The Opening Moves
Serbia declared war on 13 November 1885 and crossed the lightly defended north-western border in three columns. The main army in the centre (Šumadija, Danube and Drina divisions). To the south the Morava division and to the north the Timok division. The plan was to break through the Bulgarian defences and concentrate four divisions before Sofia.
In response Alexander had to move his army from Eastern Rumelia to Sofia by all means available including the one limited railway line. One infantry regiment marched 95 km in 32 hours. The light Bulgarian forces on the Serbian border succeeded in slowing the Serbian advance in mountainous terrain which favoured the defence. Gradually reinforcements arrived at the previously prepared defensive position at Slivnitsa, 30 km north-west of Sofia.
Read more about this topic: Battle Of Slivnitsa
Famous quotes containing the words opening and/or moves:
“Seeing myself well lost once more, I sighed,
“Where, where in Heaven am I? But don’t tell me!
O opening clouds, by opening on me wide.
Let’s let my heavenly lostness overwhelm me.””
—Robert Frost (1874–1963)
“Predictions of the future are never anything but projections of present automatic processes and procedures, that is, of occurrences that are likely to come to pass if men do not act and if nothing unexpected happens; every action, for better or worse, and every accident necessarily destroys the whole pattern in whose frame the prediction moves and where it finds its evidence.”
—Hannah Arendt (1906–1975)