Nelson's history of the war. Vol. XI., The struggle for the Dvina, and the great invasion of Serbia

144 HISTORY OF THE WAR.

valley into Montenegro, that of the second into the mountains of Central Albania. Had they been faced by Germans alone with their heavy ordnance they would have had a reasonable chance of escape, for von Mackensen had taken forty days to cover an average of forty miles; but in the Bulgarians they had opponents as skilled as themselves in marching and fighting in a mountain country. On 0 the last day of October the main Serbian °f- 31. force was for a moment out of d anger, for the Austrians seemed unable to advance towards Ushitza ; but Stepanovitch’s army defending Nish was in an acute and dangerous salient.

Stepanovitch got clear, but by the narrowest margin. The final attack on Nish began on 3rd Nov. a6. November, and after three days of

+ 370" severe fighting, it fell on the 6th. The Serbians retired on Leskovatz, and north of Nish, half-way between Parachin and Zaichar, the Germans and the Bulgarians again joined hands. The Northern Army was now in full retreat, for the enemy had enclosed it in a half-moon, of which the horns were hourly bending inwards. There was no more fighting for Mishitch, Yourashitch, and Stepanovitch. The last action before the complete conquest of Serbia was fought by the small forces in the south in a despairing effort to stem the Bulgarian advance from Uskub upon Prisrend and Monastir. These Battles of the Passes were for King Peter’s remnant the Kossovo of the campaign. North-west of Uskub, crossing the low Katchanik Pass, a railway runs to Mitrovitza. Already the Serbian main army on the Ibar was getting