austro-German division disposed of two regiments of artillery, but especially in heavy

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