Chapter 343: Collapse of the Defensive Line

Although only four countries were involved in this war, the impact of the war expanded to the entire European continent.

Among the four countries participating in this war, apart from Serbia, which has a relatively small population and land area, the remaining three major powers—Germany, Austria, and Russia—are all major grain exporters in Europe.

Russia, in particular, as the country with the largest population in Europe, also holds the number one spot in Europe for grain production.

The Ukrainian plains are known as the breadbasket of Europe; the grain produced there every year sells well throughout Europe and is also the main source of foreign exchange income for Russia.

The grain produced by Russia mainly includes barley, wheat, rice, corn, potatoes, and sugar beets, among which the planting time for the most important crops, wheat and rice, is in April and May of each year.

This also means that this war is very likely to affect the grain planting of the participating countries, and may even affect the grain harvest a few months later.

Setting aside the issue of the harvest, the planting of wheat and rice will certainly be affected.

Although Russia's environment is colder and the planting and harvesting times for crops are delayed, the Ukrainian plains cannot be considered a cold, northern land compared to Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

The planting time for wheat and rice in the Ukrainian plains is from the end of April to the beginning of May, and since it is now mid-to-late March, this means there is only about a month left before the Ukraine region begins its grain planting.

Although this war is being fought on the Polish plains, because Russia mobilized a large amount of manpower, grain planting in the Ukrainian plains will certainly be affected as well.

Because in any era and any country, once a war breaks out, the vast majority of the mobilized troops will be farmers.

The reason is also very simple: farmers have always accounted for the majority of the national population.

With European grain production bound to decrease, the Spanish agricultural department also submitted a new agricultural development plan to the cabinet government, intending to carry out larger-scale grain planting in Spain and its colonies to seize the European grain market.

With the outbreak of the war, not only will the total grain production in Europe decrease, but the total grain consumption will also increase significantly.

On one hand, this is due to the consumption of the war, and on the other, it is the loss of grain during transport in the process of the war.

For Spain, as long as they can increase grain production, it means they will definitely make money in terms of grain exports.

After all, the Spanish mainland has not been affected by the war, which means the costs for farmers to grow grain will not increase. With the premise that costs will not increase, the more grain sold, the more money earned.

This war is quite a pity; Gao Da's two biggest thorns in his side, Britain and France, did not join the war.

If both Britain and France had joined this war, Spain would certainly have launched its plan to annex Morocco and Portugal.

But now, because the British are still watching like tigers, Spain can only cancel any combat plans and quietly wait for the development of this war.

While the war in the Poland region was raging, the Austro-Hungarian Empire also launched a large-scale offensive against Serbia.

Come to think of it, the reason for the outbreak of this war was the conflict between the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Serbia; this conflict is the focal point of this war.

Russia holding off hundreds of thousands of German-Austrian coalition forces in the Poland region is good news for Serbia. But such good news cannot change the reality that Serbia is retreating steadily on the front lines; if Serbia cannot obtain reinforcements, this war will not actually last very long.

From the very beginning of the war, the Serbian capital, Belgrade, became the main direction of the Austro-Hungarian Empire's offensive.

Under the continuous bombardment of a large number of artillery pieces, the areas of Belgrade near the border soon turned into ruins.

The Serbian government also had to relocate to the southern suburbs of Belgrade, where they could stay away from the bombardment range of the Austro-Hungarian artillery.

As for completely moving out of the capital, Belgrade, this is something the Serbian government has never considered.

If the capital were moved away from Belgrade, it would actually mean that Serbia had already conceded on this matter. Since the government had already conceded, the troops on the front line would naturally not have a strong desire to fight.

This is also the reason why the Serbian government did not evacuate; after all, they still wanted to win this war.

If they lost this war, they would have to hand over the rebel leaders from the Bosnia and Herzegovina region. If they handed over the rebel leaders from the Bosnia and Herzegovina region, it would mean they would completely lose control over the Bosnia and Herzegovina region.

In this way, the plan for a Greater Serbia would become a pipe dream. What could they do with just this little population and land in the country? Looking at the current size and population, Serbia is completely incomparable to Romania, another major power in the Balkan Peninsula, and is in the same boat as Bulgaria, which has not yet fully achieved independence.

On March 21, 1889, the Austro-Hungarian army engaged in fierce fighting with the Serbian army at the border between the Bosnia and Herzegovina region and Serbia.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire dispatched three divisions with over 40, 00 troops, while the Serbian garrison also had nearly 20, 00 men.

The Austro-Hungarian army crossed the river to attack the Serbian border town of Loznica on the other side, and after several days of fierce attacks, they forced the Serbian garrison to abandon this border town.

However, the heroic counterattack of the Serbian army still caused huge casualties to the Austro-Hungarian army. After this battle ended, only less than 30, 00 of the 40, 00 troops dispatched by the Austro-Hungarian Empire were still capable of combat, while the Serbian side still had nearly 15, 00 men who could continue to be committed to the war.

