Radomir Putnik

Radomir Putnik, also known as Vojvoda Putnik, KCMG (Радомир Путник, Војвода Путник; ; 24 January 1847 – 17 May 1917) was a first Serbian Vojvoda i.e. Field Marshal and Chief of the General Staff of the Serbian army in the Balkan Wars and in the First World War. He took part in all of the wars that Serbia waged from 1876 to 1917.

Biography
Putnik's family, which fled with thousands of other Serbian families from Kosovo during the Great Serb Migration of 1690 into Habsburg Empire, returned from exile in Austria-Hungary to a Serbian entity independent of Ottoman rule in the middle of the 19th century. Putnik's father, Dimitrije, was a teacher in Kragujevac, and Radomir completed his basic schooling there. He attended the Artillery School (the precursor to what would eventually become the Military Academy) in Belgrade, where he graduated in 1863, placing eighth in his class. In 1879, he married Ljubica Bojović, the daughter of a colonel, with whom he had seven children (three daughters and four sons). Contemporaries describe him as an ascetic, introverted man, and a heavy smoker; however, he is also thought to have been tough on professional issues. He proved himself on the battlefield during Serbia's wars against the Ottomans that were fought between 1876 and 1877. It was his detachment that took Gnjilane and Gračanica from the Ottomans in Kosovo, during the closing phase of the second Serbo-Ottoman War (1877-1878, in January 1878. The Serbian troops, under Major Putnik, were obliged to retreat to Merdare in order to fulfill the stipulation in the general armistice between Russians and Ottomans. Putnik was famous for being righteous and demanding officer, strongly defending his point of view.

Putnik became a professor in the Military Academy, holding that position from 1886 to 1895. In 1889, he was appointed the Deputy Chief of the General Staff. However, he soon came into conflict with King Milan I, partly for not allowing a King's protégé to pass an examination. Political intrigue and latent conflict with King Milan Obrenović and his successor, King Alexander I, would follow him throughout this part of his career. In 1895, he was forced to retire by the King under suspicion of sympathy for the Radical party of Nikola Pašić.

After a military coup d'etat (executed by what would later, in 1911 become unofficially called the Black Hand organisation) against Alexander I Obrenović in 1903, Putnik was, under the new king of Serbia, Peter I Karadjordjević rehabilitated, promoted to the rank of General and was appointed the Chief of the General Staff. He then proceeded to completely reorganize the Serbian army by retiring old and promoting new officers, and updating outdated war plans. Putnik was Serbian Minister of War three times: 1904, 1906-1908, 1912. Putnik appointed General Živojin Mišić as his deputy. Despite occasional personality clashes, the two men had deep respect for each other. Putnik was the first officer to be appointed to the highest rank of Vojvoda (Field Marshal). In 1912, he led the Serbian Army into spectacular victories in the First against Ottomans (Battle of Kumanovo, October 1912, Battle of Monastir, November 1913) and the Second Balkan War against Bulgaria (Battle of Bregalnica 1913). Field-Marshal Putnik, expecting Bulgarian attack, had deployed his troops on the most important strategic points near the river Bregalnica (Bregalnitza), which was essential for a quick victory after the sudden, unannounced Bulgarian attack.

World War I
Caught in Budapest when Austria-Hungary declared war upon his country, Field Marshal Putnik was allowed safe passage back to Serbia in a chivalrous and possibly self-defeating gesture by the Austro-Hungarian emperor Franz Josef. After a troublesome trip, Putnik returned to Serbia and offered his resignation to King Peter I of Serbia on the grounds of ill health. It was rejected, the King insisting that Field Marshal Putnik take command over the army, if only in strategic sense, while younger generals, such as Stepa Stepanović, Živojin Mišić and Petar Bojović would take over operational duties. Putnik had to spend most of his time in a well-heated room. However, his impaired health did not prevent him from successfully organizing the campaign. Serbia defeated the Austro-Hungarian Army's offensives in August and September 1914 (battles of Cer and Kolubara), driving it out of Serbia by December 1914.

