But,
tenacious to the end, her heroic defenders preferred to leave their
country rather than submit to a hated yoke. Step by step the Serbians,
always facing the enemy, retreated to the sea. It was a terrible
tragedy. Their retreat will remain a matter of legend, like that of
the Ten Thousand under Xenophon. As they retreated, the Serbians
called, in their despair, for help.
Who went to Serbia's aid? It was not Russia, whose armies were quite
worn out. It was not England, who feared an attack on Egypt and who
was still fighting at the Dardanelles. It was not Italy, whose special
efforts were directed towards preventing the junction of Austria with
Greece, and who was satisfied with establishing herself at Valona and
thus driving a wedge between her two rivals on the Adriatic coast.
But France, France who is represented as worn out and bled white,
heard Serbia's call for help and decided to respond to it.
Supplies were first landed at San Giovanni di Medua and Antivari in
the smaller French boats. But it was soon evident that these supplies
would be insufficient and that the Serbs could not maintain their
positions in the Adriatic ports even with French help from the sea.
The complete evacuation of an entire army, piece by piece, had to be
undertaken.
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