After the border town of Loznica fell, the Serbian army built new defensive positions about 10 kilometers to the east.

The disadvantage of a small country is reflected here. Serbia is less than 300 kilometers at its longest and widest from east to west and north to south, and the border town of Loznica is only about 100 kilometers away from the capital, Belgrade.

This also means that the Serbian army's scope for retreat is limited; they cannot retreat significantly by dozens of kilometers to build positions, but can only retreat slightly to find defensible terrain to build simple positions.

In this regard, the advantage of Russia's large land area is fully reflected.

In the first month of the war, the Russian army had both wins and losses in its battles against the German-Austrian coalition. Although there were more failed battles, fortunately, Russia's area is vast, allowing it to retreat recklessly to establish new defensive lines.

The German-Austrian coalition could do nothing about such a Russian army; after all, their military mobilization was not yet complete, and it was impossible for the army to charge dozens or hundreds of kilometers to pursue the Russian army.

If they were to charge rashly, they would instead be surrounded by the Russian army.

It is precisely for this reason that the three countries of Germany, Austria, and Russia fought in the Poland region for more than a month, yet the front line advanced less than a pitiful 30 kilometers.

It can even be said that the three parties of Germany, Austria, and Russia were all in a probing stage. Everyone knew that the other side's main force still existed, and without finding a suitable combat opportunity, there was no reason to go head-to-head with the other side in a decisive battle of main forces.

This made it miserable for Serbia, which was struggling to hold on in the south.

After breaking through Loznica, the Austro-Hungarian army immediately continued to pursue the retreating Serbian army to the east.

After several more days of bitter fighting, discovering that the area west of Belgrade was well-guarded by the Serbians, the Austro-Hungarian army made a prompt decision to abandon the march to the east and instead turned south to fight in Valjevo.

If Loznica was west of Belgrade, then Valjevo was already located to the south of Belgrade.

More importantly, the location of Valjevo is an important transportation hub. To the north is the Serbian capital, Belgrade; to the south is the important Serbian town of Uzice; and further south is the border city of Prijepolje.

Even if they could not capture Belgrade by going north through Valjevo, the Austro-Hungarian army could still move south to occupy the western border of Serbia.

As long as the western border fell completely, whether Belgrade was captured or not would not be that important.

Without the protection of the western border, Serbia's small land area would be left for the Austro-Hungarian army to gallop across.

The border between Serbia and the Austro-Hungarian Empire is mainly demarcated by the Drina River, and the Serbian army also relied mainly on this river for defense.

Loznica being captured was equivalent to a gap being opened in this defensive line. Subsequent Austro-Hungarian troops could continuously enter through this gap, cross the river, and attack Serbian territory without restraint.

Because they understood the importance of the western border, after Loznica was captured, Serbia re-mobilized nearly 20, 00 troops, planning to retake this important border town from the hands of the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

As luck would have it, at this time, the Austro-Hungarian Empire was planning to set out from Loznica to attack Valjevo in Serbia from the southeast.

This reorganized Serbian army encountered the ready-to-go Austro-Hungarian army; the attacking Serbian army had 35, 00 men, while the defending Austro-Hungarian army had 50, 00 men. One could see from the number of troops who possessed the greater advantage. At this time, a month and a half had passed since the outbreak of the war, and the Austro-Hungarian Empire had obtained a large batch of weapons and equipment supplies from Spain and Italy, a significant portion of which, including rifles and artillery, had been transported to the southern battlefield.

Serbia luckily became a victim of Spanish weapons.

The moment the two sides encountered each other, their respective commanders issued orders to attack.

The collision of European armies is a contest between weapons, and it is also a contest between logistical supplies.

The weapons and equipment of the Austro-Hungarian army were a mixed bag, with some produced by themselves and others supported by Germany, Italy, and Spain.

It was just that those produced by themselves and those supported by Germany were used on the Poland battlefield, while the weapons and equipment supported by Italy and Spain were used on the Serbian battlefield because they were closer.

Because attacking Serbia was one of the important plans of the Austro-Hungarian army, the Austro-Hungarian side also attached great importance to the weapons and equipment of the attacking troops.

These 50, 00 troops were all equipped with more advanced rifles, including the Maxim M1884 rifles that the Austro-Hungarian Empire purchased from Spain.

Because this rifle was based on Spain's previous standard rifle, it was also compatible in terms of usage.

Austro-Hungarian soldiers holding such rifles quickly made the Serbian army feel what firepower suppression was.

As a country that had just recently become independent from the Ottoman Empire, Serbia did not have a very developed industrial and economic foundation.

This led to the fact that most of the Serbian army's weapons and equipment were imported from other countries, the most important of which were from Russia and Britain.

Because the Austro-Hungarian Empire occupied the Bosnia and Herzegovina region, the relationship between Serbia and the Austro-Hungarian Empire plummeted.

