Serbian campaign (1914)

Serbian campaign (1914)
Part of the Serbian campaign of World War I
Date 28 July 1914 – 15 December 1914 (4 months, 2 weeks and 3 days) Location Serbia, Montenegro, Albania Result Serbian victory
Belligerents
Serbia  Montenegro	Austria-Hungary
Commanders and leaders
Radomir Putnik Živojin Mišić Petar Bojović Stepa Stepanović Pavle Jurišić Šturm Janko Vukotić	Oskar Potiorek E. von Böhm-Ermolli Liborius von Frank
Strength
420,597[1][2] ~50,000	462,000[a]
Casualties and losses
163,557[4] 22,276 killed 96,122 wounded 45,159 missing	273,804[5] 28,276 killed 122,122 wounded 76,690 missing or captured another 46,716 sick

The Serbian campaign of 1914 was a significant military operation during World War I. It marked the first major confrontation between the Central Powers, primarily Austro-Hungary, and the Allied Powers, led by the Kingdom of Serbia. The campaign started on 28 July 1914, when Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia and bombarded Belgrade. On 12 August, the Austro-Hungarian forces, led by General Oskar Potiorek, launched their first offensive into Serbia.

The Austro-Hungarian forces, known as Balkanstreitkräfte and consisting of the 5th and 6th Armies, attacked Serbia from the west and north. The Serbian army under the command of General Radomir Putnik using their knowledge of the rugged terrain and the strategic advantage of the rivers, defeated the 5th Army at the Battle of Cer, repelling all the Austro-Hungarian forces out of Serbia, marking the first Allied victory of the First World War.

After the failure of the first invasion, Austria-Hungary regrouped and launched a second invasion in September 1914, at the Battle of the Drina the Serbs pushed the 5th Army back into Bosnia while forcing on 25 September the remains of the Balkanstreitkräfte to retreat to avoid encirclement. On 24 October, the Valjevo Offensive saw Potiorek launching a third invasion, this time reaching deep into northern Serbia, capturing Belgrade, the Serbian capital, on 2 December 1914. Following a successful counter-offensive at the Battle of Kolubara, the Serbian Army managed to expel the Central Powers forces again from its territory before the end of December, consequently ending the campaign.

Potiorek was relieved of his command after the three invasions had achieved none of their objectives. The Campaign cost the Habsburg forces 28,000 dead and 122,000 wounded. Serbian losses were also heavy with 22,000 dead, 91,000 wounded, and 19,000 captured or missing. Less than a year later, after combining the armies of Germany, Austria-Hungary and Bulgaria, the Central Powers returned for a massive offensive during the Serbian Campaign of 1915.

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