Seite - 185 - in THE FIRST WORLD WAR - and the End of the Habsburg Monarchy, 1914 – 1918
Bild der Seite - 185 -
Text der Seite - 185 -
The Initial Campaigns 185
not simply rush forward and take the Serbian capital ? The commanders were in dis-
agreement. On 6 August, the Commander of the 2nd Army, General Böhm-Ermolli,
had been informed by General of Artillery Potiorek about the planned offensive on the
Drina River. Potiorek wanted to attack Belgrade quickly, and envisaged taking it by 10
August, four days later.438 Böhm-Ermolli objected that it would create a bad impression
to take Belgrade and then vacate the city immediately afterwards, since the 2nd Army
was to go to Russia. However, Böhm-Ermolli suggested that a powerful demonstra-
tion of force could be made. This would certainly be more prudent than simply having
the 2nd Army stand by and watch. Since the general and the general of artillery were
unable to find common ground, Böhm-Ermolli, who was the servant of two masters
and was just as bound to obey the Army High Command as Potiorek, appealed to
Conrad. Conrad replied that Landsturm and march formations were already on their
way, which were to take over the Danube section following the withdrawal of the 2nd
Army. However, that was no answer. Instead of ordering Böhm-Ermolli to remove his
army immediately, and to delay the offensive against Serbia if possible, it was left to
Potiorek, and to a certain degree to Böhm-Ermolli, to decide what they wanted to do.
Since the Commander of the 2nd Army was also keen to be involved in the overthrow
of Serbia, and not merely stage a demonstration before leaving, a not untypical partial
solution was found.
Böhm-Ermolli was given war bridge equipment and technical troops by Potiorek,
and was to leave only the horses north of the Danube and the Sava. However, by the
time of the withdrawal of his army, in other words, by the time 80,000 troops could be
entrained again, the 2nd Army was to be effective in the Belgrade area. However, the
goal was not the Serbian capital, but the ‘Mačva’, the area south of the Sava. There, a
demonstration was to be made and, in particular, the river was to be crossed at Šabac.
That now appeared to be clear at least. At the same time, Böhm-Ermolli ordered the
commanders of the IV Corps and the 7th Infantry Division, who were to focus their
efforts on the crossing, to make sure that they remained concentrated, since this would
be no long-term occupation, and the troops could be taken out at any time.439
On 11 August at 5 p.m., the Austro-Hungarian artillery began its harassment fire
and fire for effect. Now, Belgrade really did find itself under attack. On the following
day, the Imperial and Royal 5th Army arrived punctually for the ordered offensive. The
offensive was supported by the 2nd Army and initially succeeded in crossing the Drina
and Sava Rivers above Belgrade. Two days later, the Imperial and Royal 6th Army,
which Potiorek himself commanded, arrived at the upper reaches of the Drina for the
offensive against Serbia and Montenegro. Now the time had come to teach the Serbs
a lesson.
One should not only bring to mind the problems in terms of operational equipment
and logistics of an offensive that was begun before all troops had reached their staging
THE FIRST WORLD WAR
and the End of the Habsburg Monarchy, 1914 – 1918
- Titel
- THE FIRST WORLD WAR
- Untertitel
- and the End of the Habsburg Monarchy, 1914 – 1918
- Autor
- Manfried Rauchensteiner
- Verlag
- Böhlau Verlag
- Ort
- Wien
- Datum
- 2014
- Sprache
- englisch
- Lizenz
- CC BY-NC-ND 4.0
- ISBN
- 978-3-205-79588-9
- Abmessungen
- 17.0 x 24.0 cm
- Seiten
- 1192
- Kategorien
- Geschichte Vor 1918
Inhaltsverzeichnis
- 1 On the Eve 11
- 2 Two Million Men for the War 49
- 3 Bloody Sundays 81
- 4 Unleashing the War 117
- 5 ‘Thank God, this is the Great War!’ 157
- 6 Adjusting to a Longer War 197
- 7 The End of the Euphoria 239
- 8 The First Winter of the War 283
- 9 Under Surveillance 317
- 10 ‘The King of Italy has declared war on Me’ 355
- 11 The Third Front 383
- 12 Factory War and Domestic Front, 1915 413
- 13 Summer Battle and ‘Autumn Swine’ 441
- 14 War Aims and Central Europe 469
- 15 South Tyrol : The End of an Illusion (I) 497
- 16 Lutsk :The End of an Illusion (II) 521
- 17 How is a War Financed ? 555
- 18 The Nameless 583
- 19 The Death of the Old Emperor 607
- 20 Emperor Karl 641
- 21 The Writing on the Wall 657
- 22 The Consequences of the Russian February Revolution 691
- 23 Summer 1917 713
- 24 Kerensky Offensive and Peace Efforts 743
- 25 The Pyrrhic Victory : The Breakthrough Battle of Flitsch-Tolmein 769
- 26 Camps 803
- 27 Peace Feelers in the Shadow of Brest-Litovsk 845
- 28 The Inner Front 869
- 29 The June Battle in Veneto 895
- 30 An Empire Resigns 927
- 31 The Twilight Empire 955
- 32 The War becomes History 983
- Epilogue 1011
- Afterword 1013
- Acknowledgements and Dedication 1019
- Notes 1023
- Selected Printed Sources and Literature 1115
- Index of People and Places 1155