Siege of Komorn

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The siege of Komorn lasted from July 13th to October 2nd, 1849 and was the last clash of the Hungarian War of Independence . The Hungarian general György Klapka was enclosed with two corps after the Third Battle of Komorn and after three months surrendered as the last unit to the imperial army under Feldzeugmeister Baron von Haynau .

prehistory

After the Hungarian Danube Army (around 24,000 men and 130 cannons) under General Görgey withdrew from Komorn on the evening of July 13, Klapka stayed in the fortress with the II and VIII Corps , which on the one hand defended the forts and on the other hand aimed Operations against the imperial communication routes in the hinterland. Around 310 fortress cannons were available in the bastions and forts. About 5000 rifles were available in stock, and there was also enough ammunition available. Flour and legumes, meat and wine were stored as food, and oats, hay and straw for the horses were stored for another 2 months. The commander-in-chief was General Klapka and Lieutenant Colonel Elma Lanyi acted as chief of staff . The total strength of the crew was 23 battalions with 18,260 men (1400 of them horsemen) and 48 field guns, only 12,500 men were deployable for the necessary outages in the hinterland.

Franz Aschermann

II Corps under Colonel Joszef Kászonyi (5500 men)

  • Colonel Rakowszki's division with 25th, 43rd, 52nd, 56th battalion and 1st battalion of the Dom Miguel Regiment
  • Division Lieutenant Colonel Horváth with 60th, 61st, 63rd, 49th and 54th battalions

VIII Corps Colonel Franz Aschermann (7,200 men)

  • Colonel Kosztolányi's division with 18th, 37th, 64th and 3rd battalions of the Sandor Regiment
  • Colonel Janik's division with 70th, 71st, 57th and 46th battalions
  • Colonel Esterházy's division with 15th, 40th, 98th and 99th battalions
  • Cavalry: Colonel Mándy with Württemberg and Bocskay hussars (1400 riders)

Shortly after Görgey's departure, a patrol corps with 3,000 men reinforced the crew. On the right flank, Colonel Kászonyi defended with 13 battalions and the Württemberg hussars. Colonel Janik's brigade held forts 1, 2 and 3 at Monostor. The Rakovszky division manned works 4, 5, 6 and 7, the Kosztolányi division the forts 8, 9 and 10 and Lieutenant Colonel Horváth the positions at Ö-Szőny with 5 battalions and 3 hussar squadrons. Finally, the inner forts were held by Colonel Eszterházy with 4 battalions and 3 squadrons of hussars.

Hungarian failures

György Klapka

On July 24th, Klapka learned that the Austrians had only sparsely occupied Tata and that important food was stored there. The order to deploy to this position was entrusted to Colonel Kosztolányi, who advanced to Tata at 4 p.m. the next day, took the guards there by surprise and stole food.

By attacking the northern bank of the Danube, Klapka attempted to conceal his intention to break out further in the south. The Kosztolányi, Rakowszky and Schultz divisions left the fortress on July 31, via Bajcs to Ó-Gyalla and Szt. Peter, more patrols were advanced north and west. The division under Colonel Surány pushed back the imperial brigade Pott, which had to withdraw via Neuhäusel (Tardosked) by August 1st . The Hungarian avant-garde reached the Waag section near Kőszegfalva , where the inhabitants had dismantled the bridge the day before. On the afternoon of July 31, Schultz, on August 1, Kosztolányi and on the 2nd, Rakovszky, had to return to the fortress. On August 3rd, Major General Pott went back to Érsekújvár with the bulk of his brigade .

