| First Serbian Volunteer Division | |
|---|---|
 Nicholas II reviewing the First Serbian Volunteer Division in Odessa (May 1916) | |
| Founded | June 1916[1] |
| Disbanded | 1918 |
| Allegiance |  Serbia |
| Branch | Royal Serbian Army |
| Type | Ground Forces |
| Size | 18,000 [1] 42,000 (early 1917)[2] |
| Part of | 47th Russian Army Corps First Serbian Army |
| Garrison/HQ |
|
| Engagements | |
| Commanders | |
| Chief of Staff | Colonel Vojin Čolak-Antić |
| Notable commanders | Colonel Stevan Hadžić |
| Merged into | Yugoslav Division |
| Allies | |
| Opponents | |
The First Serbian Volunteer Division (Serbian: Srpski dobrovoljački korpus) or First Serbian Division, was a military formation of the First World War, created by Serbian Prime Minister Nikola Pašić, and organised in the city of Odessa in early 1916. This independent volunteer unit was primarily made up of South Slav Habsburg prisoners of war, detained in Russia, who had requested to fight alongside the Serbian Army. It also included men from South Slav diaspora communities, especially the United States.
Even though the Serbian volunteers greatly outnumbered all the other ethnic group, a large number of the division's officer corps was made of former Habsburg reserve officers of Croat and Slovene descent. In April 1917 the name of the division was changed to the Serbs, Croats, and Slovenes Volunteer Corps. The force holds a particularly significant place in World War I history due both to its intermingling of different Slavic ethnic groups as well as its role in the final military operations of the Salonika front.[3][4]
- ^ a b Thomas, Babac & Pavlovic 2012, p. 13.
- ^ Banac 2015, pp. 121–123.
- ^ Malcolm 1996, p. 158.
- ^ Rieber 2014, pp. 575–580.