Battle of Hatvan

The military situation around the Tisza in March 1849 After the Battle of Kápolna on 26–27 February 1849, the commander of the Austrian imperial forces Alfred I, Prince of Windisch-Grätz thought that he had destroyed the Hungarian revolutionary forces once and for all. In his report of 3 March sent to the imperial court in Olmütz, he wrote that: I smashed the rebel hordes, and in a few days I will be in Debrecen (the temporary capital of Hungary). Despite this he did not attack the Hungarian forces, because he did not have any reliable information about the strength of the Hungarian troops he would face if he crossed the Tisza river. But because of his caution, he lost the opportunity to win the war. While he was debating whether or not to attack, the Hungarian commanders who were discontented with the disappointing performance of Lieutenant General Henryk Dembiński as commander-in-chief of the Hungarian forces, blaming him for the defeat at Kápolna, started a "rebellion", holding a meeting in Tiszafüred, which forced the Government Commissioner Bertalan Szemere to depose the Polish general and install Artúr Görgei instead. This infuriated Lajos Kossuth, the President of the National Defense Committee (interim government of Hungary), who wanted to execute Görgei for rebellion. Finally, the Hungarian generals’ support for Görgei forced him to renounce his plan and accept the deposition of Dembiński. But Kossuth's antipathy towards Görgei prevented him from accepting Szemere's decision, and he named Lieutenant General Antal Vetter, the deputy minister of war, as commander-in-chief instead. Meanwhile, Görgei with the VII. corps had to cross the Tisza at Tokaj, to advance on the Miskolc-Gyöngyös-Eger road, drawing the attention of the Austrian main forces on him. Görgei crossed the Tisza on 14 March, and headed on 15 towards Miskolc, entering the town on 16. On 18 March his divisions were at Füzesabony, Szihalom, and Mezőkövesd, and on 22 they occupied the line of the Tarna river, remaining there until 29–30 March. Meanwhile, without having any information about the Hungarian Hungarian plans and military actions, Windisch-Grätz finally decided to cross the Tisza, and attack the Hungarians. On 14 March he wrote to his generals, that with this attack he wants to gather information about the size of the enemy armies and their plans. On 20 March Windisch-Grätz was informed about Görgei's crossing at Tokaj, so he decided to redeploy his troops to the northeast. After changing his mind a couple of times about where to position his troops, on 22 March he deployed his troops as follows: the I corps led by Lieutenant Field Marshal Josip Jelačić to Cegléd, the Rastić brigade to Abony, the Csorich division to Hatvan, the Ramberg division to Vác. Schlik's III. corps had to station at Jászberény, to be able to support, if necessary, both the troops from Cegléd and also those from Hatvan. To prevent an eventual Hungarian attempt to relieve the besieged fortress of Komárom, Windisch-Grätz sent a smaller detachment under the leadership of Colonel Almásy and Colonel Zagitzek to Losonc. As a result of this, General Damjanich lost his position as army commander, and because of this, he started a quarrel with Vetter, threatening him with execution in case of if he failed to be successful with this new grouping. Despite his troops' numerical superiority, Windisch-Grätz was paralyzed by increasing fear of a Hungarian attack, and because of this he tried to discover the numbers and strength of the Hungarian armies which were on the Eastern bank of the Tisza river, but his spies were unable to obtain any information. In the second half of March, the Hungarian successful attacks against the Austrian troops northwest to the Tisza river increased (most importantly the Hungarian raid on Losonc from 24 March 1849), and their attempts to start a massive counter-offensive intensified (the crossing of the Hungarian main army to the right bank of the Tisza between 26 and 29 March). Because of this Windisch-Grätz spread his troops out to prevent an outflanking attack from the north (mainly because of the reports overexaggerating the size of the Hungarian troops which attacked Losonc), Spreading his corps, divisions, and brigades across such a wide geographical distance, Windisch-Grätz handed the Hungarians the possibility of victory on a silver plate. So, as a result of his new orders, on 26–27 March the Ramberg division occupied Balassagyarmat, the Csorich division took a position at Vác, the Lobkowitz division of the Schlik corps stood at Gödöllő, and his Liechtenstein division at Tápióbicske, while the I. corps of Jelačić remained until 1 April around Cegléd, and to supervise the safe keeping of the locomotives, wagons, salt-stock, and other kinds of value stocks from Szolnok, then on 2 April to march to Alberti. The town was bounded by the Zagyva river, across which a bridge was made on the western end of the town, being an important crossing point over the marshy banks of the river. A couple of roads led to the bridge: the most important being the Pest - Gödöllő - Gyöngyös - Eger, the other was the Jászfényszaru road which came from the south, another from Csány, and finally one from Jobbágyi. Besides of this, in the town there were also other smaller bridges across the small creeks. North from the town, at the Gombos waste, it was another bridge of lesser importance over the Zagyva. Northeast and East from Hatvan lay the so-called Strázsa hegy (Guard Hill), the side of which lay towards the town was abrupt, while its other sides were more gentle. Strázsa Hill was continued towards the south by a range of hills, on which lay the town fruit gardens and vineyards. The main road headed eastwards from Hatvan among these hills through a small pass. East from Hatvan, to an hour's distance, lay the village Hort, which had around 1700 inhabitants. Hort laid on a lower point of a hilly area, next to the road. The region between Hort and Hatvan had many swampy creeks, but all of them had bridges over them. ==Prelude==