Chapter 343: Defense Line Collapse

Although only four countries participated in this war, the war's influence expanded to the entire European continent.

Among the four countries involved in this war, excluding Serbia, which had a relatively small population and land area, the remaining three great powers—Germany, Austria-Hungary, and Russia—were all major grain exporters in Europe.

Especially Russia; as the country with the largest population in Europe, Russia's grain production was also the highest in Europe.

The Ukrainian plains were known as the granary of Europe, and the grain produced there every year sold well across Europe, serving as the main channel for Russia to obtain foreign exchange income.

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

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

Setting aside the harvest issue for now, the planting of wheat and rice would certainly be affected.

Although Russia's environment was colder, and the planting and harvesting times for crops would be delayed, the Ukrainian plains were not considered a northern, cold region compared to Germany and the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

The planting time for wheat and rice in the Ukrainian plains was from the end of April to the beginning of May, and since it was already mid-to-late March, this meant there was only about a month left before the Ukrainian region would begin grain planting.

Although this war was being fought on the Polish plains, because Russia had mobilized a large amount of manpower, grain planting in the Ukrainian plains would certainly be affected.

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

The reason was simple: farmers always accounted for the majority of a country's population.

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

With the outbreak of war, not only would Europe's total grain production decrease, but total grain consumption would also increase significantly.

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

For Spain, as long as grain production could be increased, it meant that they would definitely make money in grain exports.

After all, the Spanish mainland was not affected by the war, which meant that the farmers' costs for planting grain would not increase. Under the premise that costs would not increase, it was certain that the more grain sold, the more money would be made.

It was a pity that in this war, Gao Da's two major heart-troubles, Britain and France, did not join.

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

But now, because the British were still watching covetously, Spain could only cancel any combat plans and quietly wait for the development of this war.

While the war in the Polish 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 still the conflict between the Austro-Hungarian Empire and Serbia, and this conflict was the focus of this war.

Russia holding off hundreds of thousands of German-Austrian allied forces in the Polish region was good news for Serbia. But such good news could not change the reality that Serbia was retreating steadily on the front lines; if Serbia could not obtain reinforcements, this war would not last 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 range of the Austro-Hungarian Empire's artillery.

As for completely moving out of the capital, Belgrade, that was something the Serbian government had 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 lines would naturally not have a strong desire to fight.

This was 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 of the Bosnia and Herzegovina region. If they handed over the rebel leaders of the Bosnia and Herzegovina region, it would mean they would completely lose control over that region.

In this way, the plan for a "Greater Serbia" would become a pipe dream. What could they do relying only on the small population and land within the country? Looking at the current size and population, Serbia was completely incomparable to the other major power in the Balkan Peninsula, Romania, and could be considered "brothers in misfortune" with Bulgaria, which had not yet fully gained 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 a force of over 40,000, while the Serbian garrison had nearly 20,000 troops.

The Austro-Hungarian army crossed the river to attack the Serbian border town of Loznica on the other side. 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 30,000 of the 40,000 troops dispatched by the Austro-Hungarian Empire could continue to fight, while the Serbian side still had nearly 15,000 troops that could 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 was reflected here. Serbia was less than 300 kilometers wide and long at its maximum, and the border town of Loznica was only about 100 kilometers away from the capital, Belgrade.

This also meant that the Serbian army's retreat was limited; they could not retreat dozens of kilometers to build positions and could only retreat a short distance to find terrain suitable for defense to build simple positions.

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

In the first month of the war, the Russian army had both victories and defeats in its operations against the German-Austrian allied forces. Although there were more failed battles, fortunately, Russia's area was vast, allowing them to retreat recklessly to build new defense lines.

The German-Austrian allied forces had no way to deal with such a Russian army; after all, their military mobilization was not yet complete, and it was impossible for the army to advance dozens or hundreds of kilometers to pursue the Russian army.

If they advanced rashly, they would instead be surrounded by the Russian army.

It was precisely for this reason that the German, Austrian, and Russian forces had been fighting in the Polish region for over a month, yet the front line had advanced less than a pitiful 30 kilometers.

It could even be said that the German, Austrian, and Russian sides 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 clash head-on 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 another few days of bitter fighting, finding that Serbia was guarding the area west of Belgrade well, the Austro-Hungarian army made a prompt decision to abandon the eastward advance and turn south to fight in Valjevo.

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

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

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

As long as the western border completely fell, 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 at the mercy of the Austro-Hungarian army.

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

The fall of Loznica was equivalent to opening a gap in this defense line. Subsequently, the Austro-Hungarian army could continuously enter from this gap, cross the river, and attack Serbian territory recklessly.

Because they understood the importance of the western border, after Loznica was captured, Serbia re-mobilized nearly 20,000 troops, planning to recapture this important border town from the Austro-Hungarian Empire.

