Serbia organized its military around three levies. The first
levy consisted of men from twenty-one to thirty-one years of age; the second
levy, which was also considered a front-line levy, was composed of men between
the ages of thirty-one and thirty-eight; the men of the third levy, affectionately
nicknamed Ćića (uncle), were between the ages of thirty-eight and forty-five. An
additional group, the Poslednja odbrana (final defense), consisted of men aged
eighteen to twenty and over fifty,13 “wearing peasant clothes, with lambskin
caps and opanci.”14 Although the army supplied weapons and ammunition to
soldiers of all levies, only soldiers of the first levy received military equipment
and uniforms.
All other levies were expected to provide their own clothing, footwear, and
shelter, although second levy soldiers would also receive a cap and a coat.15
Rarely used as part of the operational army, troops of the third levy formed
special local defense units, and carried out guard duties along railroads,
highways, and bridges.16 In peacetime, second and third levy units were inactive
A first levy Serbian infantry division on war footing consisted of two infantry
brigades of two regiments each: each regiment was comprised of four battalions
of 1,000 men each.18 Each battalion was to have one machine gun detachment.
On paper, a first levy infantry division could field 16,000 rifles (enlisted men).
Each infantry division maintained three cavalry squadrons, and forty-eight
cannon divided into twelve batteries of four cannon each. Each division had four
field hospitals, field kitchens, transportation and supply trains, an artillery repair
shop, an engineer battalion, a telegraph section, regimental bands, chaplains, a
bridging unit, a veterinary hospital, a quartermaster section, butcher company,
and a craftsman company (blacksmiths, shoemakers, etc.).
A Serbian second levy infantry division on war footing consisted of one
infantry brigade composed of three regiments, totaling twelve battalions of
1,000 men each. Without adding the various staff formations, each division could
field approximately 12,000 rifles. There were also cavalry, engineers, artillery,
and the other ancillary units associated with a first levy formation. The second
levy divisions were much more poorly equipped than first levy divisions, and
usually had antiquated weapons. Their daily food ration was smaller, the second
levy soldier receiving a daily 860 grams as opposed to the 1,060 grams provided
the first levy soldier.19 Second levy divisions also received less field equipment
and fewer uniforms than their first levy counterparts.
Third levy troops were usually formed into company, battalion, and
occasionally regiment size units, assigned to such regionally based units as the
Defense of Belgrade, Užice Army, and Obrenovac Detachment. They participated
in Četnik (guerrilla) operations behind enemy lines and in occupied territories,
guarded communication lines, and patrolled rear areas for deserters. They
received no military clothing, and usually carried the oldest weapons. Their unit
sizes varied widely.20
In spite of manpower losses during the Balkan Wars, as well as the relatively
large size of these divisional formations,21 at the war’s start Serbia managed to
fully man most of its first and second levy units. However, following the initial
manpower losses in August at the Battle of Mount Cer, and the loss of
approximately 60,000 soldiers to desertion during the first five months of the
war,22 its units would not again reach full strength until mid to late 1915. In fact,
during the first five months of the war (August to December 1914), such first levy
units as the Combined Division, Morava I, and Drina I were often at one-third of
their effective strength.23
Because Serbia’s meager industry lacked the ability to manufacture rifles, the weapon shortage
forced Serbia to rely on large numbers of antiquated rifles for its second and
third levy troops.28 The Serbian Army issued some of its front-line troops with
11-mm M.80 (Model 1871) Mauser-Koch single-shot, black powder rifles, which
had been refitted with magazines and smokeless powder ammunition, as well as
some that had not been refitted. In addition, a quantity of Russian-made singleshot,
black powder .42 caliber Berdan II rifles—which pre-dated the M.80—were
in service with the third levy. The use of antiquated rifles placed the Serbian
soldiers at a severe disadvantage on the battlefield. The black powder meant
that the moment a soldier fired, he revealed his position, and the single-shot
action meant that his adversary could get off several shots for every one the
Serbian soldier could fire.29
Although Serbia’s small military arsenal at Kragujevac could turn out
only 250–260 75-mm field artillery shells per day (the French 75 could fire
twenty shells per minute), it could manufacture only 200 fuses per day.
Nonetheless, Serbia’s arsenal was unable to produce sufficient gunpowder for
more than 80–100 shells per day.43 Therefore, most artillery shells were
purchased from France or Russia. The first replacement shipments of artillery
shells for Balkan War losses did not begin to arrive until early July 1914.44
In July 1914, Serbia’s air force was so unknown that Serbia’s Ambassador to
Rome had to ask the Foreign Ministry if Serbia even had an air force.45 The
fledgling Serbian Air Force consisted of two observation balloons, three aircraft,
and homing pigeons.46 The aircraft, two of which were Bleriot monoplanes,
were considered obsolete, even by the embryonic standards of 1914 military
aviation,47 and only one was barely flight-worthy at the outbreak of the war,
which led to a pilots’ revolt.48 Due to mechanical and other difficulties, these
aircraft were often out of service until mid-August, and then again through much
of the fall and winter.49
On the eve of battle, Serbia could field a woefully equipped first and second
levy operational army totaling 250,000 men, armed with only 180,000 modern
magazine-fed bolt-action rifles, 200 machine guns, three obsolescent aircraft,
192 homing pigeons, and 617 artillery pieces, of which 381 were modern rapidfire weapons.77
When third levy troops and other non-operational forces were
added, Serbia’s army totaled 320,000 men, many of whom had to be deployed
along the borders with Albania and Bulgaria in irregular formations.
