Russo-Turkish War of Liberation 1877-1878

Chapter One - State of the countries, participating in the war, their armies and weapons at the start of the war

Serbia and Montenegro

Serbia did not participate directly in Bulgaria's liberation. The Russian-Turkish War happened to be a good occasion for the Serbian Kingdom to accomplish its objectives set out in the war of 1876-1877. Bulgarian volunteers' units also took part in the war on the side of Serbs. The newly established state was quite exhausted from its struggle against the Turks. Its economy was just beginning to take off and credits for armament could cover only the repair of existing weapons. The Austro-Hungarian government pursued its long-term objectives and did not allow the delivery of weapons from Russia through its territory. As a result, the Serbian government set up its own workshops to remake and repair weapons. The country had at its disposal 120,000 rifles, out of which 80,000 were in order. At that time, the Serbian army had 3-4,000 regular soldiers and 125,000 militias of first and second rank.1

On the eve of the war, Serbia had at its disposal several outdated weapon systems. The best among them was Roberts mod 1867 totaling 35,000 rifles, with which the infantry of first rank was armed. 316 bullets were allotted for each rifle. The rifle was remade in Belgrade using outdated 14, 8 mm-caliber percussion gun with front cartridge clip. The second-rank infantry was armed with 12,000 rifles Green with rear cartridge clip. It was remade in Kraguevac in 1867 and had 13, 8 mm caliber. 178 bullets were allotted for each rifle.2 The Green system operated with a two-part bullet and was originally representative of the relatively complex systems “of two bullets” with percussion fire. It was suitable for uprisings as it did depend on the delivery of bullets. The rest of the Serbian weaponry, about 65,000 pieces, comprised outdated percussion guns with front cartridge clips of Belgian, Russian, Austrian and Turkish production. Each rifle had 65 bullets.

After the war started, the main Serbian forces were located in the town of Nish. Other operations were conducted in other places as well but they were mainly along the southern Serbian border. The occupation of Nish and some other successful operations of the Serbian army were possible only after the Russian army advanced beyond the borders and the threatened Turkish troops retreated. Serbia was well rewarded. It had only 283 outdated La Hitte cannons before the war but had later acquired 382 Turkish cannons. Over 17,000 rifles of up-to-date systems were captured as well.3

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