the flight of the
civil population. At first the noncombatants had merely retired with
the fighting line. The first three invasions had shown that the
Austrians did not always refrain from committing atrocities,
especially when their armies had suffered unusually. Nor was there any
reason to suppose that the Germans were any kindlier to civilians.
Thus it was that hardly any of the civil population remained behind in
conquered territory.

Then, gradually, came the conviction that Serbian soldiers alone must
face the enemy, and even the most patriotic realized what a hopeless
fight it was. The whole population began moving southward; along every
available road trailed long lines of slowly moving ox carts, loaded
with the few movable belongings of their peasant owners. South
continued the exodus and then--the Bulgarians blocked the way. The
roads to Greece were closed. There remained nothing for them to do but
to turn toward the awful mountain wilderness intervening between them
and the Adriatic sea coast, infested by fierce bands of Albanian
brigands and tribesmen.

The weather was bad; rain fell heavily and incessantly, the roads were
deep in mud and the plight of these people, most of them old men and
women and children, became intensely miserable.

The Austro-German lines in the north continued their slow but
persistent southward advance; the invasion rolled on, the Serbians
retiring before them step by step. During the last week of the month
Gallwitz came to the heights east of Banitzina, south of Jesenitza,
and began storming them. Then followed another spurt of severe
fighting and Livaditza and Zabari, on the Morava River, fell into
their hands, after which they occupied the region south of Petrovatz.
By the 28th they had gained Svilajnatz, beating down the Serbian
resistance by sheer weight of men and guns, and by the last day of the
month they were within a day's march of Kragujevatz, in which was
located Serbia's chief arsenal. Situated on the Lepenitza, a branch of
the Morava, it lay about half way between Belgrade and Nish, on a
branch line of the main railroad. It was a point well worth defending,
and the Serbians did defend it stubbornly, but on November 1, 1915,
they were compelled to evacuate it, after first destroying the arsenal
and all the materials it contained.

It was here that the Shumadia Division especially distinguished
itself. The regiments of that unit had been recruited in this section;