The Battle of Temesvár (now Timișoara, Romania) was a key battle in the Hungarian Revolution of 1848, fought on 9 August 1849 between the Austrian Empire, led by Field Marshal Julius Jacob von Haynau, and the Hungarian Revolutionary Army (supplemented by Polish volunteers), led by Lieutenant General Józef Bem. Hungarian forces under Bem, together with siege corps led by Major General Károly Vécsey, totalled 55,000 soldiers. Austrian forces under Haynau totalled 38,000 soldiers, although their numerical disadvantage was mitigated by superior artillery. The battle resulted in an Austrian victory and was the decisive engagement of the war, which ended in defeat for the Hungarians.
After the Hungarian defeat at the Battle of Szőreg, Lieutenant General Henryk Dembiński led his Hungarian troops to Temesvár and was about to give the order to retreat toward Lugos when Lieutenant General Józef Bem arrived at the camp with an order from Governor Lajos Kossuth to replace Dembiński. Bem wanted to march toward Arad, but changed his mind on hearing that the Austrian army led by Haynau was nearby. He gave an order to attack, hoping to boost the morale of his demoralized army with a victory.
The battle started well for the Hungarians, with Bem repulsing Haynau's initial attack. However, Vécsey's siege corps ran out of artillery ammunition early on, as Dembiński had previously sent it ahead to Lugos and failed to inform Bem. The Polish general still hoped to win the battle and rode with the first line of his troops, but suffered a serious injury when he fell from his horse, resulting in his removal from the battlefield and further demoralization of the Hungarian troops. During a retreat, panic broke out among the Hungarian rookies and spread to the whole army, causing a rout. The Austrians took 6,000–7,000 prisoners and only about 20,000–30,000 men from the Hungarian army could be regathered at Lugos.
The defeat prevented the Hungarian main army from joining together with the Army of the Upper Danube (under General Artúr Görgei), which had been the last hope of Kossuth and Görgei for continuing the resistance. When he heard about the defeat, Kossuth resigned. In order to avoid further bloodshed, the Hungarian council of war decided on 11 August to surrender to Russian troops (which had entered the conflict on the side of the Austrians). On 13 August, Görgei signed official terms of surrender at Világos (now Șiria, Romania), ending the revolution.
Background
After his defeat at the Battle of Szőreg on 5 August 1849, the Hungarian government ordered Lieutenant General Henryk Dembiński to march toward Arad to join his troops with the Army of the Upper Danube led by General Artúr Görgei, after which they would be able to fight a decisive battle against the army of Field Marshal Julius Jacob von Haynau. However, Dembiński, on the basis that he wished to join together with Major General Vécsey's siege corps and a division under the command of General György Kmety, instead marched from Óbesenyő toward Temesvár.
Haynau realised that Dembiński was cutting himself from Görgei's troops and started to pursue him, preventing the two Hungarian armies from joining together. He hoped to defeat Dembiński decisively before the Russian main army arrived, enabling him to claim victory over the Hungarians solely for the Austrian army; there was a degree of shame felt by the Austrians that they had been forced to ask for outside help in order to put down an insurrection in their own state. To be sure of victory, he deposed Lieutenant General Philipp von Bechtold, whom he accused of lack of determination in the third battle of Komárom and the Battle of Szőreg, from the leadership of the cavalry division, replacing him with Lieutenant Field Marshal Karl von Wallmoden-Gimborn.
On 6 August, the Austrian Reserve Corps advanced to Zombor, establishing a connection with the I. corps at Makó. The Russian Panyutyin division advanced to Klárafalva, the Wallmoden division to Keresztúr and Porgány, and the III. corps marched to Óbesenyő, where they entered in battle with the Hungarian cavalry of Dembiński's army led by Major General Arisztid Dessewffy. Dessewffy attacked in order to give time for Dembiński's army to retreat. After the commander of the Austrian III. corps Lieutenant General Georg von Ramberg repulsed him, he joined the retreating Hungarian army at Bánátkomlós. During the retreat, Dessewffy stopped and tried again to hold back Ramberg's troops, but he was defeated at Kisteremia, leading to the capture of 700 soldiers by the Austrians.
On 6 August, Dembiński ordered Kmety to march with his division to Zsombolya. He believed that the Austrian troops were advancing toward Csatád, and the intention was that Kmety would engage them with a flanking maneuver during the following night. Although he received a letter from Minister of War Lajos Aulich and Governor Kossuth ordering him to march toward Arad, he ignored it; on 8 August, he continued to march toward Temesvár through Kisbecskerek. He was hoping to rendezvous with the siege corps of Vécsey, after which they would continue to retreat to Transylvania and join together with Görgei.
