nment of the main objective of the
Austro-German forces. The Serbians had, naturally, withdrawn from this
section and now a German cavalry patrol, scouting in advance of its
own lines, met with a body of Bulgarian scouts. The Bulgarian and the
Teutonic forces had come in contact with each other. But the chief
significance of this fact was that now the road was open for
communication between Germany and Turkey. Even if the railroad running
from Belgrade to Constantinople, by way of Sofia, should be
temporarily cut, or should not be captured throughout its entire
length for some time, shipments of war material could already be made
to Turkey by way of the Danube down to Rustchuk in northern Bulgaria
and thence by railroad. Thus the Turks at Gallipoli, who had been
running short of ammunition, could now be relieved.

This opening of communication with Turkey was made much of in the
German official reports and some of the newspapers began referring to
Mackensen's army as "the army of Egypt."

On the first day of November, 1915, Mackensen could really say that he
had conquered all of northern Serbia. But the fact remained that the
Serbian army was still in the field; not even a part of it had as yet
been captured or annihilated. And it is a military axiom that no
matter how far an army may retreat and no matter how much territory
may have been conquered, no battle is decisive until the enemy has
been destroyed, either entirely or in large part. The Germans were to
be reminded of this fact more than once on the Russian front.

Up till this time Boyadjieff, at the head of his Bulgarian army, was
attacking the Serbians from two directions: along the Timok against
Kniashevatz, Zaichar, and Negotin, and along the Nishava against
Pirot. Both movements were directed ultimately toward Nish, but the
more northerly had also the purpose of effecting a junction with the
left wing of the Germans under Gallwitz, which was advancing from
Tekia, in the northeast corner of Serbia. Negotin and Prahovo, the
latter a port on the Danube, had been taken on October 25, 1915. Lower
down, the Bulgarians, who were in overwhelming strength, occupied both
Zaichar and Kniashevatz on the 28th. Meanwhile, the Serbians were also
compelled to abandon the commanding heights of Drenova Glava, fifteen
miles northwest of Pirot, and on the 28th Pirot fell, though not
without heavy fighting. With Pirot on the south and Kniashevatz on the
north in the hands of