ment the enemy at Saloniki might strike, and to
guard against such a possibility, the Austro-Germans would have to
maintain larger forces along the railroad than they could spare. At
all costs the Serbians must be prevented from joining the Allies. And
this was the object of the powerful effort made by the Bulgarians to
hurl their forces through the gap between Sarrail and the Serbians in
the Babuna Pass.

However, the Serbians decided on a determined effort to break through
the net that was being drawn around them. This meant, first of all,
that the Katshanik Pass, which in the second week of November, 1915,
was still in the hands of the Serbians but was being attacked from the
south by the Bulgarians, had to be first cleared of the enemy, who
must then be driven out of Uskub, whence the Serbians would then be
able to force their way west to Tetovo, and then south by the main
highway through Gostivar and Kitchevo, to Monastir. Once at Monastir
the road would be comparatively easy to Saloniki, by way of the short
branch of railroad whose terminus was at Monastir.

In the effort to carry out this plan one of the most desperate battles
of the whole Serbian campaign was fought, quite as bloody and as
heroic as any of the large engagements that were fought in the
beginning of the invasion. It failed, but it was a failure of which no
army need to have been ashamed.

On about November 10, 1915, Bojovitch's army with which he had been
holding the pass against overwhelming numbers of Bulgarians, had
dwindled to 5,000. At about that time he was reenforced by three
regiments, including one from the famous Shumadia Division and one
from the Morava Division, which were sent to him along the railroad,
the only bit of railroad remaining to the Serbians, leading from
Pristina to Ferizovitch, the latter point being some ten miles distant
from the Katshanik Pass. The weather had begun getting cold and raw by
this time, and the roads were in a miserable condition. The Serbians,
though exhausted by their many hardships, and weak from the want of
proper food, set out from the terminus of the railroad and pressed on
toward the pass. As soon as they arrived Bojovitch prepared to deliver
his final attack on the Bulgarians.

The Serbian general had now about one hundred field pieces, mostly of
the French 75 and 155 type; 3 inches and 6 inches. With these he began
a vigorous bombardment of the Bulgarian trenches, raining a continuous
showe