Fourth Battle of Komárom

When, after the battle of Komárom from 11 July, on 12–13 July the Hungarian Army of the Northern Danube led by General Artúr Görgei's departed from Komárom towards Vác, in the fortress remained around 18,300 soldiers. The Hungarian troops stationing in Komárom were the II. and the VIII. corps, their commander being the 29 years old Major General György Klapka. On 14 July the Austrian troops encircled the fortress, closing the Hungarians inside it. From that day nobody from the fortress and the town was allowed to leave it without permission, and the soldiers and the inhabitants had to content themselves with a daily food ration. The Liebler brigade took positions in Csallóköz, massing soldiers in Csallóközaranyos, Keszegfalva, and the bridgehead from Nagylél. Pott's brigade was positioned on the left bank of the Vág river, its detachments holding Martos, Ógyalla and Bagota, sending outposts to Puszta-Káva, Puszta-Konkoly, Csuzi and Halom-szeg, stretching them later to Hetény, Kurtakeszi and Marcelháza. In order to strengthen their position the Austrians dug from the Herkály grange (Puszta-Herkály), through the Ács forest to the Danube 7 big ramparts with several trenches, barricading the edge of the Ács forest with cut trees. In Csallóköz in order to strengthen the position from the bridgehead from Nagylél and the position from Csallóközaranyos, the Austrians built 6 defence works, and they dug a trench between Csallóközaranyos and Dudva. The same happened also on the left bank of the Vág river, where Pott, seeing that the river Zsitva's water got so down, that, in the case of an attack, the Hungarians could cross it easily, ordered his soldiers to build barricades and parapets at Halomszeg and Konkoly, strengthening also Komáromszentpéter. The reduction of the number of the enemy army was sensed by the defenders after two days. ==Prelude==

Klapka learned that the Austrians stockpiled a large amount of food supplies at Tata, so he decided to attack the garrison from there. The detachment of the defenders which attacked Tata consisted of two battalions of infantry, a cavalry company and a half battery of cannons, led by Colonel Kosztolányi. The surprise attack with the help of the people from the nearby villages was a full success: they took all the garrison from Tata prisoners, together with a major, three captains and a lieutenant. From the captured money Klapka paid extra military compensation for two days for all his soldiers. From the captured documents Klapka understood that he has a chance to defeat the besiegers in detail, and crush the siege. So Klapka decided to crush the siege with a large scale sortie. His job was eased also by the fact that the Danube split the Austrian siege corps into two which, because of this, could not help each other in the case of an attack, and the Vág river which flows in the Danube from the North, added a similar obstacle for the Austrian troops from the Northern shore. Klapka wanted to chase away first the Austrian units from the northern (left) shore of the Danube. There stationed the weaker enemy units, and with the attack against them he hoped to create the false feeling in the Austrians that the Hungarian army wants to continue its operations on the Northern shore of the Danube. Opposing forces Commander in chief: General György Klapka; Commander of the Fortress: Colonel Ferenc Aschermann; 133 infantry companies, 11 cavalry companies, 292 cannons, 19,124 soldiers. Commander in chief: Lieutenant General Anton Csorich; Chief of staff: Lieutenant Colonel Franz Jungbauer; 93 infantry companies, 6 cavalry companies, 62 cannons, 13,841 soldiers. ==Battle==

