Battle of Pered
Pákozd - Schwechat - Košice - Mór - Piski - Mediasch - Kápolna - Hatvan - Tápió Bicske - Isaszeg - Waitzen I - Nagy-Salló - Komorn I - Mocsa - Kács - Pered - Raab - Ács (Komorn II) - Komorn III - Hegyes - Waitzen II - Tura - Schäßburg - Debreczin- Szöreg - Temesvár
Arad - Deva - Esseg - Karlsburg - Komorn - Leopoldov - Oven - Peterwardein - Temesvár
The Battle of Pered on June 21, 1849 was part of the Hungarian War of Independence . The conflict took place between the combined imperial and Russian troops and the Hungarians . The Hungarian troops took Pered, but were thrown back on Negyed by the powerful intervention of the Panjutin division and had to go back over the Waag. The victory at Pered achieved under the command of the FZM von Haynau brought the initiative back to the imperial family and led to the ensuing battles for possession of the Komorn fortress .
prehistory
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In May 1849 FZM von Haynau had taken over the supreme command of the imperial main army in Hungary as the successor to Ludwig von Welden . After the reconquest of Ofen (May 21), the main Hungarian army under General Görgey gathered around 58,000 men to concentrate between Komorn and the confluence of the Waag with the Danube . The imperial troops concentrated in the Pressburg area had been reinforced to 55,890 infantry, 9,740 horsemen and 324 artillery pieces and were still on the defensive. The arrival of the Russian auxiliary division called for help (13,100 men) under General Panjutin was expected to resume the offensive against the Hungarians with a numerical superiority. Reinforced by the Russians, the main imperial army had about 69,000 infantry, 10,000 horsemen and 350 artillery pieces available for the intended counter-offensive.
Feldzeugmeister Haynau had learned of the approach of the Hungarian Danube Army to relieve the Komorn Fortress and appointed the II Corps ( FML Csorich ) to maintain the siege. The imperial advanced with the I. Corps (FML Schlick ), the (IV.) Reserve Corps (FML Wohlgemuth ), as well as the Russian division Panjutin and with the III. Army corps (General Moltke , later Ramberg ) as vanguard against Ofen, where Haynau assembled his army to counterattack.
On June 14th, the Hungarians crossed the river at Negyed and Sereg-Akol and concentrated on the right bank of the Waag. The imperial brigade Pott saw itself threatened and had to withdraw to Zsigárd. FML Wohlgemuth threw the Herzinger Brigade, reinforced by the Theissing Brigade, into the fight. Haynau tried to support the Waag Front, threatened by the Hungarian approach, by sending off the Herzinger division (around 13,600 men, 1200 horsemen with 54 cannons) and the Russian Panjutin division (13,100 men).
Herzinger's troops arrived at Pered on June 16 when the Pott Brigade was attacked near Zsigárd. The advance led by Herzinger forced the Hungarians to retreat, while the Pott Brigade, secured by evasion, advanced from Zsigárd against Sereg-Akol. General Görgey wanted to attack the imperial army himself and had the 1st, 2nd, 3rd and parts of the 8th Corps with a total of 32,900 or, according to other sources, 31,340 soldiers with 143 guns. On June 17, the Hungarians pulled reinforcements in order to achieve the breakthrough. The intention was to attack along the Waag section in a hilly and wooded area in order to prevent the enemy from advancing further on Komorn and to compensate for their numerical superiority with individual attacks. Haynau tried to stop the advance of the Hungarian 2nd Corps (General Asboth) on the Waag position and dispatched the Herzinger Division , the IV Corps (with 13,600 men, 1,200 riders with 54 cannons) and the Russian Panjutin Division.
With dictatorial power, Lajos Kossuth had initially designated General Bem as the new Commander-in-Chief, but he was still far from the main theater of war in Transylvania . General Görgey, now also acting as Minister of War, opposed the defensive plan drawn up by Klapka and ordered active offensive operations for the Hungarian main army.
The Hungarians should also push the Austrian troops south of Komorn across the Danube in order to stop the attack on the Raab fortress . At the same time, Görgey ordered General Ernő Pöltenberg to cross his 7th Corps from the right bank of the Danube in order to stop the imperial troops on the southern section of the Danube and to bring reinforcements to the left bank of the Danube to the Große Schütt . General Pöltenberg did his job successfully and carried out an investigation against Moson and Hédervár.
