Soft ripples of water are the only sounds of this dark still night in which we descend on Belgrade.
From behind the breach of a 120mm Howitzer sitting atop a pivot at the center of the SMS Bodrog, I can see the Serbian fort on the southern end of the Zemn-Belgrade railway bridge.
Finally, we will give these murderers a taste of steel.
In-line with two of the three other river monitors of the Danube Flotilla and the tugs towing barges of soldiers for an amphibious invasion, we move within range of the fort defending Belgrade.
I wish I could man all three main guns at the same time; firing in every direction like a scythe to payback the blood of Serbian aggression!
This will be The Empire’s Response to murder you bastards!
Swiveling my head to look toward the bow, and then the aft of the ship, I can see the crews readying the two deck-mounted Skoda 120mm Guns.
We will all fire at once!
It will be glorious!
FIRE! The captain screams for all the gun crews to hear.
Yanking the firing mechanism, my howitzer blazes a 20kg shell toward the fort on the southern side of the bridge, sending a ball of flame from the front of the barrel, delivering it with a crashing ball of flame and fire against the now shattered fortress walls.
The deck guns are just a moment behind, unleashing their fire on the same unlucky fort.
This is retribution!
We are the vanguard of The Empire!
Serbia will cease to exist!
FIRE AT WILL! The captain orders.
Klohr and Ahles, smiling despite the weight of the shell, diligently reload the howitzer.
Finally, action!
Finally, WAR!
“Locked” Damitz yells so I can hear him.
I yank the firing mechanism again, sending another high explosive shell toward the Serbian fort.
They have nothing to touch us.
This will be so easy.
The walls of the fort are gone, its Serbian flag has fallen.
“Serves you right you BASTARDS!” I yell toward the fort as a white flag rises from its broken battlements.
“HhhaaazzzzzzaAAAAAA!” the crew yells in unison.
They surrender so quickly!
Only six shots from our guns to bring them to heal.
This War will be over in a week.
Small arms and rifle fire erupts along the shoreline leading toward Belgrade.
They are taking shots with what they have.
“Switch targets! Hit the river walls!” the captain orders.
We scramble to rotate the howitzer as the other crews rotate the deck guns and 37mm guns toward the river walls.
Your time is at an end!
You have nothing!
“Locked” Damitz yells.
Yanking the firing mechanism, I let my eyes slip away from the target toward one of the river tugs, which is towing a barge full of shock troops toward the Serbian bank of the river.
A moment later this tug stops suddenly, losing connection to its barge.
The barge is floating toward the Serbian side of the river.
“Cover that barge!” I yell.
Just as I do, a massive explosion erupts from the Serbian side of the bridge. It’s beams broken, a span of the bridge collapses into the water.
They’ve blown the bridge.
The army cannot cross on foot now.
It will be up to the barge infantry to take the south bank of the river.
“We need to protect that barge!” The captain yells.
“Locked” Damitz yells.
I yank the firing mechanism again, sending a high-explosive shell toward the Serbian gunners on the bank of the river.
These shells won’t stop those gunners.
We need anti-personnel shells for this kind of fire.
The rifle fire picks up, compelling the shock troops in the barge to jump out for safety.
They are being slaughtered!
“We must cover those men!” I project to no one in particular.
It’s load reduced by men jumping for their lives, the barge begins drifting, slowing pulled by the current back toward the Austrian bank.
I look out over the river where soldiers bodies float alongside and behind the barge.
We did not take Belgrade tonight.
Victory over the Serbs may take a little longer than I originally thought.
Around midnight July 28, 1914 Austro-Hungarian forces attempted a quick strike to take Belgrade, the capital of Serbia, by force. Their intent was to land shock troops on the Serbian side of the Danube-Sava Rivers, march across the only bridge connecting Serbia to Austria, and present the world with a captured capital before Russia, Germany, and France could mobilize. Instead, the mission, which began with the Austrian river monitor SMS Bodrog firing the first shot of the war, ended with Austro-Hungarian troops repulsed and a section of the bridge blown by the Serbs. Austria-Hungary would later capture, lose, and recapture the Serbian capital through the war. Unfortunately for the Austrians, the war was not the quick win they expected.
The SMS Bodrog saw action throughout World War I, in the inter-war years, in World War II, and beyond. It was decommissioned in 1962, turning instead to industrial use as a gravel barge. Today it is owned by the Serbian Ministry of Defense and Belgrade’s Military Museum, which plan to restore the ship.