Glusci

Glušci (Serbian: Глушци) sits in the Bogatić municipality within the Mačva District, the fertile floodplain of northwestern Serbia bounded by the Sava and Drina rivers. At 80 meters elevation, the village occupies prime agricultural land that has attracted settlement—and conflict—for millennia.

World War I transformed Glušci from farming village to battlefield. On September 1, 1914, Austro-Hungarian forces crossed into Mačva, attempting to seize Serbia's northwestern territories. By September 7, Serbian defenders established a diagonal trench line running through Glušci and neighboring Uzveće, halting the advance. But on November 5, Austrian forces overran these positions, initiating their third offensive. The subsequent Battle of Kolubara delivered a decisive Serbian victory, forcing Austrian evacuation by mid-December—but Glušci was totally destroyed in the fighting, its population scattered as refugees. Like a starfish regenerating severed limbs, the village rebuilt entirely after the war, its pre-war structure surviving only in property records and collective memory.

Today approximately 1,600-2,300 residents inhabit Glušci, maintaining the Serb ethnic majority characteristic of Mačva villages. The settlement spreads across the alluvial plain at coordinates 44.89°N, 19.55°E, with Uzveće village located 4.5 kilometers east. The postal code 15356 connects Glušci to Bogatić's administrative services. By 2026, the village will continue as part of Mačva's agricultural economy, its WWI destruction serving as a reminder of how geographic position—the gateway to Serbia—made this fertile lowland strategically vital.