On 7 August, the bulk of the Austrian I. corps, led by General Franz Schlik, crossed the Maros river and advanced to Ráccsanád and Németcsanád. The Reserve corps advanced from Zombor to Nagyszentmiklós, the Wallmoden cavalry division to Valkány and Mokrin, the Panyutyin division to Óbesenyő, while the III. corps remained at Kisteremia. On the same day, Haynau learned about the defeat of Austrian siege corps at Komárom by Hungarian forces under the command of General György Klapka, which endangered his supply and communication lines with Vienna. Although displeased by this news, he decided to continue his operations against Dembiński, hoping that the Austrian corps chased away from Komárom could count on the II. reserve corps stationed at Székesfehérvár (although these troops were bogged down by the successful revolt of the city from 10 August) and other reserve corps from the valley of the Morava river, led by Lieutenant General Johann Nobili. In order to help them, he sent the Jablonowski brigade from Szeged to Pest.
On 8 August, the I. corps advanced to Rácszentpéter, the Sartori brigade through Nagylak to Sajtény, the Reserve corps to Pészak, the III. corps to Grabác and Zsombolya, the Panyutyin division to Lovrin, while the Wallmoden cavalry division had to push forward toward Grabác and Csatád. Here, the Simbschen and Lederer brigades of Wallmoden's division entered in battle with the Hungarian cavalry, and after a long and heavy fight they chased them to Nagyjécsa, the Austrians suffering losses of sixteen men and twenty-five horses, in addition to sixteen wounded, while the Hungarians suffered sixty-seventy total casualties, as well as the capture of a cannon and ammunition wagon. On the same day, the Hungarian army retreated to Kisbecskerek, where they joined with the Kmety division.
Prelude
Because Dembiński ignored his orders to march north to Arad, Kossuth relieved him from command and named another Polish general, Lieutenant General Józef Bem, as supreme commander. He had been the leader of Hungarian troops from Transylvania, and had earned a strong reputation through multiple victories against both Austrian and Russian troops.
On 8 August, while heading toward Temesvár, Bem met with the officers of the retreating Hungarian army at Rékás, who told him that their troops were demoralized due to their continuous retreat. General Mór Perczel stated that he considered it very important for the army to enter in battle with the Austrians. On the morning of 9 August, at Temesvár, Dembiński was about to give the order to retreat toward Lugos when Bem arrived at the camp and took over command. Bem wanted to lead the Hungarian army to Arad, but before that he hoped to successfully engage the Austrians in order to boost the morale of the Hungarians, although he was hoping for a small skirmish rather than a full scale battle. Despite Dembiński's objections, he ordered his troops to prepare for battle.
The deployment of the Hungarian army was not very good. At Kisbecskerek, where the probability of a major Austrian attack was high, only a couple of companies and four cannons were positioned. The newly joined Kmety division was on the left flank at Szakállháza, northeast from them was positioned the X. corps led by Colonel László Gál. Next to them, the center was occupied by the IV. corps led by Richard Guyon. The right flank was represented by the IX. corps led by Major General Arisztid Dessewffy. Part of the center and right wing were stationed in the Csóka and Vadász forests. The fortress of Temesvár was surrounded by the V. corps, led by Major General Károly Vécsey, from which Bem had transferred a couple of infantry battalions to Guyon's IV. corps.
Bem noticed that a retreat of the Hungarian army would be impossible in the case of defeat, due to the fact that all the retreat roads toward Lugos led to the fortress of Temesvár, which was held by an Austrian garrison. In order to resolve this problem, Bem ordered the troops in this region to advance across the Beregszó creek, which flowed east–west between Szakállháza and the Csóka and Vadász-forests, and to take position on the line of the Nyárád creek which flowed from Szakállháza into the Beregszó. His plan was to hold the line of the Nyárád creek, repulsing an eventual Austrian attack with cannons, while the Kmety division positioned at Szakállháza attacked the Austrian right flank. Relying on scout reports, Bem thought that the Austrians were unprepared for a full scale battle, so he hoped that he would be able to retreat his troops toward Arad, while Kmety's division and his artillery held back the Austrian troops.
