Second Battle of Vác (1849)

After the Hungarian defeat at Third Battle of Komárom (11 July), it had become clear for Görgei's, that his plan, expressed by him, in front of his officers, during the deliberations from 6 July, to remain, with his troops in Western Hungary, operating independently, and defying Governor Lajos Kossuth's orders to move with the Army of the Upper Dunabe to the concentration point of all the Hungarian armies to Szeged, could not be fulfilled. This situation left him only two options: one was to remain at Komárom, but this could threaten him to be locked inside the fortress, and, in case of a Russian advance in that direction, to be besieged there, and the second option was to fulfill Kossuth's order, and march with the bulk of his army on the left (Northern) bank of the Danube, which was still from the Austrian troops, which occupied the whole right side after their victory from 11 July. On 19 June there were already 100,000 Russian troops between Lubló and Ladomérmező, and started their advance towards Eperjes and Kassa. The Hungarian troops facing the main Russian army led by Paskevich, were the IX. corps under the commandership of General Józef Wysocki, comprising 4 brigades, and the independent Kazinczy division, but the latter, being positioned in the Ung, Bereg and Máramaros counties, where in the next two months almost no military activity occurred, except one single battle (28 July at Klimec), his troops numbering 7,000 soldiers, were left outside the military actions. In this situation the Polish general could apply only one reasonable tactic: to delay the Russian advance. From time to time he stopped, deployed his troops, forcing the Russians to do the same, and although every time suffered defeats (on 20 June at Lófalu and Héthárs, and on 23 June at Somos), but he managed to delay their advance. == Prelude ==

On 12 July evening, Görgei marched out of Komárom towards the East on the Northern shore of the Danube. Görgei had at his disposal the I., III., and VII. corps and the column of Ármin Görgey, in total around 27,000 men (35 infantry battalions, 45 cavalry companies, and 140 cannons). At 7.00 p.m. the column of Ármin Görgey left the first the fortress, then at 9 the I. corps, while the III. and the VII. corps left Komárom after midnight. During the night of 14 to 15 July, at Hatvan, Paskevich heard that Görgei's troops started their march towards Vác. Upon this Paskevich sent the II. and the III.corps towards Vác, to cut Görgei's route to the South, towards Szeged, and he sent the IV. corps led by Tscheodayev to Miskolc, considering the eventuality that Görgei wanted to march in that direction to cut off the Russians supply routes. Commander in chief: Field Marshal Ivan Paskevich; 237 infantry companies, 88 cavalry companies, 234 cannons, 52,831 soldiers. == Battle ==

15 July On the morning of 15 July, the Hungarian vanguard formed by the detachment of Ármin Görgey approaching Vác found the Transcaucasian Muslim cavalry led by prince Colonel David Osipovich Bebutov at Nagymaros and Verőce, and in the fight which followed, they chased them out of these localities In this day the Russian losses were 80 dead soldiers and 120 wounded, and half of the batteries damaged. The Hungarian losses are unknown. So he sent on 15 July the II. and the III. corps towards Vác, designing them to meet at Kishartyán. Soon after the surgery ended, at 11.00 a.m., Görgei was on horse, inspecting the Russians movements. Hoping to continue his march towards South, by breaking through the enemies lines, but being unsure about the Russian troops strength, Görgei decided a reconnaissance-in-force, in order to learn more about the enemy forces strength. Although the plan of the retreat towards Miskolc was risky, but it could make the Russian main forces to follow him, instead of marching Southwards against the Hungarian troops from Szeged, enabling the latters to face only Haynau's Austrian troops, instead of fighting against the united Austrian and Russian armies in a hopeless battle, which could result undoubtedly the annihilation of the Hungarian resistance. Here, under heavy Russian volleys, Artúr Görgei led personally the crossing of his troops on the bridge, then supervised its disassembling, then retreating towards North, passing by Ármin Görgey's defensive positions at the Kis Hermán mountain. On the Russian side the soldiers of the III corps spent their night at Rétság, while those of the II. corps at Vác. == Outcome ==

