Sources:
1: Prince Eugene - Twin marshal with Marlborough, Lieutenant-General Sir George Macmunn,
Samson Low Marston & Co, 1933, Chapter IV. Eugene Saves Christian Europe From The Turks
2: Prince Eugene of Savoy, Nicholas Henderson, Weidenfeld & Nicholson, 1964, Chapter IV:
1497-1701 Zenta and an Interlude of Peace
"While it will be seen that the Blenheim campaign was that to which Britain should owe her eternal acknowledgements to Eugene, it is the campaign that ended with the crushing victory over the Turks and the actual destruction of the whole Turkish army - lock, stock 'and barrel, soldiery and high commanders - in the holocaust of Zenta, that is his passport to the valhallas of Christendom and of civilisation itself. [1]
With the concentration of Austrian forces in the west due to the pressures of the War of the League of Augsburg against Louis XIV the Turks were able (with the help of French subsidies) to regain much of the territory lost in the campaign of 1688, including the fortress of Belgrade. Ile victorious Turkish army massing there under the Grand Vizier Mustapha Pasha, and accompanied by the new Sultan Mustapha II, were preparing to march against the Austrian's frontier fortress of Peterwardein, the capture of which would open the valley of the Danube to Turkish invasion.
With this threat developing, a new and more vigorous commander had to be found for Austrian forces in Hungary to replace the failing Duke of Capara. Hendersonz paints the following picture:
Eugene, aged thirty three (and a Field Marshal since the age of twenty nine) was considered too young by the Emperor for the post The president of the Imperial War Council (Graf. Ernst Rudiger Starhemberg. who had commanded the garrison of Vienna during the siege of 1683) spoke in Eugene's favour:
Macmunn [2] paints his picture of the above events thus:
You should by now (if not immediately after reading the titles and chapter headings of the sources above) be able to form an opinion of the differing styles, of the two sources I am quoting from. I make no judjement on the merits of either work, it is up to the reader to decide if he prefers art to craft. Anyway, back to the plot.
Army in Rags
Eugene arrived at Esseg to find the army in rags, unsupplied with munitions or equipment, pay hoplessly in arrears, and his subordinate commanders not on the best of terms with each other. He set about reorganising and improving morale. On being told that the army numbered 31,342, he replied "thank you for the information. I am the 31,343rd, and soon we will be more" .2 This optimism sooon spread through the ranks, and with supply columns approaching, and detachments from Transylvania and other parts of Hungary being recalled, he wrote to the Emperor thus:
On the 25th July the army was ready to march on Peterwardein. Ile Sultan had made other plans, however, and crossing the Danube at Panscona, was marching up the cast bank of the Danube, and then on up the river Theiss, hoping to cut off Count Rabutin marching from Transylvania along the river Maros with eight batallions of Austrian reinforcements. Eugene sent eight battalions and 800 horse to hold the town of Titel as a bridgehead to intercept the Turks, and sent five more battalions up the river Bega, which met the Theiss at Titel, to cut the Turkish advance, while he himself brought up the main army to the Theiss. The Turks drove Nehen from Titel and followed him towards Peterwardein, crossing the Danube at the bridges of St. Thomas and Syreck. Eugene, having collected the reinforcing column from Transylvania, and another detachment under Prince Vaudemont who had been suppressing rebels elsewhere in Hungary, had arrived'at the bridges in time to stop the Turks destroying them. Hecrossed and encamped to the west of Peterwardein, about two and a half miles from the Turkish camp.
The next morning found the Turks marching away over the bridges that Eugene had rescued.
Prisoners reported the Sultan's plans to cross the Theiss at Szegedin and follow the Maros into
Transylvania. By forced marches the army arrived at Becze on the west bank of the Theiss on the 10th of September, with the Turks encamped at Zenta, halfway between Becze and Szegedin. Marching north on the 11th, Eugene learned from a Turkish Pasha who had been captured while scouting the Imperialist's march that the Sultan, in order to escape his pursuers, had ordered a bridge of boats constructed and was already passing his army across the Theiss.
By the afternoon, the Sultan and most of the cavalry had crossed the river and encamped on the other bank. The heavy artillery were still on the bridge, and the infantry and remaining cavalry were entrenched around the bridgehead in a semi-circular earthwork.
Eugene, pushing ahead of the army with his light horse halted three miles from the camp to survey the position. As the Austrian columns came up he deployed them for the assault even though they had been marching for ten hours. There were only a few hours of daylight left, and the Turks would be gone before morning.
