Warfare Stories #7: The Great Retreat (1915)

The Collapse of the Front

By the autumn of 1915 Serbia had already been fighting for more than a year. In 1914 the Serbian army had achieved major victories against Austria-Hungary at https://app.warera.io/article/697f45342094e5aa47f16c09 and https://app.warera.io/article/697fa91752a9d62bcbd046b1, becoming the first Allied country to defeat the Central Powers in the war.

But the situation changed dramatically the following year.

In October 1915 a massive new offensive began. This time Serbia faced not only Austria-Hungary, but also Germany while Bulgaria entered the war and attacked from the east.

The Serbian army, numbering roughly 250,000 soldiers, suddenly found itself fighting on multiple fronts with limited ammunition, exhausted troops, and little hope of reinforcements.

Within weeks the front began to collapse.

Belgrade had already fallen earlier in the war, and by November the Central Powers were advancing deep into Serbian territory. The Serbian High Command faced a grim choice: surrender or retreat.

Through the Mountains of Albania

In late November 1915 the Serbian army began withdrawing toward the southwest, through Montenegro and Albania, hoping to reach the Adriatic coast where Allied ships could evacuate them.

What followed became known in Serbian history simply as “The Albanian Golgotha”.

The retreat included not only soldiers, but also the Serbian government, the royal court, and tens of thousands of civilians who fled with the army. Historians estimate that between 400,000 and 420,000 people were part of the retreating columns.

The conditions were brutal.

Winter had already arrived in the mountains. Many soldiers lacked proper winter clothing. Food was scarce, supply lines had collapsed, and disease spread quickly among exhausted men.

The retreat lasted weeks, with long columns moving slowly across frozen mountain passes. Hunger, frostbite, and exhaustion killed thousands.

By the time the survivors reached the Adriatic coast in early 1916, over 200,000 people had died during the retreat.

What remained of the Serbian army was severely reduced, but it had survived.

Arrival at Corfu

The survivors were evacuated by Allied ships and transported to the Greek island of Corfu, where the remnants of the Serbian army were reorganized and treated.

For the first time in months, the soldiers had food, medical care, and shelter.

But many were too weak to recover.

Thousands of soldiers died from wounds, disease, and exhaustion even after reaching the island. The small nearby island of Vido quickly ran out of space for burials.

With no land left for graves, the fallen were buried at sea.

The waters around the island became known as Plava Grobnica — the Blue Tomb. Estimates suggest that more than 5,000 Serbian soldiers were laid to rest in the sea there.

The Blue Tomb became one of the most powerful symbols of Serbian sacrifice during the First World War.

Yet Corfu was not meant to be the end of the story.

Throughout 1916 the Serbian army was rebuilt and reorganized, eventually numbering around 150,000 soldiers again. These forces were later deployed to the Salonika (Macedonian) Front, where they continued fighting alongside Allied troops.

This moment was later immortalized in the famous poem written by Milutin Bojić, who witnessed the tragedy of those days.

The Blue Tomb

Hold on, Imperial galleons! Hamper your oars!
Tread with a silent trotter!
A proud mass, I hold, in the creep of night,
Above this holy water.

Here on the seabed, among the sleepy shells,
Where algae covered by peat moss burrow,
Lays a graveyard of heroes, lays brother beside brother,
The Prometheuses of hope, the Apostles of sorrow.

Don’t you notice how the sea is slow-moving,
Not to disturb the eternal rest of the fallen?
From the Deep trench peace is softly dreaming,
While tired Moon rays fall in.

This temple of mystery and the graveyard of sorrow
For the giant corpse endless as our mind
As calm as the midnight above the south islands is
Yet dark as consciousness, cold and in despair.

Can’t you feel from these livid depths
That piety rules this seas
And the air is rife with pantomime?
It’s the soul of the fallen that roams with ease.

Hold on, Imperial galleons! On the grave of my fallen brothers
Veil your trumpets in mourning black!
And let men-at-arms sing the mass
Here where the waves smack.

For many centuries will pass
Unnoticed will remain the sea waves
A new generation will come to build
A shiny home over these very graves.

But this graveyard in which lies
The tragic secret of an epic deed
Will cradle the immortality of glory
Where the spirit will search for its lead.

Resting here are the laurels of the past
And the transient joys of a whole nation
In this sombre grave under the blue waves
Between the Earth and the sky dome.

Hold on, Imperial galleons! Put out your torches
Cease the splashing of your oars
When my requiem is done, glide into the dark night
In piety and silence.

For I want an endless silence to rule
For the dead to hear the battles’ furore
How their boiling blood sparks in their sons
Under the wings of glory.

For there far away, the battlefields are flooded
With the same blood that is at rest here to fade
Here, over the fathers the peace reigns,
While there, over the sons, the history is made.

That’s why I need peace for this requiem
Without words, without tears or quiet sighs
To unite the clouds of incense and gunpowder
With the muted rumbling of far-away drums.

Hold on, Imperial galleons! In the name of respect!
Tread with a silent trotter!
A proud mass, I hold, like the heavens haven’t seen yet
Above this holy water.

From Retreat to Return

Three years after the retreat through Albania, the Serbian army returned to the battlefield in full strength.

In September 1918, Allied forces launched a major offensive on the Macedonian Front. Serbian troops played a central role in breaking through the Bulgarian lines.

Once the front collapsed, the Serbian army advanced rapidly northward.

Within weeks they liberated Skopje, Niš, and Belgrade, returning to their homeland after years of exile.

What had once looked like the complete destruction of Serbia had turned into one of the most remarkable military recoveries of the war.

A Familiar Situation

Looking at the current war in WarEra, the situation may feel strangely familiar.

Serbia has been pushed back again. Territory after territory has fallen, and the map now shows only one remaining region, Malta.

At first glance it may look like the end.

But history reminds us that the Serbian army once stood in an even worse position. In 1916 it had no homeland left to defend, only a small island where its soldiers recovered after crossing the Albanian mountains.

Yet years later those same soldiers marched back and helped bring the war to an end.

Malta may be small, but sometimes the smallest piece left on the map is where the comeback begins.

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