Serbian (Slavic) people are stubborn and we are rather going to die in honor than be the slaves to others! We lost but we fought as heroes, not like cowards.
After the breakthrough of the Thessaloniki front, an army of 700,000 soldiers was thrown out of the war, and Germany ordered a general retreat. Emperor Wilhelm, outraged, sent a telegram to the Bulgarian emperor: "62,000 Serbian soldiers have decided to go to war. Shame!" It was recorded that the Bulgarian soldiers, seeing the Serbian soldiers, whom they thought were finished in 1915, attacking, threw down their weapons and ran away shouting that "the dead are coming"
15:55 actually Gavrilovic had orders to counterattack cos our High command new the Germans are crossing the Danube near Smederevo and ordered a full retreat so they wouldn't get surrounded. Counter attack was there to help the rest of the army escape. There is even a crazier story, some battalions were sent from Belgrade to Smederevo to slow down German crossing, some of them ran on foot, in full combat gear for 50 kilometers! And they made it on time and postponed the crossing for a day or two and retreated. This is not an exaggeration, it's recorded by our military at the time. There is also a story from the first Austrian offensive after we won and pushed them out of the country, soldiers had to collect bodies from the fields to burn or bury and Serbian soldiers stumbled upon a body of a officer and found the letter so they thought it was some military information and sent it to their higher ups, but the letter was meant for officers young daughter. So they sent the letter to the daughter but also wrote their own, expressing condolences and writing about how bravely he fought and that they buried him with all honors, told her exactly where the grave is and invited her and her loved ones to come, visit and give respect to her father after the military operations are done and pace was achieved. Of course I'm just paraphrasing, the actual letter was written beautifully and with respect and real sympathy for the loss. (this letter story I actually herd from a American who told me the story from the german point of view. And don't get me started on Milunka Savic 🤣, most decorated woman soldier in the history of, well, the World. Her story is more like a Hollywood script than real life. Yes, seams like Serbs get in some kind of frenzy state when it comes to defending their country from foreign invaders. And while it's good that almost all Serbs know these stories, and are very proud of their ancestors, it also creates a huge problem in our society. Wars tell so many unbelievable stories, good and bad, and those stories have became myths of heroes and martyrs and our people have become borderline mythomaniacs 😀😭 and now believe are much more significant as a nation than we really are. In geopolitical sense. Even tho Balkan always was a playfield for superpowers, as I'm sure you know as Bulgarian. 1/4 of our population died, and 50% of male adults. That caused many demographic problems after the war. But also cemented our statehood, and given us, Serbians incredible bond made by that collective memory we share. Nice video. 😀 Ziveli
you say that you are not aware of whether the Bulgarians commit crimes, they did and they are gruesome, they even burned down the medieval complex of Mansatira Zica, they would have burned down the church too if an old woman had not sworn them to the Orthodox faith with their mother's milk. And if they had burned it, they would have destroyed the most important book in Serbia, which was hidden in the floor the Miroslav's Gospel. I recommend that you watch the documentary about him.The other most important books from medieval Serbia were not so lucky, the ones that survived the bombing by the Austrians were loaded on a train to Thessaloniki, they were intercepted by the Bulgarians and taken away. They have not been returned to this day.
They needed time to ensure evacuation of the main forces because they were in danger of being encircled. Like showed in the video, one attack was enveloping from the east, down Morava valley, other was to the west and the Kalemegdan landing with an advance was to make a wedge in between two Serbian armies. I remmember learning this in school, something similar was done at battle of Mojkovac, were the montenegrin forces held back the combined central powers armies to allow evacuation through Albania and preventing a cut off of the retreat route. This attack in particular, binded enemy forces and made sure they would ask for reinforcements but also prevent them from advancing long enough for the main force to clear the pocket being created. Imagine the german 6th army in Stalingrad having a part of its forces attacking the advancing Russians, stoping them and allowing the rest of the army to retreat. Not sure if the german mindset of 1942 would allow such an obvious sacrifice, would the soldiers go into obvious deaths and even if the german command would recognize the danger. Serbia was and is a small country, fighting a much larger enemy. We respected the germans, although we didnt have much respect for the Austrians, so we were ready to make such a sacrifice. On initial landing attempt, the austrians couldnt make it, so the germans had to transfer aditional forces. Seems like AH army lost their "fear" factor back in 1914 and our units were ready to attack them even if outnumbered because a lot of times, when it would get tough and bodies started droping, austrians would just turn around and run away droping their weapons. They feared close combat, they feared hand grenades that serbian soldiers used a lot and were experienced with while the austrians werent adapt to such warfare. Our armies had experience of "modern" war and of fighting a superior enemy back in two balkan wars while austrians just didnt. So I am pretty sure, if the germans hadnt come and the bulgarians attacked from the east having us outnumbered and outmanouvered, the AH would never manage to take Serbia. Why were soldiers ready to do it? All of them had families behind them and all of them knew what crimes the enemy commited back in 1914, erasing civilian population as the conquered parts of western Serbia. So the thinking was, ok I die here today but then my wife, kids, parents, siblings, get enough time to evacuate, our command gets enough time to set up a new front or prepare a propper counter attack.. So I die but my family gets to live. All notion of chivalry was gone in 1914. That is why so many civilians followed the army into albanian retreat. I remmember my grandmother telling me what her parents told her and it was just pure dumb luck you werent butchered as a civilian back in 1915-1917 and sadly the bulgarian occupation was extremly bad. Many deaths, ban on using serbian language and writting, bulgarisation if serbian names (or death), executions on a daily basis. That was bad enough to spark a couple of rebellions were the population would take up any hidden arms they had and just move to the mountains leaving their homes.