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

This reorganized Serbian army encountered the ready-to-go Austro-Hungarian army. The attacking Serbian army had 35,000 troops, while the defending Austro-Hungarian army had 50,000. From the number of troops, one could see who had a huge 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 supply of weapons and equipment from Spain and Italy, a significant portion of which—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 was a contest of weapons, and also a contest of logistical supplies.

The Austro-Hungarian army's weapons and equipment were a mixed bag, including those produced by themselves, as well as those supported by Germany, Italy, and Spain.

It was just that those produced by themselves and those supported by Germany were used on the Polish 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 attached great importance to the weapons and equipment of the attacking army.

This force of 50,000 was fully equipped with more advanced rifles, including the Maxim M1884 rifles that the Austro-Hungarian Empire had purchased from Spain.

Because this rifle referenced Spain's previous standard rifle, it was also interchangeable in terms of use.

The Austro-Hungarian soldiers, holding such rifles, soon made the Serbian army feel what "firepower suppression" meant.

As a country that had just gained independence 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 exports 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 took a sharp turn for the worse.

This was also the reason why Serbia would purchase Russian and British weapons and equipment; 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 the Spanish rifles.

As early as the birth of the breech-loading gun, Spain had already become the first to "eat the crab." The subsequent birth of smokeless powder also saw Spain become the leader, which led to Spain's weapons and equipment always being in the top tier in Europe and also 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, and their ally, Serbia, was just experiencing it in a different way.

This encounter lasted about three hours and ended with the total collapse 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 fully 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 casualties on both sides of this encounter exceeded 10,000.

Because the Austro-Hungarian Empire relied on city defense lines, their casualties were instead lower than those of the Serbian army.

After this battle, the 35,000-strong Serbian army had less than 30,000 combat-ready troops left.

And the Austro-Hungarian Empire's casualties were better than Serbia's, with still over 47,000 troops that could continue to be committed to the next operation.

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 collapse, and they did not expect the Austro-Hungarian Empire's counterattack to be so fast. Even less did they expect that the Austro-Hungarian Empire would not attack Belgrade, but instead attack Valjevo further south.

One must know that at this time, Serbia's total population was only about 2.7 million.

After the outbreak of the war, the Serbian government issued a general mobilization order, expanding the army to about 100,000.

100,000 troops were already a lot for Serbia, which had a population of less than 3 million, but for the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which had a population of tens of millions, such a scale of troops was clearly not enough.

In the situation of fighting on two fronts, the Austro-Hungarian Empire had already committed 150,000 troops to the southern battlefield, and this was still after subtracting casualties from continuous fighting.

As for Serbia, although they were still continuously mobilizing, the number of troops that could be mobilized was constantly decreasing.

After all, it was only a country with a population of 2.7 million; in the case of extreme mobilization, they could mobilize at most 300,000 troops.

But extreme mobilization would comprehensively affect the country's civil production, industrial economy, agriculture, and even all walks of life would be extremely seriously affected.

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

At this time, the Serbian government was still relatively rational, and the mobilization red line they set was only 150,000.

This also meant that once Serbia mobilized 150,000 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 100,000 combat-ready troops.

But the price paid for this was that the mobilization quota of 150,000 troops had almost been filled, and tens of thousands of wounded and sick soldiers were lying in hospitals in the rear.

Currently, tens of thousands of soldiers had died in this war, and nearly 10,000 seriously wounded were lying in hospitals half-dead, more than half of whom were not out of danger, and whether they would live or not depended on God's will.

Even if the war stopped now, the population lost by Serbia exceeded 20,000. This also meant that Serbia was very likely to experience its first year of net population decrease since independence.

And this was not a decrease in the elderly population, but a decrease in the young and middle-aged population. Such a population decrease was quite serious, affecting not just the next few years, but very likely the development of the next decade or more.

Although Serbia still maintained an army of 100,000, nearly half of these 100,000 had to protect the capital, Belgrade.

This was also the disadvantage of the capital being located on the border, which was that a considerable portion of troops had to be dispersed to protect the safety of the capital.

The importance of the capital naturally went without saying; once the capital was captured, the country was very likely to fall.

After subtracting half from the 100,000 troops, Serbia only had 50,000 troops available.

These 50,000 still had to leave a portion as reserve troops to urgently head to the loopholes in the defense line when a certain defense line was broken, preventing the defense line from being directly captured.

Simply put, these 35,000 troops were almost the last troops Serbia could mobilize.

The remaining troops were either defending the northern border or the western border, and simply could not be drawn out.

The direction of retreat for these 35,000 troops was eastward, after all, they had to protect the safety of the capital. This was equivalent to opening a big gap for the Austro-Hungarian army, allowing them to advance toward their destination, Valjevo, without any obstacles.

(End of chapter) ===== CHAPTER 344 =====