The battle
Introductory fighting on June 20th
The Hungarian 2nd Corps crossed the Waag River in fog at 5 a.m. and reached the Zsigárd area undetected . Colonel Lajos Asbóth waited to attack after waiting two hours in vain for Görgey's reinforcements. It was feared that the 3rd Corps would advance alone in the direction of Negyed. Görgey therefore discussed with Klapka the need to deploy the 8th Corps against the Great Schütt (Csallóköz) and deploy this simultaneously with the 2nd and 3rd Corps in the attack in the Waag Valley. Asbóth's troops occupied Királyrév , the 49th and 60th battalions forced the imperial brigade Pott to withdraw from Zsigárd to Pered. The Theissing Brigade tried to reoccupy Királyrév. In the meantime, Asbóth's troops from Pott's Brigade were chasing towards Pered. In order to defend the village, the commanding general of IV Corps led his Brigade Pott to reinforce mainly artillery. The cannonade of the imperial artillery slowed the Hungarian advance. Colonel Asbóth personally led three unsuccessful attacks, but it was not until the fourth attempt, in which the 56th Reserve Battalion and the Don Miguel Infantry Regiment (48th Battalion and Bocskay Infantry) were deployed, that Pered succeeded in capturing. Asbóth's troops were unfortunately not adequately supported by the 3rd Corps under General Károly Knezić, Görgey had to give the direct order to advance. Knezić's troops crossed the Negyed bridge without any problems, but did not arrive at the battle site until 2 p.m. to allow Asbóth to continue his attack.
After the battle, Knezić, who had been recalled from the command, defended himself, pointing out that Görgey's conflicting instructions were too unclear. Asbóth had to order his troops to defend themselves on the line Pered, Alsószeli and Deáki. The troops of the 1st Corps, led by Colonel József Nagy-Sándor , did almost nothing except for a few weak demonstrations in front of Sempte, only to withdraw to their starting positions in the end. In the separate fighting area in the Große Schütt, the troops of the 8th Corps under General Klapka advanced in the direction of Vásárút , but were thrown back by the II Corps (Csorich) at Nyárasd and forced to retreat in order to defend the threatened bridges of Aszódpuszta and Guta .
Because the Hungarian advance had not broken through the enemy lines, Görgey dismissed Colonel Knezić for passivity from the leadership of the 3rd Corps, as did Colonel Asbóth from command of the 2nd Corps, although the latter had carried out his orders as planned. Allegedly Görgey was annoyed by the failure of his plan, and the troops had suffered heavy losses during their approach. Colonel Kászonyi was placed at the head of the 2nd Corps and Colonel Leiningen-Westerburg at the head of the 3rd Corps. While Leiningen's appointment turned out to be an excellent choice, Kászonyi's appointment was an unfortunate decision. Changing corps commanders in the middle of a battle was of little help to the troops' morale. Görgey decided to stay on the battlefield to encourage his soldiers and officers again, because he wanted to attack again the next day. While the troops of the 2nd Corps were protecting the right flank by advancing in the direction of Alsószeli and Deáki, the 3rd Corps was supposed to attack via Vágsellye in the direction of Galánta .
On the night of June 20, Görgey learned that the imperial troops under Ludwig von Wohlgemuth would attack, and the Russian Panjutin division would support the IV Reserve Corps against the Hungarian 2nd Corps. Görgey knew that the relative strength of the opposing armies (20,000 Hungarians against about 25,000 Austrians) would work against the Hungarians if 12,000 Russians intervened. The Hungarian success depended on the intervention of the 1st Corps under Nagy-Sándor, which was to get into the opponent's rear at Szered over the Waag. Görgey ordered the Klapka Corps to hold the Aszódpuszta bridge under all circumstances. Wohlgemuth's aim, however, was to cut off the retreat of the Hungarians, he ordered his troops stationed in Sempte and Szered to destroy the bridge between the two villages and to support the attack. First it was necessary to conquer the place Királyrév, through which the Hungarian troops had to go back to Aszódpuszta to the bridge. Csorich's II Corps and Panjutin's division were ordered to support the reserve corps attack. Panjutin's division was positioned on the left flank of the IV Reserve Corps. The concentration against the bridges of Aszódpuszta and Negyed, however, diverted the imperial troops from the danger that threatened Nagy-Sándor's troops on the northern section.
June 21st
On the second day of the fight on June 21, 27,900 imperial and Russian troops with 102 cannons faced each other at Pered, about 19,100 Hungarians with 85 cannons. The main battle was the Austrian IV Corps under FML Wohlgemuth. The right wing of the imperial (II. Corps under Csorich with 12,000 men, 900 horsemen and 42 cannons) was set up to be surrounded by Serega-Akol and was not in combat. The threatened Hungarian left wing was successfully secured against flank attacks by the Honved cavalry, which was protecting southeast of Királyrév.
The fight was renewed at 11 a.m. The Hungarian 3rd Corps under the new commandant Leiningen-Westerburg was able to occupy Pered, but was then attacked from the north by the Russian Panjutin division (12,800 men, 300 riders and 48 cannons) and the Austrian Pott brigade (Herzinger division). The allies succeeded in pushing back the troops of the Hungarian 3rd Corps from Felsőszeli, Alsószeli and Deáki to Pered. In the meantime the Hungarians had also been thrown back at Negyed by the powerful intervention of the Panjutin division. Two battalions of the Hungarian 2nd Corps standing in front retreated from Alsószeli via Királyrév after Herzinger's attack .