I think your next video should be Sabaton Lady of the Dark Official Animated Story Video--it is about Milunka Savic from Serbia during WWI! She is the most decorated female in history! The video is in the same animated style as No Bullets Fly!
during WW1 serbia lost 40% of it's male population. keep in mind the losses they suffered during the balkan wars before. serbia was hit hard in the early 20th century, losing over 30% of it's total population in the 1910s.
in stread of joining us and fighting the ones who dont belong here, they chose to join them... and that is why to this day we have a saying the bulgarian will stab you in the back! I really hope that they come to their sences now and realise which side they must be on! (u gotta remember serbians and bulgarians are basicaly almost one people because we speak almost the same language... so bulgarian brotheren shooose now!!!)
The military units commanded by Major Gavrilović had the task of holding back the enemy until the rest of the army, the command and the civilian population with the administration, archives, part of the assembly and the government of Serbia got out of Belgrade! Those units were not unnecessarily sacrificed, but had a clear, heroic task that they fulfilled, to the last survivor! I don't know where you got the idea that anyone in the Serbian army would needlessly sacrifice the lives of soldiers, just for the sake of a heroic deed?
Није ни чудо братко да разумеш до пр 400 година смо сви говорили истим језиком а и не би ви краља туђег народа сматрали својим највећим светитељем. (краљ Милутин Стефан Немањић)
Serbian (Slavic) people are stubborn and we are rather going to die in honor than be the slaves to others! We lost but we fought as heroes, not like cowards.
After the breakthrough of the Thessaloniki front, an army of 700,000 soldiers was thrown out of the war, and Germany ordered a general retreat. Emperor Wilhelm, outraged, sent a telegram to the Bulgarian emperor: "62,000 Serbian soldiers have decided to go to war. Shame!"
It was recorded that the Bulgarian soldiers, seeing the Serbian soldiers, whom they thought were finished in 1915, attacking, threw down their weapons and ran away shouting that "the dead are coming"
doubt that was true, but sounds fucking epic nonetheless
15:55
actually Gavrilovic had orders to counterattack cos our High command new the Germans are crossing the Danube near Smederevo and ordered a full retreat so they wouldn't get surrounded. Counter attack was there to help the rest of the army escape. There is even a crazier story, some battalions were sent from Belgrade to Smederevo to slow down German crossing, some of them ran on foot, in full combat gear for 50 kilometers! And they made it on time and postponed the crossing for a day or two and retreated. This is not an exaggeration, it's recorded by our military at the time. There is also a story from the first Austrian offensive after we won and pushed them out of the country, soldiers had to collect bodies from the fields to burn or bury and Serbian soldiers stumbled upon a body of a officer and found the letter so they thought it was some military information and sent it to their higher ups, but the letter was meant for officers young daughter. So they sent the letter to the daughter but also wrote their own, expressing condolences and writing about how bravely he fought and that they buried him with all honors, told her exactly where the grave is and invited her and her loved ones to come, visit and give respect to her father after the military operations are done and pace was achieved. Of course I'm just paraphrasing, the actual letter was written beautifully and with respect and real sympathy for the loss. (this letter story I actually herd from a American who told me the story from the german point of view.
And don't get me started on Milunka Savic 🤣, most decorated woman soldier in the history of, well, the World. Her story is more like a Hollywood script than real life.
Yes, seams like Serbs get in some kind of frenzy state when it comes to defending their country from foreign invaders. And while it's good that almost all Serbs know these stories, and are very proud of their ancestors, it also creates a huge problem in our society. Wars tell so many unbelievable stories, good and bad, and those stories have became myths of heroes and martyrs and our people have become borderline mythomaniacs 😀😭 and now believe are much more significant as a nation than we really are. In geopolitical sense. Even tho Balkan always was a playfield for superpowers, as I'm sure you know as Bulgarian.
1/4 of our population died, and 50% of male adults. That caused many demographic problems after the war. But also cemented our statehood, and given us, Serbians incredible bond made by that collective memory we share.
Nice video. 😀 Ziveli
you say that you are not aware of whether the Bulgarians commit crimes, they did and they are gruesome, they even burned down the medieval complex of Mansatira Zica, they would have burned down the church too if an old woman had not sworn them to the Orthodox faith with their mother's milk. And if they had burned it, they would have destroyed the most important book in Serbia, which was hidden in the floor the Miroslav's Gospel. I recommend that you watch the documentary about him.The other most important books from medieval Serbia were not so lucky, the ones that survived the bombing by the Austrians were loaded on a train to Thessaloniki, they were intercepted by the Bulgarians and taken away. They have not been returned to this day.