For the major eruption on the right bank of the Danube, scheduled for August 3, Klapka organized five columns:

  • The first column under Colonel Aschermanns with the 25th, 43rd, 52nd, 56th Battalion, parts of the Sándor and Dom Miguel regiments
  • The second column under Colonel Kosztolányi with the 18th, 37th and 64th battalions and 4 squadrons of Württemberg hussars
  • The third column under Lieutenant Colonel Krivácsy with the 61st, 62nd and 54th Battalions and Bocskay Hussars
  • The fourth column under Colonel Schultz with the 15th and 57th battalions
  • The fifth column under Colonel Janik with the 70th, 71st and 46th Battalions

The Hungarian main column under Aschermann began the advance, most of his troops turned to Tömörd, which was reached at 9 a.m. At the time of the outbreak, the Imperial II Corps under FML Csorich troops held the following positions: the battalions of the Mazzuchelli regiment were on the left flank in front of the Megyfa forest, in the eastern part of the Acser forest until Puszta Herkály was supported by the Teuchert brigade occupied. The Barco Brigade acted as a reserve behind it.

Colonel Aschermann, with the main column in the middle, organized the breakthrough in the direction of Nagy-Igmand. On the far right wing, the Hungarian Schultz Brigade pushed the enemy back on the Danube. On the left wing, the Rakovszky division advanced in two columns through Ö-Szőny to Duna Almás, but had to withdraw from the Austrian defenders. At the same time, the columns of Kosztolányi and Krivácsy approached, and those of Mócsa at 7 a.m. almost unnoticed. Kosztolányi's troops surrounded the place in the front, on the right the column Krivácsy and on the left the cavalry. While Colonel Aschermann was waiting for news of the conquest of Mócsa, he prepared his column at Nagy-Igmand and Acs to bypass the Barco Brigade, thus cutting off the retreat of the Austrians. After the successful occupation of Mocsa, the columns under Kosztolányi and Krivácsy were moved to the west in order to establish contact with Aschermann at Puszta Csém and to support the attack against Puszta-Harkály. Colonel Janik's column moved demonstratively in front of the forest of Acs to threaten the enemy, who was stuck in the forest, with the occupation of Csém and Herkály on the right flank. Colonel Kosztolányi then received news that an enemy column was advancing towards Mócsa, but it soon turned out that it was only a supply of 2,000 cattle intended for the enemy supply.

FML Colloredo took over the troop leadership at Csém and had all available reserves, consisting of the Barco Brigade, five squadrons under Colonel Nostitz and 11 cannons, assembled on the right wing south of Puszta-Herkaly. The threatened right wing had already been withdrawn in a crescent shape. Klapka sent orders to Colonels Schultz and Janik to begin their attack on the heights at Nagy-Igmand at once. He also ordered the cavalry of the columns under Kosztolányi and Krivácsy to take action against the threat to the cavalry under Nostitz. After Colonel Janik began to advance from the Ácser forest to the Czonczó brook, the troops fighting in this forest were completely cut off. Troops of the Liebler Brigade defended at the Czonczó Bridge to keep the Barco Brigade open to retreat. Mazzuchelli's teams who were attacked from behind were captured. While Colloredo tried to enable his teams to retreat via Acs to the left bank of the Danube, the Teuchert brigade in the forest of Acs and Megyfa performed the defense. The Austrian troops involved in the fight withdrew that evening. Klapka organized the columns under Aschermann and Janik in front of the Ácser forest, the troops under Kosztolányi and Krivácsyé in front of Ács, the Schultz brigade behind the same place, the outposts were advanced at Gönyő and Nagy-Igmánd.

The loss of the Hungarians who were successful on August 3 was 80 dead and 130 wounded. The loss of the Austrians was considerable: about 1,500 men, including 28 officers. General Ramming later wrote of only 1,000 prisoners, 5 dead and 12 wounded. Outside there were 74 horses and 32 guns and on August 4, 700 barrels of gunpowder in Gönyő, which the Austrians had to leave behind when they retreated. On August 4th, Klapka gave the troops a day of rest, on the 5th Kosztolányi troops stood at Gönyő and the hussars pushed forward to Raab . From there the 1st battalion and 6 artillery pieces of the Austrian Guard had withdrawn to Pressburg in the night from 3 to 4 a.m.

