At the headquarters of the 5th Sermian Group on the north bank of the Sava River, Admiral Covis met with the new Commander-in-Chief of the Balkan Corps and Commander-in-Chief of the Serbian Front, Archduke Friedrich. His Royal Highness the Crown Prince did not seem to have the idea of liquidating his defeat in Serbia ten days ago, which made him breathe a sigh of relief.

"The Serbs seem to be showing signs of wanting to force their way across the Sava River and launch an attack on Sermia." Admiral Covis briefed Lee Haydon and Lieutenant General Mayer, Chief of the General Staff, on the battlefield.

"Oh, they want to launch an active attack?" Somewhat surprised, although the Serbs had won a victory, they were not strong enough to attack Austria-Hungary, so he glanced at his chief of the general staff.

"Probably because of pressure from the French, who wanted to sacrifice the Serbs to buy time for the Russians or the French." Mayer said, "As long as they can hold off the Second Army for ten days, the Russians will be able to take Limburg." ”

"What do you think?" Lehedon turned his head and looked at Corvis.

"I want to take advantage of the opportunity for the other party to cross the river and stop them on the riverbank!" Kovis said his Fifth Army had suffered heavy losses and had only now replenished 70,000 men, but he was confident that defensive positions along the Sava and Danube would repel an attack of 200,000 Serbs.

"No, no, let them go." Lechelton looked at the military map on the table, drawing circles on it with a pencil, Sermia was located in the triangle between the Sava and Danube rivers, it was indeed a good cloth bag, and he did not believe that the Serbs would have the idea of fighting on their backs. "The Fifth Army will retreat to this line and then launch a counterattack with five divisions of the Croatian Local Defence Army, which will be preparing to replenish the Third Army, and my Seventh Army will force its way across the Sava River and attack on their flanks."

Admiral Kovis took a breath of cool air, Li Haydon wanted to eat the Serbian Second and Third Armies, but his appetite was too great, and the other side had 200,000 men. "It's a brilliant idea, but how do you successfully cross the Sava River?"

"Don't worry about this, you just need to be able to hold back the enemy's main force head-on for three days." Mr. Lee said his 7th Army had more than 210,000 men, but the War Department had not counted the Marine Division, so most people would think it was just over 140,000.

This is a big illusion.

The commander-in-chief of the Serbian army, Field Marshal Pdonnick, was under strong pressure from the Allies, and the French wanted them to intensify their offensive, forcing the Germans to withdraw their forces to help Austria-Hungary defend itself. Of course, the Russians wanted him to do the same, but their desire was not so strong, and the Russian army under the command of General Ivanov was overwhelming on the southwestern front, the Austrians were retreating, and the fortified fortress of Limburg would soon be breached.

There was no way, Serbia still had to count on the support of the French for arms and supplies, and he had to bite the bullet and prepare for an offensive in Serbia.

On 26 August, the Serbian Third Army, commanded by General Sturm, began to force its way across the Sava River. Progressing unexpectedly, the Serbian Third Army successfully crossed the Sava River and then marched on Sermia after encountering some less intense resistance.

The Austro-Hungarian Fifth Army still did not seem to have recovered from the defeat at the Battle of Valevo, and although it was blocked by layer upon layer, it could not stop the Serb offensive. On the second day after the start of the campaign, the Serbian army advanced almost thirty kilometers and approached the city of Sermia.

On the third day, the Serbian Third Army met strong resistance from the Austro-Hungarian army and advanced only five kilometers, and General Stuhlm asked Marshal Pudonike for additional reinforcements.

Marshal Pudonike had a bad premonition, and he seemed to smell some kind of conspiracy.

But the French military advisers in the Serbian army interfered with his judgment and urged him to send the Second Army to the front as soon as possible. Indeed, it was tempting that the Serbian army was less than ten kilometers from the city of Sermia.

On 29 August, Stepanović's elite Serbian Second Army was sent to the Sermian front, where they crossed the Sava River and captured the city of Sermia the next afternoon.

A big win!

The newspapers in London and Paris were full of the Serb victory.

But then disaster began.

On 30 August, the Austro-Hungarian army began a counterattack on the city of Cermia, and that evening the Austro-Hungarian Seventh Army broke through the line of the Sava River, cutting off the retreat of the large Serbian army.

The Serbian army in Sermia then collapsed and fell into the flanking attack of the Austro-Hungarian army.

Stepanovich felt that he was on the verge of collapse, and he wanted to strangle the Frenchman in front of him with his own hands.

It was thanks to the constant agitation of this guy that his Second Army and the Serbian Third Army were currently in a difficult situation, but this guy was still chattering about the attack. Forced to get out of bed in the middle of the night, my whole head buzzing at the sudden news. He stretched out his left hand and pressed it into a fist against the wall, lest he fall in shock at the report he had just received.

His eyes were fixed on the huge military map on the wall.

The enemy forced his way across the Sava River from the Croatian direction, with the obvious intention of cutting off the rear of the two army groups under his command and that of Sturm.

It was a huge trap that he and Steulm walked into step by step in front of the victorious **, in the face of the persecution of the French.

When did Potilek, who is as stupid as a pig, become smarter? The Serbs apparently did not receive the news of Potilek's dismissal, and in order to avoid shaking the confidence of the people, the news of Potirek's dismissal was not made public, and only the upper echelons knew about it.

That's exactly what he's been worried about.

He now needed to retreat immediately, and Stepanovich immediately saw the crux of the matter: he needed to prevent the enemy from crossing the Sava and maintain a retreating passage so that he and Stuhlm's troops could retreat smoothly.

But this idea was immediately opposed by French advisers.

Stepanovich immediately understood what Marshal Dopnik's intention was to ask him to be careful before he crossed the river.

Marshal Dopnik must have been worried that something like this would happen, but there was nothing he could do about it.

Their army was trained and equipped with French weapons, and Serbia has been dependent on military assistance from the French, and these French supplies from Thessaloniki are fundamental to the continuation of the Kingdom of Serbia.

Military operations have always been subordinated to political needs, but this need is enough to bury this army.

In the eyes of those great powers, Serbia is just a pawn at the mercy of others.

He grew angry, his head buzzing. He stretched out two fingers and rubbed vigorously on his temples to calm himself down.

For mobile phone users, please go to M. to read.