Top officials gather at Battle of Cer memorial

Top officials gather at Battle of Cer memorial

At the central celebration Vučić and Dodik signed the memorial book of the Tekeriš Memorial Complex, near Loznica in western Serbia.

Wreaths were also laid by Chief of the General Staff of Serbian Armed Forces General Ljubiša Diković, Defense Minister Bratislav Gašić, and Loznica Mayor Vidoje Petrović, as well as envoys of the Serbian president and Serbian parliament speaker.

The soldiers who fought in the Battle of Cer were also honored by Ivana Lučić, great-granddaughter of General Stepa Stepanović who was the commander of the Serbian Second Army, which played the key role in the battle.

On behalf of the Serbian allies in the Great War, wreaths were laid by Russian Ambassador Aleksandr Chepurin and military envoy of France, as well as the representatives of the diplomatic corps in Belgrade.

The memorial service honoring the fallen heroes was headed by Patriarch Irinej of the Serbian Orthodox Church, and the beginning of the ceremony was announced by the trumpet player of the Serbian National Guard.

The Battle of Cer began by the attack of the Austro-Hungarian Army on the Kingdom of Serbia from the direction of Bosnia-Herzegovina on August 12, 1914.

The first big confrontation occurred in the night between August 15 and 16 near the village of Tekeris, and the two armies continued to fight all through August 20 along a 50-kilometer-wide front.

"Cer Operations" ended on August 28, when the Serbian army re-entered Sabac and forced the enemy to flee across the Drina River.

About 25,000 Austro-Hungarian soldiers were killed or wounded, and over 4,500 were taken as prisoners of war. Serbian casualties comprised a total of 16,045 non-commissioned officers and soldiers and 259 officers, with 2,107 of them killed and 250 taken as prisoners of war.

The victory of the Serbian army in the Battle of Cer caused shock and disbelief in Vienna and Berlin and gave rise to enthusiasm among Serbia's allies.

"Ultimate victory"

It is time that we live and work for Serbia like our ancestors, who gave everything for freedom and the country in World War I, Aleksandar Vučić said on Tuesday in Tekeriš.

"We now have a duty and obligation to work and live for Serbia, just like soldiers fought and died for Serbia a hundred years ago. It is time to once again give the country at least part of what was given to it by those who gave it everything. It is time that we stop moping and complaining and make an effort for our Serbia. It is time for our sacrifice and our effort," Vučić said.

"All those who believed in freedom had faith in Serbia in World War I, and from that faith and sacrifice emerged a country in which the modern generation has the obligation to build what emerged from the sacrifice of ancestors," he noted.

"We came here to Cer to become a free nation that is worthy of respect, and we believed in victory," Vučić said.

"The name for which lives were lost and for which we were victorious must again become our goal, our dream and legacy. That is why we must pledge to our ancestors that we will make their dream come true and that we will not find it hard to live and work for our Serbia, to build it and get it back to where it belongs," Vučić said.

"That is our main job, so let us do it. A hundred years have passed and now is the right time. I am confident that we can do this," Vučić said.

"We have wasted much time on the wrong decisions, regimes and wars, but we are back and we are ready to capture the Tekeris and Cer of our own," he noted.

Serbia today belongs in Europe, just like it did in World War I, but it is not turning its back on the Russians, whom everyone today has forgotten and is against, he said.

"We are on our European path, but the Serbs have never turned their backs on a friend in trouble," Vučić noted.

He thanked the ambassador of Austria - a country Serbia fought against in the Great War - for attending the ceremony, noting that that shows "how great the nation he comes from is".

"Serbia will keep celebrating its victories, and it will keep winning in the future. Long live Serbia! To ultimate victory!" Vučić said at the ceremony, attended by more than 10,000 people.