Reinforcement of the imperial troops

In the meantime, everything was done on the Austrian side to organize a representative army on the Upper Danube, the task of which was to push Klapka's troops back from Raab to Komorn. For this purpose the II Corps around Pressburg was reorganized with 13,000 men and 43 cannons. In order to strengthen this, a reserve corps of Major General Count Nobili from the Vienna area and the Moravian Valley with around 8,000 men and 26 guns was advanced to Hungarian Altenburg (Wieselburg). FZM Nugent was also commissioned to bring his 2nd Reserve Corps with around 16,000 men and 30 cannons via Stuhlweissenburg to Komorn. After the bulk of the Nobili division had arrived in Mosonyi and Wieselburg on August 10, these troops were combined with the II Corps, which was reinforced to 30 battalions, 9.5 squadrons and 69 artillery pieces with a total of 32,000 men:

  • Division Nobili with Brigade Chizzola and Lederer: 9 battalions, 2 squadrons and 18 cannons
  • Division Colloredo with Brigade Liebler and Barco: 10 battalions, 3 squadrons and 18 cannons
  • Division Pott: 5 battalions, 2 squadrons and 6 guns
  • Independent Teuchert Division: 6 battalions and 2 squadrons
  • Alarm reserve: 4 battalions and 27 guns

On August 4th, the Barco and Liebler brigades were brought forward to the Nyárasd and Guta lines , Serdahely on August 5th and Csolle on August 6th. In this context, General Pott was ordered to stop his brigade in Diószeg in order to keep the Waag Line. To take advantage of his previous success, Klapka decided to send some of his troops against Raab. On August 6, Klapka ordered the Kosztolányi and Rakovszky divisions to advance further into Raab and to extend the advance to Lesvár. The Eszterházy division reached the Gönyő-Nagymegyer line and joined the other two divisions in Raab on August 7th.

  • Kosztolányi division: the 18th, 37th, 64th battalion and the Sándor regiment, 1st regiment of the Württemberg hussars.
  • Rakovszky division: 25th, 48th, 56th battalion and parts of the Don Miguel regiment
  • Eszterházy Division: 15th and 57th battalions
  • Reserve Patrol Corps: 98th, 99th, 70th, 71st, 52nd, 46th, 60th, 61st, 63rd, 49th, 54th and 40th battalions.

On August 12, the Austrian Chizzola Brigade occupied Lébény, which was only weakly occupied by the Hungarians. On August 14th, the Minister of War , General Gyulay, appeared at the imperial headquarters to prepare the army to enclose the Komorn Fortress more closely. According to this instruction, the Chizzola and Barco brigades arrived at St-Miklós and Lébény on August 15, and the Teuchert brigade advanced into Mosony. On the left flank the troops advanced via Hédervári to Dunaszeg, on the right wing the advance was through Szt. Peter to Bőkárány. The Lederer Brigade pushed through St-Miklós to Csorna to Enes and the Liebler Brigade pushed from Pöttering (Luipersdorf) to Somorje (Sommerein). The Jablonowski Brigade (4 battalions, 3 squadrons and 2 artillery pieces) returned from Pesth and moved into the siege front at Nagy-Igmand on August 13th. Klapka's troops occupied the city of Raab without hindrance from the Austrian army on the night of August 17th to 18th, further advances followed to Pápa and Székesfehérvár , the Mednyánszky division advanced in the Bakony forest. On the same day, the Bobory Brigade from Tata and the 49th Battalion from Ó-Szőny were withdrawn.

