The Battle of Vác, fought on 10 April 1849, was one of two important battles which took place in Vác during the Spring Campaign of the Hungarian War of Independence between the Austrian Empire and the Hungarian revolutionary army. The battle was the starting point of the second phase of the Spring Campaign, during which the Hungarians planned to relieve the fortress of Komárom from an Austrian siege, and to encircle the Austrian forces headquartered in the Hungarian capitals of Buda and Pest.
The Hungarians won the battle. The Austrian commander, Major General Christian Götz, was fatally wounded, dying shortly after the battle. His body was buried by the Hungarian commander Artúr Görgei with full military honors as a mark of respect.
Background
With the Battle of Isaszeg the Hungarian Revolutionary Army led by Artúr Görgei managed to force the Austrian Habsburg Imperial Army led by Field Marshal Alfred I, Prince of Windisch-Grätz to retreat towards the Hungarian capitals of Pest and Buda. This liberated the Hungarian territories between the Tisza and the Danube rivers. The imperial troops took up a strong defensive line before Pest. The Hungarian commanders did not attempt to storm the position, but encircled Pest up to the Danube, and held in position until 9 April. The imperial army retreated to the capital.
On 7 April a new campaign plan was made. According to this plan the Hungarian army was to split; General Lajos Aulich with the Hungarian II Corps and Colonel Lajos Asbóth's division remained in front of Pest, demonstrating to make the imperials believe that the whole Hungarian army was there. This diverted their attention from the north, where the real Hungarian attack was to start with I, III and VII Corps moving west along the northern bank of the Danube to Komárom, to relieve it from the imperial siege. Kmety's division of VII Corps was to cover the three corps's march, and after I and III Corps occupied Vác, the division was to secure the town, while the rest of the troops together with the two remaining divisions of VII Corps were to advance to the Garam river, then head south to relieve the northern section of the Austrian siege of the fortress of Komárom. After this, they were to cross the Danube and relieve the southern section of the siege. If all this could be completed successfully, the imperials would have only two choices: to retreat from Middle Hungary towards Vienna, or be encircled in the Hungarian capitals by the Hungarians. This plan was very risky (as was the first plan of the Spring Campaign too) because if Windisch-Grätz had discovered that only one Hungarian corps remained in front of Pest, he could have destroyed Aulich's force, and thereby easily cut the lines of communication of the main Hungarian army, and even occupied Debrecen, the seat of the Hungarian Revolutionary Parliament and the National Defense Committee (interim government of Hungary), or he could encircle the three corps advancing to relieve Komárom. Although the president of the National Defense Committee (interim government of Hungary), Lajos Kossuth went to the Hungarian headquarters at Gödöllő, after the battle of Isaszeg and wanted a direct attack on Pest, he was finally convinced by Görgey that his and the other generals' plan was better. To secure the success of the Hungarian army, the National Defense Committee sent 100 wagons with munitions from Debrecen.
After the Battle of Isaszeg, Field Marshal Windisch-Grätz ordered the division quartered in Balassagyarmat to defend the Ipoly valley, led by Lieutenant General Georg von Ramberg, to move to Vác, to secure the Danube Bend from a Hungarian attack. But at the same time he made the mistake of ordering Lieutenant General Anton Csorich, who actually was defending Vác with his division, to move to Pest. If two imperial divisions had been defending Vác when the Hungarians attacked, they would have had more chance of repelling them. On 10 April, when the Hungarian army planned to attack Vác, Görgey feared an imperial attack against his troops in the region before Pest. And indeed Windisch-Grätz ordered a general advance of his I and III Corps, to learn whether the Hungarian main army was in front of Pest or had moved northwards. But the Hungarian II Corps led by General Aulich, together with VII Corps and much of I Corps, easily repelled the attack. At the same time, the deceptive maneuvers by Aulich and Asbóth managed to attract the attention of the imperials, who did not notice the march of III Corps, led by János Damjanich. As a result, the field marshal was unable to obtain the information he needed. The inefficiency of the imperial reconnaissance is shown by the fact that on 12 and 14 April (4 days after the battle of Vác, when the main Hungarian army had already departed towards Komárom, and only II Corps remained there), Anton Csorich reported that Pest was in danger of being attacked by substantial Hungarian forces. Aulich and Asbóth's troops did their job of making the imperials believe that the main Hungarian army was still in front of the capital so well that neither Windisch-Grätz until his dismissal, nor Lieutenant Field Marshal Josip Jelačić (interim commander until the arrival of Feldzeugmeister Ludwig von Welden who was named as the new commander-in-chief), dared to do anything. In contrast, the Hungarian reconnaissance was excellent, learning that Windisch-Grätz was still before Pest with three army corps awaiting the Hungarian attack, and that Ramberg's division, composed of the Götz and Jablonowski brigades, was at Vác blocking the road to the Danube valley and to the Vág river.
Prelude
Because of the participation of the VII Corps and much of the, I Corps in the skirmishes around Pest, the Hungarian army which moved towards Vác was composed only of the III Corps and Lieutenant-Colonel János Bobich's brigade of I Corps. Although it was designed by Damjanich as reserve in the forthcoming battle, the rest of the I Corps remained far behind, arriving at Vác only after the end of the battle. According to László Pusztaszeri (in 1984) the whole Hungarian I Corps joined the advance of the III Corps towards Vác, but this is unlikely. The military historian Róbert Hermann, writing 20 years later (2004) states that only Bobich's brigade accompanied III Corps towards Vác. They started to move north at 4 p.m. on 9 April, followed by VII Corps, which was extracted bit by bit from among the Hungarian forces performing the demonstrations.
