with which they proceeded to occupy the two mountain chains in question, that they vastly misjudged the capacity of the Serbian troops to make rapid movements.  Even as the first shots were being fired across the Drina at Losnitza, the Serbian forces were on the move, westward.  Two army corps were at once rushed toward the Valley of the Jadar; part of a third was sent to block the advance of the Austrians from Shabatz.  Meanwhile the Austrians took their time.  For two days they busied themselves fortifying the bridge at Losnitza.

* * * * *

CHAPTER XLIX

THE GREAT BATTLES BEGIN

On August 14, 1914, began the first battle of the Serbian campaign.  The Austrians proceeded to storm the heights from which the small outpost detachments had all the time been bombarding them with its old-fashioned guns.  The Serbians, though few in number, made a desperate resistance.  It was their business to hold back the enemy as long as possible, even until the reenforcements should arrive.

Early in the morning of August 14, 1914, the Austrians advanced in a great mass, then charged up the hillsides toward the Serbian position.  The Serbians waited until they were well up the steep slopes and the rush of the enemy had subsided to a more toilsome climb.  Then they sent down volley after volley from every available weapon.

The Austrian soldiers, who had until then never experienced anything more warlike than field maneuvers, lost their nerves; the first line broke and ran at the first fire.  However, that was likely to happen to any troops under fire for the first time.  Down in the plain they formed again, and again they swept up the slopes.  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.