On August 18, Klapka received news of Görgey's early arms extension against the Russians under General Rüdiger. To resume hostilities, Klapka repositioned his troops: On the same day the Kosztolány division was in forts 8, 9 and 10, the Eszterházy division played the main role, the Rakowsky division manned fort 4, 5, 6 and 7 and 7 the Brigade Janik the Fort Monostor. The Kosztolányi division secured the following works 4, 5, 6 and 7 at Ó-Szőny and works 8, 9 and 10, the Rakovszky division. September was led by Lieutenant Colonel Nedbal, secured on the Nádor line and finally the Eszterházy division on the Danube Island. The cavalry was concentrated at Uj-Szőny, on the left at Csallóköz, Ujfalu and Keszegfalva the Bocskay Hussars and three squadrons of the Lehel Hussars secured at Hetény and Ó-Gyallá.

The Austrian army was in the following positions on August 20: the Barco brigade near Ács, Puszta Lovad and Gönyüt, the Lederer brigade near Nagy-Igmand, Tömörd and Kacs, the Chizzola brigade near Tata, Tóvár, Szomod and Süttő. The Teuchert division near Győr, the Liebler brigade on the Lakot-Silas-Megyer-Ekecset-Gutta line and finally the Pott division in the north on the Waag section. The Lederer, Chizzola and Barco brigades stood behind the Czonczo stream and in front of the Acser forest. A smaller detachment that was advanced from Bábolna to Nagy-Igmánd and a smaller unit was sent to Pér and Mező-Eörs to secure the right flank. The Lederer Brigade, which had stormed the town of Sárvár, was to advance north towards St-Miklós. The Jablonowski Brigade of the Nugent Reserve Corps reached enemy contact with the Mednyánszky division near Székesfehérvár on August 19 and pursued Mocsa, where it arrived by September 1.

Armistice and Surrender

During the armistice, the siege troops took the following steps: Nugent's reserve corps was now from Székesfehérvár to Veszprém, further to Füred and Tihany, at the same time smaller units were advanced to combat the Hungarian Knezevich brigade on both sides of Lake Balaton and at Marcal and Tapolca . Nugent reached Csép on September 1 with about 10 battalions and 5 squadrons and immediately moved on to the Concó River to Komorn. With the consent of Field Marshal Paskewitsch, the allied Russian division Grabbe von der Tisza was dispatched to occupy the Slovak mining towns. On August 24th, it marched on to Báthio to secure the Danube line from Garam and to approach Komorn from the north.

Laval Earl Nugent of Westmeath

Immediately after Nugent's arrival, on September 2, this general took over command of the siege troops, which now numbered 47 battalions and 154 cannons with 38,400 men and 3,400 horsemen.

II Corps under Major General Csorich

  • Colloredo division with Pott and Liebler Brigades : 13 battalions, 4 horsemen and 28 artillery pieces;
  • Division Graf Nobili with Brigade Teuchert and Lederer: 10 battalions, 3 squadrons and 18 cannons

II. Reserve Corps under Count Nugent

  • Pálffy division with Chizzola, Jablonowski and Alcaini brigades: 15 battalions and 24 guns
  • Burits division with the Jablonski and Barco brigades and the horsemen under Prince Montenuovo : 9 battalions and 11 squadrons

By mutual agreement, a meeting between Klapka and Csorich in Mócsa was agreed for September 3rd. But Klapka was excused on the pretext of illness with the following wording:

We cannot attend an honorable meeting with the lieutenant general, which is uncomfortable for us, as we are convinced that a face-to-face meeting could dispel all disagreements and that the peace that no one wants more than we would soon be paved.

On September 4th, all of the siege troops moved closer to the Komorn Fortress. The Colloredo division occupied new positions at Aranyos near Csallóköz and pushed the vanguard onto the Szt line. Paul, Ujfal, Nemes-Örs, Keszegfalva and Vizvár. In order to establish contact with the right wing, the artillery of the steamship Ceres supported from the Danube and at the same time took measures to bombard Nagy-Lél. The Nobili division and the Teuchert and Lederer brigades were still between Ács and the Ácser forest. The Jablonowski division extended the line with the Chizzolá and Barco brigades via Puszta-Csém to Mócsa.