This is also the reason why Serbia would purchase weapons and equipment from Russia and Britain; they needed to form a certain number of troops to guard against the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

Because they were both Slavs, Serbia eventually turned to Russia.

This also led to the fact that most of the Serbian army used Russian weapons and equipment, and the Russians were also very generous, selling the rifles equipped by their own army to the Serbians.

But it was clear that the rifles used by the Russian army were still far behind those of Spain.

As early as the birth of the breech-loading rifle, Spain had already become one of the first to take the risk. The subsequent birth of smokeless powder again saw Spain become the leader, which led to Spain's weapons and equipment always being at a first-class level in Europe and also being quite popular with other countries.

During the previous Russo-Turkish War, Russia purchased a large batch of weapons and equipment from Spain through population trade.

They had also experienced the performance of Spanish weapons and equipment; their ally, Serbia, was simply experiencing it in a different way.

This encounter lasted about three hours and ended with the total rout of the Serbian army.

The Austro-Hungarian Empire had made full preparations for this attack; in addition to leading the Serbian army in rifles, they also led the Serbian army in the number of artillery pieces.

The Serbians, who had only experienced fighting against the Ottoman army, had never felt such exaggerated artillery suppression.

After holding on for less than three hours, the morale of the Serbian army could no longer be maintained.

In the end, the number of casualties on both sides in this encounter exceeded ten thousand.

Because the Austro-Hungarian Empire relied on urban defensive lines, their casualties were actually lower than those of the Serbian army.

After fighting this battle, the 35, 00-strong Serbian army had less than 30, 00 combat-ready troops left.

The Austro-Hungarian casualties were better than Serbia's, with over 47, 00 men still able to be committed to the next battle.

After leaving behind a portion of their troops, the Austro-Hungarian army did not hesitate at all and headed straight for Valjevo in the southeast.

At this time, the Serbian army had just suffered a rout; they did not expect the Austro-Hungarian counterattack to be so fast. They also did not expect that the Austro-Hungarian Empire would not attack Belgrade, but instead attack Valjevo further south.

One must know that the total population of Serbia at this time was only about 2. million.

After the outbreak of the war, the Serbian government issued a general mobilization order, expanding the army to about 100, 00 men.

100, 00 troops were already a lot for Serbia, which had a population of less than 3 million, but for the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which had tens of millions of people, such a scale of troops was clearly not enough.

With the Austro-Hungarian Empire fighting on two fronts, the troops committed to the southern battlefield had already reached a scale of 150, 00, and this was still the number of troops after subtracting casualties from continuous fighting.

As for the Serbian side, although they were still continuously mobilizing, the available troops to mobilize were constantly decreasing.

After all, it was only a country with a population of 2. million; under extreme mobilization, they could mobilize at most 300, 00 troops.

But extreme mobilization would comprehensively affect the country's civil production, industrial economy, agriculture, and even every industry would be severely affected.

If Serbia really did this, even if they could win this war, the Serbia after the victory would be destined to never rise again.

The Serbian government at this time was still relatively rational; the mobilization red line they set was only 150, 00 men.

This also means that once Serbia mobilized 150, 00 troops, it would be very difficult for them to mobilize additional troops.

Currently, after a month and a half of general mobilization, Serbia still maintained nearly 100, 00 combat-ready troops.

But the price paid for this was that the mobilization quota of 150, 00 troops had almost been filled, and tens of thousands of wounded and sick soldiers were still lying in hospitals in the rear.

Currently, tens of thousands of soldiers had already died in this war, and nearly ten thousand seriously wounded were lying half-dead in hospitals, more than half of whom were not yet out of danger, with their survival depending on heaven's will.

Even if the war stopped now, the population lost by Serbia exceeded 20, 00. This also means that Serbia is very likely to experience its first year of net population decrease since its independence.

Furthermore, this is not a decrease in the elderly population, but a decrease in the young and able-bodied population. Such a population decline is quite serious, and what it affects is not just the next few years, but very likely the development of the next decade or more.

Although the Serbian side still maintains an army of 100, 00, nearly half of these 100, 00 men must protect the capital, Belgrade.

This is also the disadvantage of having the capital located on the border; one must divert a considerable portion of military strength to protect the safety of the capital.

The importance of the capital goes without saying; once the capital is breached, the country is very likely to fall.

After subtracting half from the 100, 00 troops, the military strength Serbia can actually deploy is only 50, 00.

A portion of these 50, 00 men must also be kept as reserve forces to urgently head to gaps in the defensive lines when one is breached, preventing the entire line from being directly overrun.

Simply put, these 35, 00 men are just about the last of the military strength Serbia can mobilize.

The remaining forces are either defending the northern border or the western border and cannot be withdrawn at all.

The direction of the retreat for these 35, 00 troops is toward the east; after all, they must protect the safety of the capital. This is equivalent to opening a large gap for the Austro-Hungarian army, allowing them to march toward their destination, Valjevo, without any obstruction.

(End of chapter)