Page 302 - Le Operazioni Interforze e Multinazionali nella Storia Militare - ACTA Tomo I

302 XXXIX Congresso della CommIssIone InternazIonale dI storIa mIlItare • CIHm

The Storming of the Lovcen in the Context of Montenegro’s
Conquest in January 1916.

Christian ORTnER

he storming of the hitherto impregnable Lovcen massif constitutes the only mili-
T tary operation carried out by the Austro-Hungarian Empire, in which all branches
of the military, i.e. Army, Air Force, and the Imperial and Royal War Navy were suc-
cessfully deployed in a joint operation.
During the autumn of 1915, following the joint German-Austrian-Hungarian-Bul-
garian campaign against the Kingdom of Serbia, the military situation on the Balkans
shifted in favour of the Central Powers. Despite the success of the combined army group
in Serbia under the command of the German Field Marshall August von Mackensen,
the offensive largely came to a halt after the establishment of a land bridge considered
of strategic significance to the agonizing Ottoman Empire – which was to be supplied
with ordnance via the meanwhile functioning railway connection. Though the Serbian
Army was in a state of disintegration, it was not yet completely obliterated. Thousands
of Serbian soldiers, either as individuals or in closed formations, were heading toward
the Adriatic harbours on the Albanian coast, either to unite with the Italian units sta-
tioned there or to be evacuated by the Italian War Navy. On their return march, many
Serbs were also taken in by the Montenegrin Army, reinforcing their defensive positions
on Montenegro’s West and South-West border. Although Montenegro had also suffered
significant losses during the fighting in 1914, it still had an operational army totalling
1
some 53,000 combatants. Together with the forces concentrated in the Cattaro area, and
in particular the Lovcen massif, the Montenegrin Army was still a factor to be reckoned
with on the West Balkans. For the Imperial and Royal Army High Command, the per-
manent threat posed to the Austro-Hungarian naval base in the Bay of Cattaro, deemed
highly significant for the Austro-Hungarian naval warfare due to its strategic position
near the allied sea blockade set up in Otranto, was to tip the scales in favour of an of-
fensive against Montenegro. Especially the Montenegrin coastal artillery in its tunnelled
positions was an obstacle to the safe use of the naval base. The plan, however, did not
merely provide for a limited offensive. After eliminating the Montenegrin heavy artil-
lery on Lovcen and capturing Centinje, operations were to continue along the Albanian
coast toward the South, to also take out the Serbian and Italian units stationed near Du-
razzo and Valona.
Understandably, a significant number of forces had to be gathered for the planned
rd
venture. The Imperial and Royal 3 Army under General Hermann’s command was the

1 Österreich-Ungarns letzter Krieg, ed. Bundesministerium für Landesverteidigung und Österreichisches
Kriegsarchiv, Vienna 1930-1938, volume III, p. 565