On the morning of 10 April, after his troops arrived at Vác, General Damjanich sent Bobich's brigade of 2,973 men and 20 cannons through Rád and Kosd to encircle the imperial troops from Vác. But Bobich's infantry lost their way in the fog and moved towards Penc (east instead of west), so his troops failed to appear in the battle. When an aide-de-camp sent after Lieutenant Colonel János Bobich, found him, and his brigade finally arrived in Vác, the battle was already over. At the last moment before the battle the imperial commander, Georg von Ramberg, fell ill, so Major General Christian Götz took command. Windisch-Grätz had advised him to retreat west to the Garam (in Slovakian Hron) river without a fight if he faced superior numbers. Sensing that the Hungarian attack is imminent, the high commander also ordered him to send quickly his sick soldiers and the army's luggage to Esztergom. Götz received Windisch-Grätz's order on 10 April at 8 a.m., but he was not fully agreed with the order of retreat behind the Garam, writing back to him that the Szentendre island must be protected because the Hungarians can use it to cross on the right bank of the Danube. He was not expecting any Hungarian attack on that day.
Götz's men had not fought since the middle of February, being kept busy moving hither and thither in northern Hungary, in this aspect the battle-hardened Hungarian troops had the advantage.
Opposing forces
The Hungarians:
- III. corps:
1. Knezich infantry division:
- Kiss infantry brigade: 1. battalion of the 34. infantry regiment, 3. battalion of the 34. infantry regiment, 3. battalion of the 52. infantry regiment;
- Kökényessy infantry brigade: 9. battalion, 65. battalion, 1/2 infantry battery, 1/2 jäger battalion, 1/2 sapper battalion with 1 military bridge set;
- Pikéty column: 2. hussar regiment (8 companies).
2. Wysocki infantry division:
- Czillich infantry brigade: 3. battalion of the 60. infantry regiment, 42. battalion, Polish Legion;
- Leiningen infantry brigade: 3. battalion of the 19. infantry regiment, 3. battalion;
- Kászonyi cavalry brigade: 3. hussar regiment (6 companies), 2 Polish uhlan companies;
- 3 six-pounder batteries, 1 twelve-pounder battery.
In total: 10 infantry battalions, 2 jäger companies, 16 cavalry companies, 2 sapper companies, and 4 batteries.
The Austrians:
Ramberg division:
- Götz infantry brigade: 3. battalion of the 63. Bianchi infantry regiment, 1. battalion of the 36. Palombini infantry regiment, 12. kaiserjäger battalion, 2 1/2 companies of the 3. Archduke Karl Ludwig uhlan regiment, 1/2 cavalry battery, 1 1/2 Congreve rocket battery, 1 twelve-pounder infantry battery;
- Jablonowski infantry brigade: 1. battalion of the 15. Adolf Duke of Nassau infantry regiment, 2 battalion of the 15. Adolf Duke of Nassau infantry regiment, 3. battalion of the 15. Adolf Duke of Nassau infantry regiment, 4. (Landwehr) battalion of the 15. Adolf Duke of Nassau infantry regiment, 2 companies of the 6. Wrbna chevau-léger regiment, 2 companies of the 1. Archduke John dragoon regiment, 1 company of the 7. Kress chevau-léger regiment, 1 sapper company, 1 six-pounder battery, 1 1/2 Congreve rocket battery, 1 twelve-pounder infantry battery;
In total: 7 infantry battalions (7500 soldiers), 7 1/2 cavalry companies (750 cavalrymen), 1 sapper company, 4 batteries (27 cannons).
Battle
On a rainy 10 April, Damjanich positioned his troops south from Vác around 9 o'clock, after moving along the Pest-Vác road, because on that morning the fields were impassable due to wet weather. The Hungarian general positioned his troops as it follows: the Wysocki division (with the Czillich brigade in the first and the Leiningen brigade in the second line) deployed along the Dunakeszi-Vác road having the Danube on their left side, the division led by Colonel Károly Knezić (with the Kiss brigade in the first and the Kökényessy brigade in the second line) formed the right wing, along the railroad, while the cavalry division led by General József Nagysándor remained as the third line. Damjanich deployed the whole artillery of his III. corps on the sand dunes near the railroad. At 9.30 a.m. lieutenant colonel Althann the leader of the Austrian wanguard reported to Götz the approaching of enemy troops from South, so the Austrian commander, together with General Felix Jablonowski, the commander of his second brigade, rode to the Austrian outposts. The road which led to Vác from South crossed the stone bridge (called also the bridge with statues, because of the statues on them, representing 7 saints) over the Gombás creek, while East from the town was another bridge for the Vác-Pest railway. Götz positioned the soldiers of the 15. Infantry Regiment from to the Jablonowski brigade in front of the entrance of the town as it follows. Near the Danube's shore on the Gallows hill (Akasztófadomb) placed the 3. battalion, on the Seven Chapels hill (Hétkápolna domb) the 2. battalion, while on the railway bridge the 1. battalion. He sent the 12. kaiserjäger battalion to guard the graveyards in front of the stone bridge.
Götz placed a 6-pounder, a half 12-pounder cannon battery and a half rocket battery between Vác and the railroad bridge. The 4. battalion of the 15. infantry regiment, under Colonel Strasdil was positioned on the Calvary hill (Kálváriadomb), in order to protect Vác from an eventual attack from East. The other Austrian units (the 1. battalion of the 63. infantry regiment, the 3. battalion of the 36. infantry regiment, 2 1/2 company of the 2. chevau-léger regiment, a company of the 1. dragoon regiment, a sapper company, a 6-pounder battery, a 12-pounder battery, a rocket battery) were gathering in Vác.