The Turkish camp was not heavily fortified, there not having been enough time to do so. The outer line of entrenchments were incomplete, with gap and in the left of centre section. There were stronger fortifications around the bridgehead, covering the stores, magazine and wagon park, with barricades covering the entry to these, and the flanks of the fortifications. There was an undefended sandbank running behind the upstream end of the camp, with shallow water between them. The outer line of defences enclosed approximately 4000 yards of river bank. There were redoubts containing artillery situated along their length.
Attack
Eugene's forces were divided into three divisions; the left under Guido Starhemberg (cousin of the President of the Imperial War Council) and second only to Eugenc in ability as a general; the centre under Prince Commercy; and the right under Graf Siegbert von Heister. Eugene took position in the centre, with the artillery commander General Bomer.
Large Map of Zenta Battlefield (45K)
With two hours of daylight remaining, the three divisions closed into a semi-circle about the Turkish position, with their flanks on the riverbank. The artillery were formed up on the riverbank where they could bombard the bridge, causing confusion and congestion. As the Austrians moved forward the Turkish light horse poured out to harass them. The dragoons and light artillery were sent forward and drove the Turks back into the defences, the Turkish artillery opening fire as their targets came into view. Eugene had ordered Starhemberg to push a force dnto the sandbank and enter the camp from the river side. These troops were able to get close enough to the bridge to block its use. Heister's forces broke into the outer defences and the Turks panicked and broke into rout..The bridge being blocked with wagons going one way, the Vizier's cavalry trying to come back the other way, and the Austrian artillery and Starhemberg's infantry pouring fire into it from the flanks, the Janissaries poured into the river. The
Austrians gave no quarter, and few Turks from the camp survived the battle. Eugene described it as "a frightful bloodbath ... (the soldiers were) so worked up that they showed no mercy, even though many Turkish officers and bashibazouks promised them money if they would spare them".
[2]
So many Turks perished in the river that his "men could stand on the dead Turks bodies as if on an island". ( [2]
By 10pm Eugene had re-established order in the camp and pulled his men back: 20,000 Turks were killed in the camp and another 10,000 drowned in the river. Only 1000 reached the other bank alive. The Grand Vizier had been killed, along with four other Viziers, the Governors of Bosnia and Anatolia, and the Commander of the Janissary Corps. (A number of these had been, killed by the Janissaries, who began to mutiny as the battle climaxed). Ali the artillery was captured, all the baggage, horses, weapons and treasure, including the Sultan's personal possessions. The Sultan had fled early in the battle, abandoning his camp on the cast side of the river. 9,000 wagons, 60,000 camels, 1,500 head of cattle, 700 horses and three million piastres of treasure were taken, along with the Grand Vizices Great Seal, found on his body. The
Austrians lost 300 killed and 200 wounded.
A force of light cavalry was sent out to follow the Sultan and his survivors and ensure they didn't stop. The main bulk of the army, with its artillery made its way into winter quarters, it being too late in the year to undertake the siege of Belgrade. Eugene himself led a raiding force south into Bosnia, and sent Count Rabutin down the Danube to raid.
Related
'I do not know anyone who has more understanding, experience, industry and zeal for the Emperor's service, who has a more generous and unselfish disposition, or who holds the love of the soldiers in a higher degree than the Prince'.
The Emperor therefore appointed the Elector of Saxony as Supreme Commander, with Eugene in an indeterminate role alongside him. Fortunately the Elector became King of Poland at this point, and went off to start the Great Northern War. The Emperor had to make the best of it, and appoint Eugene, with the condition that he 'should act with extreme caution and forgo all risks and avoid engaging the enemy unless he has overwhelming strength and is practically certain of being completely victorious'. And so in mid 1697 Eugene set off to join his army at Esseg on the river Drave, seventy miles above Peterwardein.
"With real danger threatening, the old jealousies of rival commanders had fallen into the shade, and the Emperor supported by his advisors determined that the best man must be sent to the spot Eugene's campaigns against Louis [XIV] in Italy added to his reputation from the earlier Turkish wars, marked him as the man of destiny. Though not yet four-and-thirty, his experience both as a commander and a regimental leader was unrivalled and his dramatic rise to be a Field Marshal of Austria had stirred men's minds. What mattered age or the claims of others in a crisis? Eugene must lead against the Sultan".
"Let the enemy but allow me a few days in which to assemble Your Majesty's soldiers and then, with God's help, I will confound his purpose. [I assume it was the enemy's, and not God's purpose he was intending to confound].
"I was marching to attack them, when a cursed courier brought me an order from the
Emperor not to give battle under any circumstances whatever. I had already advanced too far, by stopping where I was I should have lost part of my army, and honour. I put the letter in my pocket and at the head of six regiments of dragoons, approached so near the Turks as to perceive that they were all preparing to pass the Theiss. I rejoined my army with a look of satisfaction which was, I am told, considered a good omen by the soldiers." [1]
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