Cerska | Origin of Street Names

Cerska Street is one of the most common streets in cities across Serbia. It is named after Mount Cer, located in western Serbia, where one of the most glorious battles in Serbian history and tactically one of the most significant battles in world warfare took place during the First World War.

The famous Battle of Cer was fought from August 15th to 20th, 1914, and it represents one of the largest battles of the Great War and the first Allied victory in it. It was preceded by a major offensive by the Austro-Hungarian army against Serbia, systematically initiated after the declaration of war less than a month earlier.

After the unacceptable ultimatum of the Austro-Hungarian government to Serbia and the official declaration of war on July 28th, 1914, the Serbian Supreme Command, led by Vojvoda Radomir Putnik, knew that new suffering could not be avoided.

Exhausted by the Balkan Wars, with a small number of soldiers and insufficiently equipped, the Serbian army, in theory, could not protect its border with the Empire along its entire length. Therefore, the defense of the country focused on protecting key positions on the Sava and Danube rivers. In what seemed like a logical anticipation of the invasion from the north, the Serbian First, Second, and Third Armies were concentrated in the area of the Velika Morava River, Šumadija, and Valjevo, ready to act northward and possibly westward if necessary.

Although it was known that large enemy forces were stationed in Bosnia, part of which had already crossed the Drina River and occupied the Loznica region, committing all sorts of atrocities, hardly anyone in the Supreme Command headquarters believed that the main breakthrough of the Austro-Hungarian army could come across the Drina. Actually, almost no one.

The commander of the Second Army, General Stepa Stepanović, saw through the Austro-Hungarians' intentions and at the last moment sent one regiment to defend positions in western Serbia. As an experienced soldier and proven military strategist, General Stepa understood the strategic importance of Mount Cer in preventing enemy advances from the west and devised a plan for joint action by Serbian divisions, which he personally coordinated.

The two armies clashed on the slopes of Cer Mountain on the night of August 15th to 16th. After four days of intense day and night fighting and significant human losses on both sides, the completely shattered Austro-Hungarian army began to retreat across the Drina, not only halting its advance into the country but literally being driven out of Serbia.

Due to his masterful tactics, which are still studied at military academies worldwide, General Stepa Stepanović was promoted to the highest military rank of the Kingdom of Serbia - a voivode.

Serbia's victory in the Battle of Cer brought glory to the Serbian army and significantly boosted the morale of the Allied forces throughout the course of the Great War.

However, even this victory came at a high cost for Serbia. Devastated, the Serbian army resisted in the Battle of Kolubara, but in 1915, it was forced into a tragic and arduous retreat across the Prokletije Mountains in the face of the combined forces of Austria-Hungary, Germany, and Bulgaria, which is recorded as one of the greatest wartime exoduses in European history.

The Battle of Cer, however, will be remembered as the first Allied victory in the Great War and perhaps even more so as a magnificent triumph of small Serbia against the greatest European power of that time.

In honor of the victors of the Battle of Cer, the renowned march "March on the Drina" by Stanislav Binički was composed, and numerous documentaries and feature films have been made, with the most popular one being the 1964 film directed by Žika Mitrović.