iver channel with impunity,
adding their share to the general destruction.

Finally, in the beginning of November, 1914, there arrived in Belgrade
two big 14-centimeter cannon, sent by the French Government by way of
the Adriatic, together with French gunners and 20,000 rounds of
ammunition. These were put into position above the city and on November
8, 1914, the French gunners sent their first message over into Hungary.
The damage inflicted so impressed the monitors that they did not again
venture into range. Moreover, spies, of whom there were probably a
number in Belgrade, had doubtless notified the Austrians that measures,
were now being taken to mine the river effectively. In fact, many
measures for a more effective offensive were being undertaken when the
trend of operations in the interior forced the Serbian General Staff to
order the evacuation of the capital.

It will be remembered that the Serbians had been beaten back from their
main line of defense and that a rearrangement of the Serbian forces had
thereby become necessary, in order that the line might be shortened.

This included the abandonment of Belgrade on November 29, 1914. The
order was carried out during the night. But before retiring, the French
gunners, who saw that they were going to lose their two big guns,
determined to bid the enemy across the river a hearty good-by. In the
early morning they fired off their stock of 240 rounds of ammunition and
in a little more than half an hour deposited some twelve tons of
melinite on the enemy's forts at Bezania, with such terrifying effect
that the garrison abandoned it. Thus it came to pass that the two
strongholds, having snarled and barked at each other across the dividing
waters for nearly five months, were both evacuated at the same time.

As will be remembered, the right wing of the Serbian lines, now joined
by the garrison of Belgrade, swung back and stretched across the
Belgrade-Nish railroad, along the ridges of Varoonitza in the east and
Kosmai in the west. The Austrian left, composed of two army corps,
immediately covered the ceded territory and, of course, entered
Belgrade. Then followed the strong Serbian counterattack against the
Austrian center along the Suvobor ridges and the complete demoralization
of the Austrian forces from the center south.

The northern wing of the Austrians, however, which held the country
around Belgrade succeeded in holding its own, though it was presently
cut