Battle of Cer

The Battle of Cer was one of the first ones in the WWI where the Serbian forces led by General Stepa Stepanovic were victorious over the Austro-Hungarian forces under the command of Oskar Potiorek. The victory in the Battle of Cer was not only one of the greatest ones for the Serbian army, but it was also the first WWI victory of the allied forces, which helped raise morale of the Entente forces. On the other hand, the Central Power’s plan to break Serbia and turn to Russia failed. The world was amazed by the heroic resistance that the army of such a small country gave to so great forces. The battle took place from 16 to 20 August 1914, on a vast area of Cer mountain, in the Drina basin. Being aware that Austro-Hungary was preparing for a summer offensive to Serbia, the Serbian Supreme Command deployed its three troops around Serbia, at directions where the offensive was expected to come from – in the Morava river basin and in  the north of Šumadija – but the Austrian command concentrated the major part of its troops along the Drina, thus surprising the Serbian command. The Stepa Stepanović’s Second Army deployed on Cer and the battle took place at night, between the 15 and 16 August. In the battles near Tekeriš village, the Serbs forced the Austrian forces to retreat. The next morning, General Stepa brought parts of the Third and the First Army, then the Morava and the Timok divisions, and with the Cavalry and the Šumadija division, he forced the Austrian Sixth division to retreat over the Drina. Sixteen thousand Serbian and 25,000 Austrian soldiers were killed in the battle.

GEOGRAPHY

Mountain Cer is in western Serbia, in the Drina basin. In the vicinity is mountain Gučevo, and the Jadar river flows in the valley between the two mountains, so the Battle of Cer is also called the Battle of Jadar.

OUTSTANDING FIGURES

General Stepa Stepanović, general Petar Bojović