wever, they were forced back, step by step. One by one, each
succeeding ridge fell into the hands of the invaders. And finally the
dominating ridges of the Suvobor Mountains were in complete possession
of the Austrians.

In the north the Serbians had made a better showing. Along the Kolubara
River the fighting had been especially heavy. One Austrian division had
even succeeded in penetrating as far as Progon, on November 24, 1914,
but it was finally driven back by the cavalry division with heavy loss.

The result of this stage of the fighting was that the Serbians had again
been compelled to lengthen their lines; their front now extended from
Tchatchak to Belgrade, almost seventy miles.

CHAPTER LVI

CRISIS OF THE CAMPAIGN--AUSTRIAN DEFEAT

We have now arrived at the critical point, not only of the third
Austrian invasion, but of all the military operations in the Serbian
theatre. If the Austrians should now again be driven back, it would be
practically impossible for them to make another invasion unaided, at
least so long as they were engaged with Russia. And, on the other hand,
if the Serbians lost now, the whole country was lost. The climax was at
hand. For this reason it may be well to define again the position and
the strength of the two opposing lines.

On November 28, 1914, the Serbian units were disposed as follows: The
Second Army, from Vechani to Vagan; the Third Army, from Kalanjevchi to
Kelja; the First Army, from Silopaj to Galich; the Uzitsha Army, from
Kita to Markovitza.

The Austrians had four mountain brigades in the direction of the Western
Morava Valley; about one and a half army corps on the road along Valievo
to Milanovatz; an entire corps against Lazarevatz and two corps moving
eastward against the Serbian line from Belgrade to Mladenovatz.

On the night of November 29, 1914, to shorten this long line the
Serbians decided to withdraw from Belgrade. A redistribution of the
Serbian forces was then made as follows: the troops from the Kolubara
retired to the heights about Sibnitza and the Belgrade detachment was
thrown astride the Belgrade-Nish Railroad along the summits of
Varoonitza in the east and Kosmai in the west. Elsewhere the positions
remained practically the same as before. Apparently General Putnik felt
that the retreat of the First Army, which had caused the general
retirement of the Serbian front, had not been absolutely necessary, for
the commander of that force was now