1914_0816_02: The Achilles Heel - FWWC 03 Serbia '14

Mount Cer, Serbia, 16th August 1914:

During the 1st Austro-Hungarian invasion of Serbia, the Serbians stressed a plan that concentrated on Mount Cer, the dominating terrain feature in the Macva Peninsula and also the central point between the Austro-Hungarian 2. and 5. Armee. On the other hand, the Austro-Hungarians stressed a plan of attack that concentrated on both wings, with the 2.Armee applying pressure from Sabac in the north, and the 42.Honvéd InfDiv and two independent brigades swinging around to the south at Krupanj. This attack threatened a double envelopment of the Serbian 3rd Army, but 2.Armee's pressure never really materialized until it was too late, due to a lack in desire to commit the full force to the campaign since the army was scheduled to be withdrawn for Galicia.

Trouble came on the night of the 15/16th, when the Austro-Hungarian 21.LandwehrInfDiv blundered into the Serbian Combined Division on and to the north of Mount Cer. The Combined Division had just finished executing a series of forced marches and was in a very fatigued state, but it immediately went into the attack as per the Serbian plan. It just so happened that the 21.LandwehrInfDiv was greatly disorganized and disrupted from moving through the night to keep up with the 9.InfanterieDiv to their south, and for greater mobility was split into two parts that were far apart from each other. The short, sharp collision threw the right wing of the Austro-Hungarian division into an even more disrupted state and caused the left wing to pull back, exposing a gap between both Austro-Hungarian armies. The Serbians gradually exploited this gap and continuously threatened Mount Cer to the point that it would become an Achilles heel, since the Austro-Hungarian 9. InfanterieDiv was forced to protect its flank thereby weakening its eastward advance.

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*See the notes document for information on scenario design decisions and historical notes.