COMMAND ORDERED WITHDRAWAL VIA ALBANIA

BIJELJINA, NOVEMBER 24 /SRNA/ – On November 25, 1915, the Supreme Command of the Serbian Army in the First World War issued an order to withdraw through Montenegro and Albania.

The order stated: "Capitulation would be the worst solution, as it would mean losing the state, and our allies would completely abandon us".

During the retreat of Serbian soldiers accompanied by refugees—an event unparalleled in the history of warfare—more than 240,000 people lost their lives.

A total of 135,000 soldiers reached the island of Corfu, and around 12,000 arrived in Bizerte, where the Serbian Army was re-formed and later liberated the occupied homeland in 1918.

The Albanian Golgotha is the name given to the retreat of the Serbian Army and displaced civilians across the mountains of Albania and Montenegro after the Central Powers invaded Serbia in the winter of 1915/1916 during the First World War.

The withdrawal took place in several convoys moving from the direction of Metohija toward the Adriatic coast, where Allied commands organized sea transport and reception to safe locations on Greek islands in the Ionian Sea, as well as in Italy and North Africa.

It is estimated that tens of thousands of soldiers and civilians perished during the retreat due to wounds and exhaustion.

After recovering and replenishing their ranks, around 150,000 members of the Serbian Army joined Allied forces on the Salonika Front in June 1916, where heavy fighting continued until the end of the war and the final liberation of the homeland.

All participants who survived this epic march, and later the fierce battles on the Salonika Front, were awarded the famous commemorative medal known as the Albanian Commemorative Medal.