Battle of Mojkovac The Battle of Mojkovac ( Serbian : Бој на Мојковцу , " Boj na Mojkovcu " ) was a famous World War I battle fought between 6 January and 7 January 1916 near Mojkovac , Montenegro , between the armies of Austria - Hungary and Montenegro . It ended with a Montenegrin victory . Prelude . In winter of 1915 , the Army of Montenegro had been fighting Austro - Hungary for three months , resisting the invasion of their territory . The Montenegrin Army was weakened by the harsh weather and lack of supplies . On 5 January 1916 , they received a command to protect the retreat of the Serbian army to Corfu via Albania . Attack . The fighting culminated on 6 January 1916 , when a small army of less than 6 , 500 Montenegrin soldiers took a stand against the Austro - Hungarian advance in the village of Mojkovac , in Northern Montenegro . The initial plans of the battle was to cover the Serbian army retreat to Albania by delaying the Austro - Hungaian offensive towards Serbian positions , by halting much of their advancing army . Initially during the battle , the Montenegrin army intrenched themselves around the village of Mojkovac . Austro - Hungarian forces attacked the army ' s positions early that day along with heavy artillery bombardment on Mojkovac itself . By noon , the Austro - Hungarian attack was repulsed , suffering heavy casualties . Fighting resumed from then on , until the Austro - Hungarian forces left the battlefield , leaving more than 2 , 000 of their soldiers dead . By the end of the day , Montenegrin forces were able to push back multiple attacks made by Austro - Hungarian forces , taking back control of Mojkovac and it ' s surroundings . On 7 January , Austro - Hungarian launched a second attack on Montenegrin positions . The attack evidently failed , inflicting heavy losses on both sides . Despite having a much stronger , larger , and more well equipment army , Austro - Hungarian forces abandoned their positions in Mojkovac on the 7th and preformed a retreat . Results . Austria - Hungary had taken massive losses with more than 20 , 000 of their soldiers killed , wounded , or missing , and still weren ' t able to defeat the Montenegrin resistance . On the other hand , although victorious , Montenegro losses were equivalent to half of their army ' s strength . The Austro - Hungarian armies in Montenegro were driven out , abandoning their positions , halting their advance for ten straight days . The Serbian Army managed to escape to neighboring Albania avoiding destruction by Austro - Hungarian forces , with the Montenegrin victory in Mojkovac . Battle . The fighting culminated on 6 and 7 January 1916 ( on Orthodox Christmas ; also known as ' Bloody Christmas ' ) . Led by Serdar ( Count ) Janko Vukotić with Krsto Zrnov Popović as second in command , the Montenegrin army inflicted heavy casualties on the Austro - Hungarian forces and temporarily halted their advancement . There is considerable disagreement about the actual conduct of the battle , but the Montenegrins did defeat a numerically superior foe . The battle was intended to give the Serbian Army enough time reach the Albanian mountains in their retreat to Corfu , but in fact most of the Serbian troops had already crossed the mountains and reached the coast and were battling their way south between Scutari ( Shkodër ) and Durazzo ( Durrës ) . The Montenegrin army continued to hold the Berane - Andrijevica - Mojkovac - Tara River line until withdrawing on 18 January . The Austrians then continued pushing their offensive south . Some historians indicate that at the time of the battle King Nicholas was already in surrender negotiations and that several units had already surrendered , but others hold that King Nicholas did not agree to negotiate until 12 January . However , by 25 January the entire army of Montenegro had laid down its weapons .