Haynau did not expected a battle on this day, and wanted to concentrate his troops at Kisbecskerek, expecting to meet resistance and engage his enemy on 10 August. He ordered the I. corps (fourteen infantry battalions, eleven cavalry companies, forty-eight cannons) to march from Rácszentpéter to Vinga in order to cut-off access via the Arad–Temesvár road, and to isolate the fortress of Arad from the left bank of the Maros. Simultaneously, he ordered a brigade led by Colonel Sartori to march along the right bank of the river to Magyarfalva, then to Pécska to keep an eye on the Arad fortress and Görgei's troops. The Reserve Corps (eleven infantry battalions, eight cavalry companies, fifty-four cannons) led by Franz Liechtenstein were ordered to occupy Hodony and send a vanguard to Mercifalva.
Panyutyin's Russian division (sixteen infantry battalions, two cavalry companies, forty-eight cannons) took position at Kisbecskerek, the bulk of the III. corps (ten infantry battalions, 6 cavalry companies, 36 cannons) led by Ramberg took position between Kisbecskere and the Nyárád creek, while the right wing of the same corps had to march from Zsombolya through Gyertyámos to Szakállháza. The cavalry division led by Wallmoden (twenty-eight cavalry companies, eighteen cannons), the vanguard of the III. corps, was ordered to do a reconnaissance-in-force toward Temesvár.
Opposing forces
The Hungarian army
Commander in chief: Lieutenant General Józef Bem;
- IV. corps (commander General Richard Guyon): 12,000 soldiers, 51 cannons;
- IX. corps (commander General Arisztid Dessewffy): 16,000 soldiers, 38 cannons;
- X. corps (commander Colonel László Gaál): 12,000 soldiers, 27 cannons;
- 15. division (commander General György Kmety): 6600 soldiers, 16 cannons;
Total: 46,600 soldiers, 132 cannons
Did not participate:
- V. corps (commander General Károly Vécsey): 10,500 soldiers, 30 cannons.
The Austrian army
Commander in chief: Field Marshal Julius Jacob von Haynau;
- III. corps (commander Lieutenant General Georg von Ramberg): 8600 soldiers, 36 cannons;
- IV. (Reserve) corps (commander Lieutenant General Franz von Liechtenstein): 8600 soldiers, 36 cannons;
- 9. Russian Combined Infantry Division (Lieutenant General Fyodor Sergeyevich Panyutyin): 13,000 soldiers, 48 cannons;
- Cavalry division (Lieutenant General Ludwig Wallmoden-Gimborn): 2800 soldiers, 18 cannons;
- Artillery reserve: 36 cannons;
Total: 34,000 soldiers, 192 cannons
Did not participate:
- I. corps (commander Lieutenant General Franz Schlik): 9000 soldiers, 48 cannons;
- Temesvár garrison (Lieutenant General Georg Rukawina): 3900 soldiers, 213 cannons.
Battle
At 4 a.m., the Wallmoden cavalry division departed from Nagyjécsa, and around 8:30 a.m., stumbled upon the Hungarian rearguard (six–eight cavalry companies and four cannons) north of Kisbecskerek. Wallmoden organized two lines, placing his hussars (a type of light cavalry) on the front and his heavy cavalry on the second line, and sent his batteries forward toward Kisbecskerek. After the Austrian batteries opened fire, the Hungarian cannons and hussars retreated to Kisbecskerek, the latter preparing to attack the Austrian cavalry should they attempt to cross the creek. Seeing this, Wallmoden sent the Simschen brigade with the Emperor Ferdinand Uhlan Regiment (another type of light cavalry), along with two other cavalry regiments and a Congreve rocket battery, to cross the Aranka river and head north through Újbesenyő to Kisbecskerek. At the same time, he ordered the remaining part of the Lederer brigade to attack Kisbecskerek from the front. The Hungarians noticed Wallmoden's flanking maneuver, and retreated behind the Nyárád creek.
The III. corps, which departed from Nagyjécsa at 5 a.m., now arrived at the battlefield and started its deployment. Ramberg sent the Fiquelmont Dragoon Regiment to support Wallmoden's right wing, and ordered his infantry to cross the Aranka river and take position on the far side. The Wolf brigade was stationed on the right wing and the Dossen brigade on the left, while the Weigl cavalry brigade deployed to the right of them. When the Hungarian troops around Kisbecskerek retreated behind the Nyárád, around 10 a.m., it seemed that the battle had ended for that day, and Simbschen was ordered to move from Újbesenyő to the road heading to Temesvár, in order to keep an eye on the siege troops which had encircled the fortress.