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The Defeat of Serbia

Germany and King Ferdinand of Bulgaria squeeze pincers on Serbia at the city of Nisch. Germany and Austria-Hungary began their joint invasion across Serbia's norther border on October 6, 1915. Bulgaria entered the war on the side of the Central Powers on October 14, and invaded Serbia from the east. Nisch fell to the invaders on November 5.
The Serbia capital of Belgrade on the Danube and the city of Monastir on the Greek border are marked with initials.
Handmade postcard map dated November 12, 1915.
Text:
Serbien Kopot, Kapot, Kaput (?)
Peter bankraft, bankratt (?)
Marked are the Adriatic and Aegean Seas, Greece, Albania, Montenegro, Bulgaria, neutral Rumania, Hungary.
Deliblat. (?)
Reverse:
Unsern tapferen Truppen im Felde gewidmet von der Tintenfabrik Eduard Beyer, Chemnitz i/s - Teplitz i/s.
Dedicated to our courageous forces in the field from the ink factory Edward Beyer, Chemnitz i/s - Teplitz i/s

Germany and King Ferdinand of Bulgaria squeeze pincers on Serbia at the city of Nisch. Germany and Austria-Hungary began their joint invasion across Serbia's norther border on October 6, 1915. Bulgaria entered the war on the side of the Central Powers on October 14, and invaded Serbia from the east. Nisch fell to the invaders on November 5.
The Serbia capital of Belgrade on the Danube and the city of Monastir on the Greek border are marked with initials.
Handmade postcard map dated November 12, 1915.

Image text

Serbien Kopot, Kapot, Kaput (?)

[Serbian King] Peter bankraft, bankratt (?)

Marked are the Adriatic and Aegean Seas, Greece, Albania, Montenegro, Bulgaria, Rumania, Hungary.

Deliblat (?)



Reverse:

Unsern tapferen Truppen im Felde gewidmet von der Tintenfabrik Eduard Beyer, Chemnitz i/s - Teplitz i/s.

Dedicated to our courageous forces in the field from the ink factory Edward Beyer, Chemnitz i/s - Teplitz i/s

Other views: Larger, Back

After stopping Austria-Hungary's three invasions of 1914, Serbia was quiet during much of 1915. It had lost 132,000 men in the war's first year, and suffered a typhus epidemic in the winter. A landlocked country mostly bordered by its enemy or by neutral countries, its allies could do little to supply it with advanced weapons. To the Allies, Italy's entry into the war, with its larger army and population, held more promise than Serbia, as did the Anglo-French Dardanelles and Gallipoli campaigns.

After Austria-Hungary's defeats by Serbia and Russia in 1914, German commander Falkenhayn focused on removing the threat to his ally. With the joint German-Austro-Hungarian Gorlice-Tarnow Offensive, he removed the Russian threat, at least for a time. He then turned to Serbia.

On October 7, 1915, Austro-Hungarian and German armies crossed the Danube and Save Rivers — Serbia's northern border — and the Drina to the west. The Serbian capital of Belgrade, sited on the Danube, fell on October 9.

Germany had been negotiating with Bulgaria to bring it into the war, and on October 11 two Bulgarian armies crossed Serbia's eastern border. The First Army focused on fighting the Serbs, the Second, to the south, cut Serbia's rail connections to Greece where the Allies had landed a relief force at Salonica. The Bulgarians held. Serbia stood alone.

Commanding the Serbian Army, Field Marshall Radomir Putnik ordered its retreat from Serbia on November 25. The Serbs crossed the mountains of Albania in winter, bombed by Austro-Hungarian aircraft and attacked by Albanian brigands, but reaching the Adriatic coast. In the spring of 1916 the French Navy transported them to the island of Corfu and ultimately to the left wing of the Allied front in Salonica.

1915-10-06

1915-11-25

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The Defeat of Serbia