At the Fifth Sermian Group Command on the north bank of the Sava River, General Kovis met the new commander-in-chief of the Empire's Balkans and commander-in-chief of the Serbian front. His Royal Highness did not seem to be trying to liquidate his defeat in Serbia more than ten days ago, which made him feel a little relieved.

"The Serbs seem to have signs of wanting to cross the Sava River and launching an attack on Sermia." Admiral Kovis introduced the situation on the battlefield to Lee Haydn and Lieutenant General Mayer.

"Oh, they actually want to launch an active attack?" Li Haidn was a little surprised. Although the Serbs won a victory, their strength was not enough to attack Austro-Hungary, so he glanced at his chief of staff.

"Maybe it was because of the pressure from the French that they wanted to sacrifice the Serbians to win time for the Russians or the French." Mayer said, "As long as the Second Army can be held for more than ten days, the Russians can take Limburg."

"What do you think?" Lee Haydn turned his head and looked at Covis.

"I want to take advantage of the opportunity of the other party crossing the river to block them on the river bank!" Coves said. His Fifth Army suffered heavy losses and has only replenished 70,000 people yet, but he is still confident of repelling the 200,000 Serb attack along the defensive positions of the Sava and Danube.

"No, no, let them come over." Li Haidn looked at the military map on the table and drew circles with pencils. Sermia is located in the triangle between the Sava River and the Danube River. It is indeed a good bag. He did not believe that the Serbs would have the idea of ​​fighting against the water. "The Fifth Army retreated to this line and then counterattacked with the five divisions of the Croatian local defense forces that were ready to supplement the Third Army. My Seventh Army will force the Sava River and launch an attack on their flanks."

Admiral Kovis took a breath. Lee Haydn wanted to eat the Serbian Second and Third Army, but his appetite was too big. The other party had 200,000 people. "The idea was exquisite, but how could he successfully cross the Sava River?"

"Don't worry about this. You can just hold the enemy's main force head-on for three days." Li Haidn said that his 7th Army had more than 210,000 people, but the Army Department has not counted the Marine Division, so most people would think it had only more than 140,000 people.

This is a big illusion.

Marshal Pudonik, commander-in-chief of the Serbian army, was under strong pressure from the allies. The French hoped that they would strengthen their offensives and force the Germans to mobilize troops to help the Austro-Hungarian Empire defend. Of course, the Russians also hoped that he would do so, but their wishes were not that strong. The Russian army commanded by General Ivanov was in a state of power on the southwest front, and the Austrian army retreated step by step, and the strong defense of the Limburg Fortress would soon be broken.

There was no way, Serbia's arms and supplies had to rely on the support of the French, so he could only bite the bullet and prepare to launch an offensive in Sermia.

On August 26, the Third Serbian Army, commanded by General Sturm, began to cross the Sava River. The progress was unexpectedly smooth. After encountering some not-so-hard resistance, the Third Serbian Army successfully crossed the Sava River and then marched towards Sermia.

The Fifth Army of the Austro-Hungarian Empire still seemed to have not recovered from the defeat of the Battle of Varelvo. Although it was blocking it layer by layer, it could not stop the Serbian offensive pace. The day after the battle began, the Serbian army advanced nearly thirty kilometers and approached the city of Sermia.

On the third day, the Third Army of the Serbian Army encountered strong resistance from the Austro-Hungarian army and advanced only five kilometers forward. General Sturm asked Marshal Pudonik to increase reinforcements.

Marshal Pudonik had a bad premonition, and he seemed to smell some conspiracy.

But the French military adviser in the Serbian army interfered with his judgment and kept urging him to send the Second Army to the front line as soon as possible. Indeed, it was very attractive. The Serbian army was less than ten kilometers away from the city of Sermia.

On August 29, Stepannovic commanded the elite Serbian Second Army and was sent to the Sermian front line. They crossed the Sava River and were unstoppable along the way. The next afternoon, they captured the city of Sermia.

A great victory!

Newspapers in London and Paris are fully exaggerating the Serbian victory.

However, disaster began to come.

On August 30, the Austro-Hungarian Empire's army began to counterattack against Sermia. That night, the Austro-Hungarian Seventh Army broke through the Sava River and cut off the retreat of the Serbian army.

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

Szepannovic felt that he was on the verge of collapse, and he wanted to strangle the Frenchman in front of him to death.

It was precisely because of this guy's constant inspiration that his Second Army and the Third Army of Serbia were in trouble, but the guy was still chattering and shouting to attack forward. He was forced to get out of bed in the middle of the night, and his entire head was buzzing by the sudden news. He stretched out his left hand and pressed his fist against the wall, so as not to fall in shock by the report he had just received.

His eyes were staring at the huge military map on the wall.

The enemy forcibly crossed the Sava River from Croatia, with an obvious intention, which was to cut off the retreat of the two armies commanded by him and Sturm.

This was a huge trap. He and Sturm walked into this carefully set trap step by step in front of the victory, in the face of the French's forced.

When did Potirek, who was as stupid as a pig, become smart? The Serbs obviously did not receive the news that Potirek was replaced. In order to avoid shaking the confidence of the people, the news that Potirek was dismissed was not made public, and only in the upper class knew about it.

This is exactly what he has always been worried about.

He now needs to retreat immediately, and Szepannovic immediately discovered the crux of the problem: he needs to stop the enemy from crossing the Sava River and maintain a retreating passage so that he and Sturm's troops can retreat smoothly.

But this idea was immediately opposed by French advisers.

Szepannovic immediately understood what Marshal Dopnick intended him to be careful before he crossed the river.

Marshal Dopnick must be worried that such a thing will happen, but he can't do anything about it.

Their army was trained by the French and equipped with weapons provided by the French. At present, Serbia has always relied on military assistance provided by the French. These French supplies transported from Thessalonika are the fundamental reason why the Kingdom of Serbia can persist.

Military operations have always obeyed political needs, but this need was enough to ruin the army.

In the eyes of those great countries, Serbia is just a pawn at the mercy of others.
Chapter completed!