1300 corporals ( sr-cyr, 1300 каплара) is the name for the 1300 untrained officers that were sent as a reinforcement to the

Serbian First Army The Serbian First Army (Српска Прва Армија / Srpska Prva Armija) was a Serbian field army that fought during World War I. Order of battle August 1914 *First Army - staff in the village Rača **I Timok Infantry Division - Smeder ...

at the

Battle of Kolubara The Battle of Kolubara ( sr-cyr, Колубарска битка, german: Schlacht an der Kolubara) was fought between Austria-Hungary and Kingdom of Serbia, Serbia in November and December 1914, during the Serbian Campaign of World War I. It ...

. At the start of the

war War is an intense armed conflict between states, governments, societies, or paramilitary groups such as mercenaries, insurgents, and militias. It is generally characterized by extreme violence, destruction, and mortality, using regular o ...

, many young men from both Serbia and

Austria-Hungary Austria-Hungary, often referred to as the Austro-Hungarian Empire,, the Dual Monarchy, or Austria, was a constitutional monarchy and great power in Central Europe between 1867 and 1918. It was formed with the Austro-Hungarian Compromise of ...

left school and made themselves available to the High Command of the

Serbian army The Serbian Army ( sr-cyr, Копнена војска Србије, Kopnena vojska Srbije, lit=Serbian Land Army) is the land-based and the largest component of the Serbian Armed Forces. History Originally established in 1830 as the Army of Pr ...

. They were sent to the military school in Skopje. Even though their training wasn't yet completed, the development of the events forced the High Command to dispatch them to battle. The Serbian army was in retreat, demoralized, in shortage of ammunition,

Belgrade Belgrade ( , ;, ; Names of European cities in different languages: B, names in other languages) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities in Serbia, largest city in Serbia. It is located at the confluence of the Sava and Danube rivers a ...

was in the enemy's hands, so the world already came to terms with the complete breakdown of Serbia. All available forces were needed for the crucial battle, which is why the corporal ranks were distributed to the youngsters in

Skopje Skopje ( , , ; mk, Скопје ; sq, Shkup) is the capital and largest city of North Macedonia. It is the country's political, cultural, economic, and academic centre. The territory of Skopje has been inhabited since at least 4000 BC; r ...

(hence the name), and were sent for

Kolubara The Kolubara ( sr-cyr, Колубара, ) is a long river in western Serbia; it is an eastern, right tributary to the Sava river. General overview Kolubara is formed by the two small rivers Obnica and Jablanica. ''Obnica'' is the river in W ...

and

Suvobor Suvobor (Serbian Cyrillic: Сувобор) is a mountain in central Serbia, near the town of Gornji Milanovac. Its highest peak ''Suvobor'' has an elevation of above sea level. The northwestern part of Suvobor is called Rajac (847 m ) and i ...

the next morning. There, the Serbian army, led by

Živojin Mišić Field Marshal Živojin Mišić ( sr-cyrl, Живојин Мишић; 19 July 1855 in Struganik – 20 January 1921 in Belgrade) was a Field Marshal who participated in all of Serbia's wars from 1876 to 1918. He directly commanded the First Ser ...

, pulled off one of the most important victories in World War I. During 1916 and 1917, a group of around 500 corporals were in

Jausiers Jausiers (; Vivaro-Alpine: ''Jausièr'') is a commune in the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence department in southeastern France. Politics and administration Population See also * Ubaye Valley *Communes of the Alpes-de-Haute-Provence department ...

, France, for a military training, from where they returned to the front.Како су Срби певали „Марсељезу” („Политика”, 19. септембар 2016)
/ref> 1300 corporals symbolize a battle for freedom of their country and people, mainly because most of them were youngsters who went into the battle on their own initiative.

References

{{Reflist Military history of Serbia