The Serbian front remained relatively quiet until Autumn 1915, when joint Austro-Hungarian, German and Bulgarian forces, led by German Field Marshal August von Mackensen, began a large offensive against Serbia with more than 300,000 soldiers. Before the joint attack, Putnik warned the Serbian government that Bulgaria was concentrating her troops at the eastern Serbian borders and that preventive attack on Bulgaria was the only chance for Serbia to avoid fighting on two fronts. His demand was rejected due to the wishes of the Allies still hoping to isolate Bulgaria from joining Triple Alliance. Despite heroic resistance, Serbian troops were obliged to retreat towards Kosovo, and Putnik deployed avoided that his troops face total destruction by the enemies. On 31 October, Putnik ordered a general retreat onto Kragujevac, attempting to keep his exhausted army together as it sought an escape into friendly territory. Many of Putnik's soldiers were farmers, who occasionally slipped away from the retiring army to resume their rural lives. Putnik's rapidly declining forces continued their withdrawal towards Albania during the first week of November 1915, a process aided by the fact that the Germans, Bulgarians and Austro-Hungarians were reluctant to pursue Serbian troops through highlands of Albania. The Germans felt that the war against Serbia was won, with most of the nation under the control of the Central Powers. Regarding the Russian Empire as the main threat in the East, Mackensen was eager to move his forces back to the Russian front. The Bulgarians were more than happy with their territorial gains in Macedonia and northwest Serbia, while the Austro-Hungarians were equally content with the notion that the Bulgarians were not moving to establish a Greater Bulgaria. The final confrontation occurred in Kosovo, the Field of the Blackbirds, between 19 and 24 November 1915. The Serbs were afflicted by a new outbreak of typhus, while food and ammunition was in extremely short supply. Defeat was inevitable. On 25 November, Putnik made his last and most painful order — full retreat, southwards and westwards through Montenegro and into Albania, trying to reach allied ships that would, he hoped, transport the core of the army to the safety of the Ionian islands. Many of the fleeing soldiers and civilians did not make it to the coast, though - they were lost to hunger, disease, attacks by enemy forces and Albanian tribal bands. The circumstances of the retreat were disastrous, and all told, some 155,000 Serbs, out of 250,000 mostly soldiers, eventually reached the coast of the Adriatic Sea, and embarked on Allied transport ships that carried the army to various Greek islands (many to Corfu) before being deployed at the Salonika front in April 1916. In worsening health, Putnik had to be carried in a sedan chair during the retreat through snowy mountains of Albania, exhausted by the effort and episodes of bronchitis, influenza and pneumonia. Putnik was taken over by allied forces in Scutari (Skadar) and transported to Brindisi, and then to Corfu along with the core of the army.

In the atmosphere of recrimination that followed between the government and the High Command, the entire General Staff was dismissed in January 1916, including Field Marshal Putnik. He felt embittered, having learned of his dismissal from a cashier who gave him his salary without a Chief of General Staff's supplement. He traveled to Nice, where French authorities welcomed him with honors and gave him a villa. He was overcome by lung emphysema and died on 17 May 1917, without seeing his homeland again. His remains were transferred to Serbia in November 1926 and buried with honors in a chapel at Belgrade's New Cemetery. The grave carries the epitaph "Grateful Homeland to Radomir Putnik".

Legacy
Mount Putnik in Alberta, Canada was named after him in 1918 for his exceptional services to the allied cause.

Military career

 * Commander of 3rd Mountain Battery, January 1867
 * Commander of Čačak Battery of People's Army, October 1868
 * Commander of 4th Mountain Battery, April 1867
 * Commander of Merzetska Battery, February 1871
 * Duties at Artillery inspection, October 1872
 * Duties at Department of the Artillery, January 1874
 * Chief of Artillery Factory at Kragujevac, 1875
 * Adjutant I class of Rudnik Brigade, April 1876
 * Chief of staff of Rudnik Brigade, June 1876
 * Commander of Rudnik Brigade, 1876
 * Commander of Vranje Military District, 1878
 * Duties at Artillery Department of Ministry of the Military, 1879
 * Chief of staff of Division of standing army, 1880
 * Commander of Toplica Military District, April 1881
 * Duties at Artillery Department of Ministry of the Military, March 1883
 * Chief of staff of Danube Division, September 1883
 * Chief of Foreign Intelligence Department of Operational Department of Main General Staff, 1886
 * Chief of Operational Department of Main General Staff, April 1888
 * Deputy Chief of Main General Staff, 1890
 * President of examination committee for a rank of major, March 1893
 * Commander of Šumadija Division, June 1893
 * President of examination committee for a rank of major, April 1894
 * Deputy Chairman of the Military Court of Cassation, January 1895
 * Retired on October 26, 1896
 * Chief of General Staff, 1903

Quotes
'Troop concentration on paper is a quick and easy matter.''
 * Ironic remark in a letter to Andra Knićanin on the movements of the Serbian army across very difficult terrain at the beginning of the Serbo-Turkish war of 1878.

'Those were only skirmishes with Turkish rearguards.''
 * Upon first hearing of the Battle of Kumanovo - The Serbian High Command expected that a decisive battle with the Ottoman forces has yet to take place - most likely on Ovče Polje plateau just north of Skopje. Also, due to communication problems, it first heard of the battle when it had already been won.