Battle of Cer

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Battle of Cer
Part of the Serbian Campaign of the Balkans Theatre (World War I)
Date August 16 to August 19, 1914 Location Near Cer Result Serbian Victory
Combatants
Image:Austria-Hungary flag 1869-1918.svg Austria-Hungary	Image:Flag of Serbia (1882-1918).svg Serbia
Commanders
Oskar Potiorek Liberius von Franck	Stepa Stepanović Pavle Jurišić Šturm
Strength
200,000	180,000
Casualties
18,500 killed or wounded 4,500 captured	4,785 killed or missing 11,215 wounded

The Battle of Cer also known as Battle of Jadar (the main operations were held near the estuary of the Jadar river). One of the first battles of World War I, it also marked the first Allied victory in the war. The battle was fought between the Austro-Hungarian Army and Serbian forces. Results improved Serbian standing in the Alliance. Western faith in the competence of the Serbian Army was vastly improved. Austro-Hungarian troops fought under the command of General Oskar Potiorek and Liberius von Frank who was in direct command of Austro-Hungarian forces at Cer and Serbian troops under the command of General Stepa Stepanović.

Contents 1 Battle summary 2 Austrian push 3 Serbian response 4 Battle 5 Outcome 6 Legacy 7 References

[edit] Battle summary

[edit] Austrian push

When the First World War started the Austro-Hungarian Army under the command of General Oskar Potiorek pushed into northwestern Serbia across the Sava and the Drina. Šabac fell. Following the expansion of bridgeheads, most elements of 2nd and 5th army successfully crossed into Serbia by 12 August. Potiorek's own 6th army was still concentrating further south and was in no position to begin large operation at this time, so the brunt of the fighting in following days was on the 5th Army. According to Potjorek's plan, it was to attack in the general direction of Valjevo immediately after the crossing and take the city in five days.

[edit] Serbian response

Reports of Austrian incursion reached Serbian staff during the day. It was clear that a major operation had begun, but Field Marshal Putnik still hadn't completely abandoned his view that main Austrian thrust will come from the north, concentrated on the Morava river valley. It took some time until his assistants, general Mišić and head of Operations colonel Živko Pavlović convinced him to take decisive action.

Along with direct military pressure of Austro-Hungary, Serbia was pressed to take an offensive stance by its Allies, at the time waging difficult battles in northwestern Europe. Serbian Staff replied that its units are already on the offensive against the Austrian bridgeheads. The Serbian Second Army under the command of General Stepa Stepanović advanced towards Cer, the Šumadija Division towards Šabac and the Cavalry Division towards Mačva. On the left flank the Third Army under the command of General Pavle Jurišić Šturm entered the battle. The Austro-Hungarian Army walked right into the area where Serbia's artillery trained many of their gunners and thus Serbs could use their artillery with great accuracy and effectiveness, while in the same time Austro-Hungarian Army had no bearing or coordinates for the general area where the battle was fought, thus they couldn't bring to bear their advantage in artillery pieces.

The Serbian Second Army was, due to its position in the center of the northwestern cordon formation, was the strongest of the three armies, not in term of numbers (largest was the first army which was assigned to protect the entrance to the Morava river valley. this being the best possible approach to Serbia due to the lack of natural defenses, unlike the mountainous northeast and northwest) but in terms of quality of its divisions. It consisted only of the divisions of the first call (prvi poziv), of soldiers in their 20's and with best training and matériel available. These were Šumadijska, Moravska, Dunavska (which, being responsible for defence of Belgrade, had additional regiments attached) and Kombinovana (combined) divisions. This organisational structure was applied by Field Marshal Putnik not just to have a strong center, but also, because of their central position, Second Army's divisions could at any time be attached to either First or Third army if the strategic development dictated such an action. Thus, when all doubts about the direction of Austro-Hungarian invasion were cleared, Serbian cordon conducted a regrouping (movement of app. 90 degrees counterclockwise) of all of its armies and Second Army faced von Franck's Fifth Army (only Austro-Hungarian Army which had crossed into Serbia in full strength) at Cer and Jadar valley.

[edit] Battle

Another thing of great importance during Cer battle was Putnik's unwillingness to conduct aggressive offensive maneuvers (this was also the case in the First Balkan War) due to his fear of unnecessary risk which could lead to higher casualties in already undermanned Serbian army. An evident example was his overruling of General Stepanović's proposal on the eve of the third day of the battle. Stepanović sensed that Austro-Hungarian forces on Cer an Everk were beginning to crumble, so he suggested a bold maneuver in which his Kombinovana and Moravska divisions would conduct a forced frontal pursuit of opposing troops on Cer and Everk ridges, whilst the Cavalry and Timočka (this division was hardly used during the entire course of the battle, to significant dissadvantage regarding the outcome) divisions would conduct a parallel pursuit on the northern slope of Cer towards Lešnica, with orders to attack both the enemy's flanks and to reach the pontoon bridges on Drina river and therefore cut Fifth Army's main line of retreat. If this maneuver was conducted, possibillity of a catastrophe for Austro-Hungarian arms was significant. Yet, Putnik ordered Stepa to pursuit enemy force frontally and not to conduct any sort of flanking attack, which would, in itself, cause far larger casualties upon retreating enemy. Third Army's loss of contact with enemy on the third day of the battle also helped Austro-Hungarian Fifth Army to withdraw in a more orderly fashion. Considering this information, it is obvious that the invading force could have suffered a far costlier defeat and shows Putnik as a superb organiser (his mobilisation plans for both Balkans wars and World War I were excellent, considering the low quality of roads in Serbia and lack of a significant railroad network), yet overcautious in the conduct of battles.

During August 1914 a battle was waged in the area of Mt. Cer, in which around 200,000 Austro-Hungarians fought against 180,000 Serbs. The main battle at Cer lasted from August 16 to August 19. The Serbian Army won the victory, pushed the Austro-Hungarian Army back across the Drina, and completely thwarted their war plan.

[edit] Outcome

Around 18,500 Austro-Hungarian officers and soldiers were killed or wounded and around 4,500 were captured. The Serbian Army lost around 16,000 and 250 officers. As a result of the battle Austria-Hungary withdrew from Sandzak, delaying their offensive into Serbia. Austria-Hungary continued offensives into Serbia for the rest of the autumn of 1914 without much success. Cer also gave the Entente their first victory of the war against the Central Powers.

[edit] Legacy

Historical artifacts can be found in a museum located in the town of Šabac.

[edit] References

• Skoko, Savo Vojvoda Radomir Putnik. Beogradski Garfičko-Izdavački Zavod. 1984.[[Category:Battles involving Austria]-Hungary]bs:Bitka na Ceru

hr:Cerska bitka sr:Церска битка sh:Bitka na Ceru