Battle of Kolubara | |||||||
---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
Part of the Serbian Campaign of the Balkans Theatre of World War I | |||||||
![]() A map depicting the third Austro-Hungarian invasion of Serbia, November–December 1914. | |||||||
| |||||||
Belligerents | |||||||
![]() |
![]() | ||||||
Commanders and leaders | |||||||
Units involved | |||||||
Strength | |||||||
400,000 | 450,000 | ||||||
Casualties and losses | |||||||
132,000
|
273,000
|
The Battle of Kolubara (Serbian Cyrillic: Колубарска битка, German: Schlacht an der Kolubara) was fought between Austria-Hungary and Serbia in November and December 1914, during the Serbian Campaign of 1914.
It commenced on 16 November, when the Austro-Hungarians under the command of Oskar Potiorek reached the Kolubara river during their third invasion of Serbia that year, having captured the strategic town of Valjevo and forced the Serbian army to undertake a series of retreats. The Serbs withdrew from Belgrade on 29–30 November, and the city soon fell under Austro-Hungarian control. On 2 December, the Serbian army launched a surprise counterattack all along the front. Valjevo and Užice were retaken by the Serbs on 8 December. The Austro-Hungarians retreated to Belgrade, which 5th Army commander Liborius Ritter von Frank deemed untenable. The Austro-Hungarians abandoned the city between 14 and 15 December and retreated into Austria-Hungary, allowing the Serbs to retake their capital the following day.
The Austro-Hungarians and the Serbs suffered heavy casualties, with more than 20,000 dead on each side. The defeat humiliated Austria-Hungary, which had hoped to occupy Serbia by the end of 1914. On 22 December, Potiorek and von Frank were relieved of their respective commands, and the 5th and 6th Armies were merged into a single 5th Army of 95,000 men.