This time they did not turn at the first volley. On they came,
with fixed bayonets. And presently the first line reached the top
of the heights, and the fighting was hand-to-hand. For a moment the
Serbians, overwhelmed by numbers, were on the point of fleeing. But
these same men had been through many a hand-to-hand encounter with
both Turks and Bulgars; that experience stood them in good stead.
And again they swept back the attacking masses of Austria-Hungary.
By evening, August 14, 1914, the Austrians had not yet taken the
heights. But the Serbians, most of them middle-aged and old men,
had spent their vitality. As the dark night lowered over the scene,
they fell back, until, at Jarebitze, they met the first advance
guards of the oncoming Serbian main army. And here they halted, and
the united forces proceeded to dig a trench on a ten-mile front,
extending from north to south, through the town and clear across
the Jadar Valley. Nor did the Austrians then attempt to follow up
this first success. Thus the Serbians were allowed to intrench
themselves unmolested until, next day, August 15, 1914, they were
joined by the balance of their forces.
Now, by studying the map, it will be seen at a glance that it was
only the Tzer Mountains which separated the Austrian column crossing
the Drina at Losnitza and the column which had crossed the Save and
had occupied Shabatz. Should the Austrians from over the Drina get
possession of the Tzer ridges, they would thus effect a junction
with the forces in Shabatz, and so form a line that would cut off a
large portion of northwestern Serbia.
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