It is extremely doubtful that there had been time to
replace many of these worn-out pieces.
The field gun was of French make; it was a 3-inch quick firer with
a maximum range for shrapnel of 6,000 yards, a little over 3-1/2
miles. The Second Ban was armed with old De Bange guns of 8 cm.
caliber. The heavy guns, which had done much service outside Adrianople,
were of Creuzot make, and included 24 howitzers of 15 cm. and some
mortars of 24 cm. As for the aviation wing, there was none.
The Serbian army was under the superior command of the Chief of the
General Staff, Voivode (Field Marshal) Putnik. Unlike his younger
colleagues, his military education was entirely a home product;
he had never studied abroad. His father was one of those Serbs
born on Austrian soil; he had emigrated from Hungary to Serbia
in the early forties where he had followed the vocation of
school-teacher. In 1847 the future general was born. After passing
through the elementary schools, young Putnik entered the military
academy at Belgrade. He had already attained a commission when
the war of 1876 with Turkey broke out, through which he served as
a captain of infantry. His next experience was in the unfortunate
war with Bulgaria, in 1885, in which the Serbians were beaten after
a three days' battle. At the outbreak of the war with Turkey, in
1912, General Putnik was made head of the army and received the
grade of voivode (field marshal), being the first Serbian to enjoy
that distinction.
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