On September 6th, the Russian corps of Lieutenant General Grabbe advanced from the north via Hetény and Kurtakeszi with 13 battalions, 16 squadrons (12,800 men and 1,300 horsemen) and 56 cannons for reinforcement and reinforced the siege ring in the north to 51,200 men, 4,700 horsemen and 210 Guns. At the same time, FZM Nugent did everything possible to take the fortress, which was now completely enclosed after the arrival of the Russians, by force. On September 7th, the Russian division crossed the Zitava to reinforce the Austrian troops there on the right bank of the Danube, which were moved to Duna Almás.

For September 10, Klapka led a minor sortie against the new section of the Russians, but General Grabbe withdrew his troops in time to the existing entrenchments and withstood the onslaught. On September 14th, Klapka finally invited another council of war and described the sad situation in a speech:

“When we can no longer fight for our country, we must ask for peace. I therefore propose to set out the first four points of the prepared conditions for the surrender and to submit an application to the Austrian emperor in all forms, as I am convinced that we will receive them ”.

The offer for the armistice was welcomed by Nugent in a letter dated September 16. However, the petition had to be presented to his immediate superior FZM Haynau to be accepted, until then the further instructions must be awaited. On September 19, Colonel Hartmann, his deputy Lieutenant Colonel Jungbauer, the Chief of Staff of the Reserve Corps, were sent to the fortress to hand over the demands for the armistice to Klapka. After Klapka had received the conditions, he invited another council of war at 5 a.m. that same afternoon, to which all full members of the officer corps were invited. On the evening of September 22nd, Nugent replied that the imperial side could not deviate from the instructions from Vienna. On the 23rd, the Hungarians held another council of war: the critics of the surrender urged a further fight, Klapka pointed out that it was his right to make the final decision. Hostilities restarted on September 26th. In the early morning an Austrian column pushed towards Ó-Szőny to occupy it. Major Füsti and parts of the 37th Battalion soon succeeded in pushing back the Austrian column. This was the last conflict in the War of Independence.

The Austrian leadership, which incurred enormous costs due to the long period of siege, finally decided to win the fortress on favorable terms. For this purpose, Haynau, who had arrived in Ács on September 26th, personally took over the leadership of the siege and sent Klapka the following letter:

“To the fortress command in Komorn. I arrived here today and am directly managing the enclosure. For this reason I want to inform the fortress and troop commanders that I consider it necessary to conclude the ongoing negotiations for the handover of the fortress through a new meeting with the fortress command. If I can choose the location at a reasonable distance, outside the fortress, I might suggest Puszta-Csém, Herkály or another suitable location for the fortress command. The meeting should take place tomorrow morning between 10 a.m. and 11 a.m. and the answer to this invitation and the location of the conference should be communicated to me by 7 a.m. on the 27th. signed FZM from Haynau "

At the appointed time, both sides, accompanied by General Haynau, immediately began negotiations on the handover point by point after greeting each other. After two hours there was finally an agreement on every point. On the 28th FML Graf Nobili was sent to Komorn with the commander of the artillery of the engineering corps, a field war commissioner and two military catering officers in order to initiate the orderly takeover. On October 2nd, the entrenched large camp and the crossings on the Danube were handed over, the Janik, Rakovszky and Kosztolányi divisions surrendered one after the other. On October 3rd, the old fortress and the Danube Island were handed over, the Zichy division and the Württemberg hussars laid down their weapons. Finally, the Eszterházy and Nedbál divisions surrendered at Cigánymező, and the surrender was complete at 4 p.m. The city was finally handed over on October 4th.

literature

  • Paul Jacubenz: History of the kuk infantry regiment Archduke Ludwig Salvator No. 58 , Vienna 1904, pp. 317–328 f.
  • Rudolf Kiszling : The Revolution in the Austrian Empire Volume 2, Universum Verlag, Vienna 1948/49.
  • Jozsef Banlaky: A komáromi események from A-magyar nemzet hadtortenelme