The intervention of the Hungarian 8th Corps (10,100 men under Colonel Kostztolonyi) was able to stop the imperial troops in return. The Pott Brigade to the north had to go back via Deaki and the Theissing Brigade via Alsószeli. Despite the good development of the 3rd Corps, the ranks of the Hungarian 2nd Corps at Királyrév got into disorder and soon wavered by the enemy artillery fire. FML Wohlgemuth ordered the forces in its center to attack again while the left wing remained on the defensive. While one of the two columns on the right wing launched an attack on Királyrév, the rest of the Austrians remained outside the range of the Hungarian artillery. This led to the previous front line being extended to the northeast. When Görgey appeared before Pered, he recognized that Colonel Kászonyi had already initiated the retreat for the 2nd Corps, in the village only the cavalry of the 3rd Corps had held their own. Görgey ordered the commander of the 2nd Corps to entrench his troops behind Pered. In order to stabilize the new front again, Görgey ordered a new attack by the 3rd Corps to the west of Zsigárd under Leiningen.
The troops under General György Klapka, which operated in the Große Schütt, were meanwhile harassed by the opponents at Aszód, who tried to destroy the Danube bridge at Érsekújvár to prevent the 2nd Corps from retreating. On the right bank of the Waag, Klapka vigorously resisted, after the retreating troops had crossed, he ordered the bridge to be destroyed. Görgey went to Királyrév himself to lead his reconquest. Before that he asked personally about the situation in the Grosse Schütt (Csallóköz). After learning that Klapka's troops could hold the position there, he returned to the battlefield and let the two infantry battalions he had led to Királyrév continue the attack on the village. Görgey ordered counterattacks with parts of a cavalry division of the 3rd Corps to stop the enemy cavalry advancing to the right of the attacking Austrian center. The 3rd Corps swiveled to the right and came across a newly advancing enemy column, the retreat to Zsigárd and Farkasd was necessary. Görgey tried to keep the positions in front of Pered, but he waited in vain for the hoped-for action of the 1st Corps under General Nagy-Sándor, which would have decided the outcome in favor of the Hungarians.
General József Nagy-Sándor had had orders to cross the Waag section near Szered in order to attack and bind the Austrian units there, but he was of no consequence. The enemy units stopping there even left their positions to support the main attack in the center. Because of the inactivity of Nagy-Sándor, the Austro-Russian troops, which were larger in number in the middle, succeeded in driving the Hungarian troops from the positions they had occupied since the morning. Görgey had to order the withdrawal of the 3rd Corps and sent the order to Leiningen to immediately return with his divisions across the Waag River. To cover to the left at Királyrév, he had the units of Lieutenant Colonel Rakovszki carry out counter-attacks. Until this happened, Colonel Kászonyi attacked with the mounted battery of the 2nd Corps against the enemy troops advancing in the direction of Királyrév. After incoming reserves enabled an orderly retreat, the 2nd Corps also retreated across the Aszódpuszta bridge. The 3rd Corps passed over to the eastern bank of the Waag at Negyed, the 1st Corps at Aszódpuszta and Guta.
consequences
Haynau's victory was achieved with around 660 men dead and wounded, the Hungarian losses were five times as much. The defeated Hungarian 2nd Corps lost 2,602 men and 4 guns, the 3rd Corps 518 men, a total of 3,120 men. The young emperor Franz Joseph went to the army at the headquarters in Hungarian Altenburg . On June 26, FZM Haynau issued the order to resume the advance on imperial instructions.
On June 27th Haynau changed the bank of the Danube and advanced to Raab, where on June 28th he attacked the Hungarian Division Kmety and the enemy 7th Corps under General Pöltenberg with a superior force and was able to drive them out. A final conference of the Hungarian government was held in Pest on June 29th in its official capital, when Görgey's idea of continuing the offensive was given up because of the Russian invasion by Lajos Kossuth. On June 28, the imperial army advancing on the right bank of the Danube attacked the Raab fortress with the I. and III. Corps and the IV. Reserve Corps, while the II. Corps operated on the left bank in the Schütt. The attacks of the Schlick Corps forced the Hungarian occupation to retreat to Acs, and in the afternoon the imperial army was able to enter Raab. After the Battle of Raab , the Battle of Ács (Komorner Vorfeld) followed on July 2nd , where initially neither side could bring about a decision.
literature
- Anton Leiler: History of the Imperial-Royal Infantry Regiment Archduke Rainer No. 59, Zaunrithsche Buchdruckerei, Salzburg 1856, pp. 243–246.
- Rudolph Kiszling: The Revolution in the Austrian Empire 1848 to 1849 , Volume 2, Vienna 1949.
- József Bánlaky : A magyar nemzet hadtörténelme , 3 volumes, (Budapest 1928–1942), Book XXI. Magyarország 1848/49.