To see who won the battle of Vác from 15 to 17 July 1849, it is important to see what were the plans of the two commanders, how they managed to accomplish their objectives, and what were the consequences of its outcome, regarding the fate of the Hungarian Freedom War? On the one hand Paskevich accomplished his plan to prevent Görgei to lead his troops towards Szeged, using the shortest rout through the Danube–Tisza Interfluve. But in the case if Görgei accomplished this task, breaking through the Russian lines, he would have had the four times bigger Russian army following him closely, plus Haynau's twice bigger main army following as well his troops from a very close distance, resulting the joining of the forces of the two main enemy commanders against the remaining Hungarian forces in a decisive battle, with almost no chance for the Hungarians to win. After seeing that he cannot accomplish Kossuth's order to march South through Vác, his plan became to head North-West to the Tisza river, and after crossing it, he wanted to turn towards Southern Hungary, luring the four times bigger Russian army after him, winning in this way time for the Hungarian main army from South to deal, in the meantime, with Haynau's Austrian troops of approximately similar size. == Aftermath ==

The Hungarian army arrived to Losonc on 19 July, and from there its march towards East became calmer, because the attention of Paskevich was suddenly caught by the Hungarian cavalry troops, coming from Southern Hungary, which being led by General Mór Perczel, Lieutenant General Lázár Mészáros and Lieutenant General Henryk Dembiński, started to advance towards Gödöllő. Paskevich on 17 July established his headquarters at Vác. During the battle of Vác the luggage of the Russian army was at Hatvan, but when he heard about Perczel's advance, he sent it to Pest. In order to prevent the troops of Görgei and Perczel from uniting, he decided to move with the II. and III. corps towards Gyöngyös between the two Hungarian commanders troops. He wanted to have superior troops at his disposal in order to be able to defeat both Görgei and Perczel, he kept the bulk of his army together, sending only three cavalry companies and two cavalry guns, under general Chrulov, to pursue Görgei, ordering to General Grabbe to support Chrulov, with his 18,000 soldiers, by marching from Szentkereszt to Losonc. But knowing that the detachment of Grabbe will arrive only after a couple of days, Paskevich sent Lieutenant General Zass in support of Chrulov with three cavalry regiment and 8 guns. Grabbe who in 7 July to Szentkereszt, where he received reinforcements, after hearing about the retreat of Görgei from Vác, leaving garrisons in the important towns occupied by him, headed to Balassagyarmat. On 19 July he reached Szuhány, where he heard that Balassagyarmat is already in Russian hands, and Görgei marched from there to Losonc. Hearing about this Grabbe marched back to Zólyom, in order to attack Görgei at Vámosfalva, but because of the long detour, he was late again, and he received order from Paskevich to unite with Zass's troops and pursue Görgei towards Miskolc. Paskevich ordered also the IV. corps to support Grabbe, but this, for now, marched from Kápolna to Mezőkövesd, sending only a stronger cavalry vanguard, to observe the Hungarian armies movements. Paskevich did not know which was the direction of the Hungarian troops: towards Kassa towards North, or towards Miskolc, to cross the Tisza to its left side, so he sent troops in both directions. He sent order to General Selvan to be aware of an eventual attack of the Hungarian troops towards Kassa: if Görgei would send only smaller units in that direction, to repulse them, but in the case of an attack with his all army, then to retreat, and wait for Dmitri Osten-Sacken to come in his support from Galicia. To the commander of the IV. corps, General Mikhail Ivanovich Cheodayev he ordered to attack Görgei with all of his troops if he would march towards North to Kassa, but if Görgei marched towards Miksolc and Tokaj, Paskevich advised his general to send one of his units to pursue the Hungarians, while the bulk of his forces had to remain in Miskolc, waiting for new orders. ==References==