"Run, you yellow-and-black dogs!"
- --A Hungarian taunt at the retreating Austrian troops
April 6th, 1849
On March 17th Gorgei took command of the Honved army from an ill General Vetter. General Klapka prepared a plan for something new for the Hungarians, an offensive campaign designed to trap Windisch-Gratz and his army of 50,000 in the Godollo area east of Budapest. The fine intelligence work of the Hungarian Hussars kept Gorgei informed of the Austrians maneuvers while denying them any knowledge of the Hungarian concentrations.
The plan was to use the Seventh Corps to attract Windisch-Gratz's attention, while three other corps crossed the Tisza River behind them. Only bad luck wrecked the plan. A small raiding party of 1,000 Hungarians attacked an imperial unit at Losonc on March 24th. The unit's commander, in order to justify his defeat, reported that several thousand Honved had attacked him. The Austrian high command gave credit to the report assuming that the Hungarians were moving to their left to relieve the siege of the fortress of Komarom. The Austrians reacted and instead of a trap closing, the Hungarians ran into Schlik's Austrian army corps on April 2nd. Nearly surrounded, the encirclement failed and Schlik escaped. April 4th also saw heavy fighting were the Hungarians again prevailed against Jellacic's corps. The 3rd and 9th Honved battalions' attacks across the Tapio Bridge won the day and drove the Austrians closer to Godollo
Windisch-Gratz knew he was in trouble. On April 5th he began to organize a withdrawal. Wrbna's II Corps fell back to cover Budapest, while the other two corps covered the movement, knowing the Hungarians would attack. Schlik's Corps blocked the northern approaches to Godollo, while Jellacic faced east near Isaszeg. The next day, around 1p.m., Hungarian troops appeared in the Isaszeg area--Klapkas 1st Army Corps, followed by the 3rd Army Corps.
The Battle of Isaszag: April 6th, 1849 "Run, you yellow-and-black dogs!"
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© Copyright 2003 Hal Thinglum
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