30 July The attack against the Austrian troops from the northern shore of the Danube began on the night from 29 to 30 July. at 2 a.m., chasing away the Austrian garrison from there, advancing towards Komáromszentpéter. But Kosztolányi's troops pression was so hard that Pott could not withstand, and also Bátori-Sulcz's reserve column of 3 battalions, 1 hussar company and 6 cannons The tactical plan for this attack was elaborated by Klapka and his chief of staff Péter Szillányi. The defeating of the Austrian troops from the southern (right) shore of the Danube was a more difficult task, than those from the northern (left) bank. The troops under Ascherman were the most battle hardened units of Klapka's troops: in Rakovzsky's attacking column were assigned the Dom Miguel (1. battalion of the 39. infantry regiment), the 48. and the 25. battalions, Major Brunszvik was leading the 108. and the 56. Honvéd battalions, the cavalry was represented by riders of the 6. Würtemberg Hussar regiment, and the artillerists were experienced cannoners as well under the command of Major Mihály Mezey. In the Center Colonel Bódog Bátori-Sulcz with two infantry battalions and two batteries had to demonstrate before the Herkály grange, until the troops of Kosztolányi's and Krivácsy's bypassing column occupied Csém and arrived there. and only after these were occupied by Kosztolányi's and Bátori-Sulcz's columns, together with them to attack, from several directions, the Ács forest. Although Rakovszky's troops arrived from Komáromszentpéter only a couple of hours earlier (after 15–20 km of walking), they were among Ascherman's troops, which had the hardest job of the military actions planned for that day. They attacked Dunaalmás at 2,30 a.m, The commander of the Austrian brigade from the right bank of the Danube, Major General Joseph Barco On the Hungarian left wing (the Austrian right) and center, Krivácsi's and Kosztolányi's column faced a successful resistance mainly because of the effective fire of the half battery of the Austrian right wings rearguard led by Colonel Nostitz, so their advancement was slower. In order to cover the retreat over the creek, Lieutenant General Colloredo with a section of his troops, took position at the southeastern edge of the Ács forest, where thanks to Nostitz's uhlans, they covered the retreat with success against the attacking column of Krivácsi and Kosztolányi. The Austrians crossed the Concó creek to Ács, where with 1 1/2 company of uhlans, repulsed a hussar attack, but this was only to give some time for the, now routing Austrian soldiers to escape to fall prisoners. On the Hungarian right wing Janik's troops attacked the Austrians defending the Ács and the Meggyfa woods, led by General Teuchert, who, knowing the disastrous situation from the other parts of the battlefield, did not resisted, but they started to retreat. But when they exited the forest, and headed towards the Concó creek, the Austrians saw that Hungarian units are heading from south towards the Danube. These were Bátori-Sulcz soldiers, who were sent by Klapka to encircle the Austrians from the Ács woods. Seeing this the Austrians started to rout, and tumultuously tried to cross the creek at the mouth of the Concó into the Danube, leaving in the Hungarians possession two 12-pounder guns, and the Mazzuchelli company from their rear. Under the lead of Lieutenant General Colloredo, the fleeing Austrian troops arrived to the Danube bridge from Lovad, where they were waited by an infantry battalion, a column of uhlans and a 6-pounder battery sent by Major General Karl Liebler von Asselt from his brigade on the Northern banks of the Danube. They, together with Nostitz's uhlans, saved the retreating Austrian troops from the total collapse and annihilation. Still the most important cause of their escape was Ascherman's delay, who arrived to the Lovad bridge only around 8 p.m., while he should have arrived there hours before. The Austrian troops crossed the bridge from Lovad at 7 p.m., and dismantled it before the Hungarians could use it to cross the Danube, and to chase them on the northern bank of the river. Asherman arrived to the bridge only after the Austrians crossed it, he tried to shoot at them with his artillery, but with no effect. ==Aftermath==

The attack of the Hungarian troops led by General György Klapka crushed the Austrian blockade around Komárom, liberating the fortress completely, dispersing the besieging II. corps, and cutting the supply routs of the Austrian main forces led by Haynau. The Austrians suffered important losses: Péter Szillányi, chief of Klapka's general staff wrote about 1500 prisoners, Wilhelm von Ramming, member of the General Staff of the FZM Haynau, wrote about more than 1000 Austrian prisoners and mentions by name 5 dead and 12 wounded officers. Now with the road to Vienna and the Austrian provinces, Klapka planned to liberate all the Transdanubia region, and to attack Styria. Unfortunately Klapka's couriers met Kossuth when he already crossed the Danube, arriving in Turkey, and Görgei after he surrendered to the Russians on 13 August. But the successful sortie of Klapka's troops came too late to bring important changes in the fate of the war. When Haynau learned about the Hungarian victory, his troops already entered in Temesköz, preparing for the decisive battle with the Hungarian main army. The Austrian main commander taught that if he wins this battle, Klapka will have only one choice: to turn back in Komárom. And indeed, on 13–14 August Klapka was forced to retreat from Győr, and to turn back in Komárom. The Hungarian main army led by Artúr Görgei put down its weapons on 13 August after the disastrous defeat of Lieutenant General Józef Bem in the Battle of Temesvár from 9 August. On 19 August the Austrian army appeared again before Komárom, and demanded the unconditional surrender, but Klapka refused, prolonging for another months the resistance of the fortress. ==See also==