Page - 279 - in THE FIRST WORLD WAR - and the End of the Habsburg Monarchy, 1914 – 1918

Belgrade and the Failure in the Balkans 279 necks in the Serbian Army. The Serbs attacked the Imperial and Royal Armies, which had been reduced to just over 80,000 men, with a force of around 200,000. At first, the XVI Corps was forced to retreat over the Kolubara. Then the entire front collapsed. The war became increasingly ferocious. The Imperial and Royal troops suspected every Serb of being a franc-tireur. It was known that the third contingent brought to the front by the Serbs was no longer in uniform. Anyone wearing farmer’s clothing and with opanci on his feet was already suspicious. For their part, the Serbs also did not hesitate to spread fear and to give free rein to feelings of hatred. The accusations of violations of international law lasted throughout the war and still continue to this day. Ultimately, there were countless cases of inhumanity on both sides.675 On 15 December, Belgrade was again deserted, and by the end, the Imperial and Royal troops were again standing where they had begun in August : on Austro-Hun- garian soil. The report of the total defeat of the Balkan forces came as a shock. There had been no indication that a catastrophe loomed instead of triumph over the Serbs. Potiorek had after all repeatedly sent reports of successes and claimed that operations were pro- gressing according to plan. Then suddenly, on 5 December, he said that the armies had to be withdrawn and that without immediate reinforcements, there was a threat of utter defeat. On 10 December, the Chief of the Military Chancellor of the Emperor, Bolfras, demanded in the name of the Emperor that he send a detailed report on the reasons for this reversal.676 On 13 December, Potiorek was instructed to issue a press communiqué with which the public was to be informed about the state of affairs that had come about. Since in the draft of the report the situation was euphemised to such an extent that the Emperor refused to authorise it, the Military Chancellery issued a communiqué of its own. Two days later, the Deputy Chief of the Military Chancellery, Major General Marterer, travelled to Petrovaradin (Peterwaradein) in order to gather information on site and to investigate the causes of the defeat. On 19 December, Marterer returned and was asked by the Emperor who was to blame. Marterer replied tersely : General of Artillery Potiorek.677 Officers and soldiers had been tasked with fulfilling a gargantuan objective, and the burden of suffering they had to bear had been just as great. The losses among the Balkan forces since the beginning of the war had run to 273,000 men, of whom 30,000 had been killed, around 173,000 wounded and 70,000 taken prisoner. And this was from a total of around 450,000 men, who had been committed in stages.678 This was a great deal more than the total losses among the Serbs, who counted 22,000 killed and 91,000 wounded. In relation to the population and resources overall, their loss was of course far greater than the one that Austria-Hungary had to bear. Serbia was finished. The Ser- bian Army had neither the means nor the strength to overcome the border rivers and mountains towards Bosnia or Syrmia and into the Banat. They suffered as a result of