a valley up to Bulgaria.
The movements involved were somewhat complex, but easily carried out on
account of the very great numerical superiority of von Mackensen's
forces.

On September 19th Belgrade was bombarded. The Serbian positions were
gradually destroyed. On the 7th of October the German armies crossed the
Danube, and on the 8th the Serbians began to retreat. There was great
destruction in Belgrade and the Bulgarian General, Mishitch, was forced
slowly back to the foothills of the Tser range.

For a time von Mackensen moved slowly. He did not wish to drive the
Serbians too far south. On the 12th of October the Bulgarian army began
its attack. At first it was held, but by October 17th was pushing
forward all along the line. On the 20th they entered Uskub, a central
point of all the routes of southern Serbia. This practically separated
the Allied forces at Saloniki from the Serbian armies further north.
Disaster followed disaster. On Tuesday, October 26th, a junction of
Bulgarian and Austro-German patrols was completed in the Dobravodo
mountains. General von Gallwitz announced that a moment of world
significance had come, that the "Orient and Occident had been united,
and on the basis of this firm and indissoluble union a new and mighty
vierbund comes into being, created by the victory of our arms."

[Illustration: GERMANY'S DREAM: "THE
BREMEN-BERLIN-BOSPORUS-BAGDAD-BAHN"]

The road from Germany, through Austria-Hungary and Bulgaria to Turkey
lay open. On October 31st, Milanovac was lost, and on November 2nd,
Kraguyevac surrendered, the decisive battle of the war. On November
7th, Nish was captured. General Jecoff announced: "After fierce and
sanguinary fighting the fortress of Nish has been conquered by our brave
victorious troops and the Bulgarian flag has been hoisted to remain
forever."

The Serbian army continued steadily to retreat, until on November 8th,
advancing Franco-British troops almost joined with them, presenting a
line from Prilep to Dorolovo on the Bulgarian frontier. At this time the
Bulgarian army suffered a defeat at Izvor, and also at Strumitza. The
Allied armies were now reported to number three hundred thousand men.
The Austro-Germans by this time had reached the mountainous region of
Serbia, and were meeting with strong resistance.

On November 13th, German despatches from the front claimed the capture
of 54,000 Serbian prisoners. The aged King Peter of Serbia was in full
flight, fol