Bro, thank you for this video reaction... Greetings from Belgrade, Serbia🤘🙂
They needed time to ensure evacuation of the main forces because they were in danger of being encircled.
Like showed in the video, one attack was enveloping from the east, down Morava valley, other was to the west and the Kalemegdan landing with an advance was to make a wedge in between two Serbian armies. I remmember learning this in school, something similar was done at battle of Mojkovac, were the montenegrin forces held back the combined central powers armies to allow evacuation through Albania and preventing a cut off of the retreat route.
This attack in particular, binded enemy forces and made sure they would ask for reinforcements but also prevent them from advancing long enough for the main force to clear the pocket being created.
Imagine the german 6th army in Stalingrad having a part of its forces attacking the advancing Russians, stoping them and allowing the rest of the army to retreat.
Not sure if the german mindset of 1942 would allow such an obvious sacrifice, would the soldiers go into obvious deaths and even if the german command would recognize the danger.
Serbia was and is a small country, fighting a much larger enemy. We respected the germans, although we didnt have much respect for the Austrians, so we were ready to make such a sacrifice.
On initial landing attempt, the austrians couldnt make it, so the germans had to transfer aditional forces.
Seems like AH army lost their "fear" factor back in 1914 and our units were ready to attack them even if outnumbered because a lot of times, when it would get tough and bodies started droping, austrians would just turn around and run away droping their weapons. They feared close combat, they feared hand grenades that serbian soldiers used a lot and were experienced with while the austrians werent adapt to such warfare.
Our armies had experience of "modern" war and of fighting a superior enemy back in two balkan wars while austrians just didnt.
So I am pretty sure, if the germans hadnt come and the bulgarians attacked from the east having us outnumbered and outmanouvered, the AH would never manage to take Serbia.
Why were soldiers ready to do it? All of them had families behind them and all of them knew what crimes the enemy commited back in 1914, erasing civilian population as the conquered parts of western Serbia. So the thinking was, ok I die here today but then my wife, kids, parents, siblings, get enough time to evacuate, our command gets enough time to set up a new front or prepare a propper counter attack.. So I die but my family gets to live.
All notion of chivalry was gone in 1914. That is why so many civilians followed the army into albanian retreat.
I remmember my grandmother telling me what her parents told her and it was just pure dumb luck you werent butchered as a civilian back in 1915-1917 and sadly the bulgarian occupation was extremly bad.
Many deaths, ban on using serbian language and writting, bulgarisation if serbian names (or death), executions on a daily basis. That was bad enough to spark a couple of rebellions were the population would take up any hidden arms they had and just move to the mountains leaving their homes.
Wow, that was a great history lesson. I doubt a lot of people heard about that part of history. Congratulation!
Cheers from Serbia to Bulgaria mate
1:59 yes they did,look Surdulice up
Pozdrav iz Srbije Stefane
Well, the delaying was in fact important for retreat of main Serb army forces all the way to Albania and then Greece. Every hour counted.
Bro... 10 iron regiment was sacrificed for greater good. Time allowed rest of army to retreat across Albania to Greece...
Thanks for awesome reaction. Love from Serbia my Bulgarian brother❤
Sabaton Lady of the Dark Sabaton History and ady of the Dark Official Animated Story
I think your next video should be Sabaton Lady of the Dark Official Animated Story Video--it is about Milunka Savic from Serbia during WWI! She is the most decorated female in history! The video is in the same animated style as No Bullets Fly!
during WW1 serbia lost 40% of it's male population. keep in mind the losses they suffered during the balkan wars before. serbia was hit hard in the early 20th century, losing over 30% of it's total population in the 1910s.
in stread of joining us and fighting the ones who dont belong here, they chose to join them... and that is why to this day we have a saying the bulgarian will stab you in the back! I really hope that they come to their sences now and realise which side they must be on! (u gotta remember serbians and bulgarians are basicaly almost one people because we speak almost the same language... so bulgarian brotheren shooose now!!!)
The military units commanded by Major Gavrilović had the task of holding back the enemy until the rest of the army, the command and the civilian population with the administration, archives, part of the assembly and the government of Serbia got out of Belgrade!
Those units were not unnecessarily sacrificed, but had a clear, heroic task that they fulfilled, to the last survivor!
I don't know where you got the idea that anyone in the Serbian army would needlessly sacrifice the lives of soldiers, just for the sake of a heroic deed?
It was ther duty thers is a saying in serbia"hrists serbs fear no death" it is our nature"inat " stuberdnes contrery to logic.
Није ни чудо братко да разумеш до пр 400 година смо сви говорили истим језиком а и не би ви краља туђег народа сматрали својим највећим светитељем. (краљ Милутин Стефан Немањић)
We are good in any war from midleages to modern age