Such were the positions of the various forces as dawn broke brightly on the morning of August 16, 1914.  As the growing light made objects visible, the extreme right division of the Serbian front, which was creeping northward to cut off Shabatz, discovered a strong Austrian column moving along the lower spurs of the Tzer Mountains.  Obviously this body was clearing the ground for a general descent of the forces up along the ridges; a whole army corps.  This movement threatened to become a serious obstacle to the Serbian plan of separating the Austrians in Shabatz from those farther south.  But the situation was saved by one of those incidents which sometimes stand out above the savagery of warfare and give to it a touch of grandeur.

A young artillery officer, Major Djukitch, of the Fourth Artillery Regiment, asked permission to go out and meet this body of advancing Austrians with but a single cannon.  He would create a diversion which would give the Serbians time to adapt themselves to the changed conditions, though the chances were very largely in favor of his losing his life on this mission.  Permission was granted.  Calling on volunteers from his command, he advanced with his single cannon and took up a position in the path of the approaching enemy.  The moment he opened fire the Austrians, naturally not realizing that only one cannon was opposing them, and believing that a large Serbian force had surprised them, broke into a panic.  Half an hour after he had opened fire, the Serbian field commander sent a messenger to Major Djukitch, ordering him to retire.  In reply he sent a message to the commander, describing the confusion he had created in the Austrian ranks, and instead of retiring, he asked for reenforcements.  The balance of his own battery, a detachment of infantry, and a cavalry division was sent him.  The result was that the Austrian column was temporarily driven back into the mountains.  Hastily re-forming, the Austrians now massed along a line extending from Belikamen to Radlovatz, while the Serbians deployed along a front running from Slatina through Metkovitch to Gusingrob.

At 11 a. m., August 16, 1914, the two opposing forces opened fire in earnest, up and down the line.  All day the cannon roared and the rifles and machine guns crackled; now and again the Austrians would shoot forth from their line a sharp infantry attack, but these were repulsed, with more and more difficulty as the day advanced, for the Serbians were much inferior in numbers.  Toward evening their situation became very critical.  Yet every part of the line held out desperately, knowing that reenforcements were being hurried forward from the rear as fast as men could move.