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

THE OVERRUNNING OF SERBIA. 153

Indeed, it may fairly be said that the constant expectation of Allied help had gravely compromised the Serbian resistance. We have seen that the refusal of the British and French Governments to approve of an attack upon Bulgaria meant that the chief Serbian effort was made on the wrong front. Further, the presumed necessity of keeping the army for a joint effort with the Allies prevented the stand which the soldiers longed for. The fighting at Katchanik and the Babuna proved the prowess of Putnik’s army ; but they were never allowed to show it in a major action. Defence and then withdrawal were the order of the day, tactics little suited to the Serbian genius. It is probable that the Bulgarian conquest would have been far longer delayed, and might even have grievously miscarried, if Serbia had been allowed to follow her instincts and had relied upon her own mettle.

After the fall of Nish von Mackensen’s interest in the campaign slackened. He had got what he set out to get—the Danube route and the Ottoman railway. The campaign was now in Bulgarian hands, a campaign of long-cherished and bitter revenge. Through the mud of the plains and valleys and the rough roads of the foothills the Serbian troops struggled on. Their motor transport broke down at the hair-pin bends on the slopes, and soon, as they moved into the mountains where the peaks were now powdered with the first snows, they were forced to rely on ox-waggons and country carts. With them in a pitiful procession, often lagging and breaking down, went the civilian refugees and their scanty belongings. With them went the British Naval Mission and its batteries of guns.