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Battle of Cer
Part of the Serbian Campaign of the Balkans Theatre (World War I)
Date August 16 to August 19, 1914 Location Near Cer Result Serbian Victory
Combatants
Austria-Hungary	Serbia
Commanders
Oskar Potiorek Liberius von Franck	Stepa Stepanović Pavle Jurišić Šturm
Strength
200,000	180,000
Casualties
18,500 killed or wounded 4,500 captured	4,785 killed or missing 11,215 wounded

The Battle of Cer was one of the first battles of the World War I. The battle is also known as Battle of Jadar, because the main operations were held near the estuary of the river Jadar. The battle was fought between the Austro-Hungarian Army and Serbian forces; it marked the first Allied victory in the war. The battle improved Allied-Serbian relations because western faith in the competence of the Serbian Army was much improved. Austro-Hungarian troops fought under the command of General Oskar Potiorek and Serbian troops under the command of General Stepa Stepanović.

Contents 1 Battle Summary 2 Outcome 3 Legacy 4 References

When the First World War started the Austro-Hungarian Army under the command of General Oskar Potiorek pushed into Serbia across the Sava and the Drina. Šabac fell. The Serbian Second Army under the command of General Stepa Stepanović advanced towards Cer, the Šumadija Division towards Šabac and the Cavalry Division towards Mačva. On the left flank the Third Army under the command of General Pavle Jurišić Šturm entered the battle. The Austro-Hungarian Army walked right into the area where Serbia's artillery trained many of their gunners and thus Serbs could use their artillery with great accuracy and effectiveness, while in the same time Austro-Hungarian Army had no bearing or coordiantes for the general area where the battle was fought, thus they couldn't bring to bear their advantage in artillery pieces.It is also important to note that Serbian Second Army was, due to its position in the middle of the northwestern cordon formation, strongest of the three armies, not in term of numbers (largest was the first army which was assigned to protect the entrance to the Morava river valley, this being the best possible approach to Serbia due to the lack of natural defences, unlike the mountanous northeast and northwest approaches) but in terms of quality of its divisions. It consisted only of the divisions of the first call, thus of soldiers in their 20's and with best training and matériel. These were Šumadijska, Moravska, Dunavska (which, being responsible for direct defence of Belgrade, had additional regiments attached) and Kombinovana (combined) divisions. This organisational structure was applied by Field Marshal Putnik not just to have a strong center, but also, because of their central position, Second Army's divisions could at any time be attached to either First or Third army if the strategic development dictated such an action. Thus, when all doubts about the direction of Austro-Hungarian invasion were cleared (Putnik strongly held to his belief that the northwestern advance was a demonstrative attack conducted in order to move Serbian forces out of the positions on Danube river, guarding the entrance to Morava valley, even though reports from the Drina and Sava fronts were indicating the area where major battle was about to take place), Serbian cordon conducted a regrouping (movement of app. 90 degrees counterclockwise) of all of its armies and Second Army faced von Franck's Fifth Army (only Austro-Hungarian Army which had crossed into Serbia in full strength) at Cer and Jadar valley. Another thing of great importance during Cer battle was Putnik's unwillingness to conduct aggressive offensive maneuvers (this was also the case in the First Balkan War) due to his fear of unnecessary risk which could lead to higher casualties in already undermanned Serbian army. An evident example was his overruling of General Stepanović's proposal on the eve of the third day of the battle. Stepanović sensed that Austro-Hungarian forces on Cer an Everk were beginning to crumble, so he suggested a bold maneuver in which his Kombinovana and Moravska divisions would conduct a forced frontal pursuit of opposing troops on Cer and Everk ridges, whilst the Cavalry and Timočka (this division was hardly used during the entire course of the battle, to significant dissadvantage regarding the outcome) divisions would conduct a parallel pursuit on the northern slope of Cer towards Lešnica, with orders to attack both the enemy's flanks and to reach the pontoon bridges on Drina river and therefore cut Fifth Army's main line of retreat. If this maneuver was conducted, possibillity of a catastrophe for Austro-Hungarian arms was significant. Yet, Putnik ordered Stepa to pursuit enemy force frontally and not to conduct any sort of flanking attack, which would, in itself, cause far larger casualties upon retreating enemy. Third Army's loss of contact with enemy on the third day of the battle also helped Austro-Hungarian Fifth Army to withdraw in a more orderly fashion. Considering this information, it is obvious that the invading force could have suffered a far costlier defeat and shows Putnik as a superb organiser (his mobilisation plans for both Balkans wars and World War I were excellent, considering the low quality of roads in Serbia and lack of a significant railroad network), yet overcautious in the conduct of battles.

During August 1914 a battle was waged in the area of Mt. Cer, in which around 200,000 Austro-Hungarians fought against 180,000 Serbs. The main battle at Cer lasted from August 16 to 19. The Serbian Army won the victory, pushed the Austro-Hungarian Army back across the Drina, and completely thwarted their war plan.

Around 25,000 Austro-Hungarian officers and soldiers were killed and wounded, and around 4,500 were captured. The Serbian Army lost around 16,000 and 250 officers. As a result of the battle Austria-Hungary withdrew from Sandzak, delaying their offensive into Serbia. Austria-Hungary continued offensives into Serbia for the rest of the autumn of 1914 without much success. Cer also gave the Entente their first victory of the war against the Central Powers.

Historical artifacts can be found in a museum located in the town of Šabac.

• Skoko, Savo Vojvoda Radomir Putnik. Beogradski Garfičko-Izdavački Zavod. 1984.