Battle
Jellacic positioned his corps on mounds along the Rakos River west of Isaszeg. Gramment's brigade kept the King's Forest southeast of lsaszeg occupied. Fighting began for the possession of the forest. Some of Damjanich's battalions thrust their way into the forest from the north, while a few of Klapka's troops invaded its southern edge. Pursuing the retreating imperial forces, Klapka's Homed were the first one at the Rakos and surprised the imperial troops retreating from Damjanich and they routed. In order to help his troops Jellacic deployed some battalions from his main position that succeeded in driving Klapka back. Damjanich's battalions remained alone.
However, he did not retreat but sent a brigade to support his uncovered left flank and commanded an infantry assault on Isaszeg. The Hungarian infantry suffered serious casualties when they came under fire from Austrian cannon on the far side of the river. They approached the town, but unexpected artillery tire came from the north of Isaszeg. Schlik had moved a division to support Jellacic. He was able to do this because the Hungarian 7th Corps remained idle. Despite two hours of cannon fire and the requests of his divisional commanders, General Gaspar strictly adhered to earlier orders to not launch any attacks against Schlik. His inaction placed Damjanich in a precarious position.
Yet, the preeminent division in the Hungarian army, Wysocki's division and its unyielding commander, held out against a highly superior force. Damjanich improvised a right flank from his last two reserve battalions, the 3rd Honved and the battalion of the Polish Legion, driving back the enemy, charging with three and later four battalions in four succeeding waves. The persistence paid off--the Austrians were stalemated.
In the southern section of the frontline, things were turning in the Hungarians' favor. Aulich and the army commander, Gorgei appeared on the battlefield, helping give Klapka time to reorganize his troops and reenter the battle on the left side of the 3rd Corps. Under fire, his troops again wavered, but the 2nd Corps supported them.
Windisch-Gratz arrived about 3 p.m. and immediately decided the battle had to be ended. He deployed the bulk of his cavalry northeast of lsaszeg across the river in open terrain. Aulich's batteries, deployed to assist the 3rd Army Corps, shattered their first attack. However, the 12 cuirassier squadrons managed to wade across the Rakos and clashed with 14 hussar squadrons of the Hungarian cavalry brigade under Colonel Nagysador. It was a seesaw battle with fresh squadrons thrown in by both sides. Eventually both this fight and the whole battle were decided by events on the Hungarian left flank.
Klapka's and then Aulich's attacks drove the imperial infantry out of the King's Forest and then from Isaszeg, which was now burning. Seeing this, Jellacic surrendered his positions about 8 p.m. and withdrew towards GodOl16. Two of the most tenacious fighters on either side, Damjanich and Schlik, kept fighting well into the night. It only ended when Windisch-Gratz, belatedly notified about the I Corps withdrawal, ordered Schlik to follow them back through Godollo. The Austrian losses were about 2.000 dead, wounded and captured. The Hungarian casualties were about 1,000.
On April 7th, a demoralized Austrian Army retreated back to Budapest. Isaszeg was a turning point in the war. Until the Russian intervention in June, the Austrians were on the defensive and in a month would be retreating across the Hungarian borders and back into Austria.
Scenario Notes
This is a great scenario. It has one side on the defensive, outnumbered nearly 3-2 when all the forces are on the table, but enjoying interior lines and local superiority at different times during the battle. There are opportunities for just about every kind of combat possible with infantry assaults, massed cavalry melees and grand batteries. The scenario translates well into either a Napoleonic battle or AC W scenario. All that is needed are similar numbers and morale ratings.
Uniforms
A. The Tyrolean Rangers
The figure is dressed in a light grey uniform with forest green cuffs, collar and shoulder wings. The leather is all black, including rifle sling and shoes and the buttons were yellow metal. The hat is high crowned with a green hatband, large feather dyed red, white and green on the bottom.. Pink flowers, native the Tyrol adorn the hat. (No kidding) Whether these were artificial or actual I do no know. The Rangers fought throughout the war, formed from the Austrian Tyrolean Rangers. This was a battalion-strength unit.
B. The Ujhazy Rifles
This unit was dressed in the same uniform as the Honved infantry, medium brown long coat and light blue pants tucked into the shows. The difference is that the cording was forest green. The black hat had a wide red hatband and large medium green feather. The Hungarian shield in the front was white metal. The Rifles numbered between 600 and 700 men. The buttons were silver metal.
C. Nograder Battalion
This infantry unit dressed as the regular Hungarian infantry except that the cording and pant stripes were white, indicating their Slovak origins. The unit had black shakos with tri-color cording around the brim and a green, white and red center color cockade. The Battalion often fought as skirmishers, but also was found in the battle line as formed regular infantry. The battalion was around 500. The buttons were silver metal.
D. Pioneers
The Pioneers wore a light grey uniform cut like the infantry. The cording and the pant stripes were a medium brown. All leather was black with a brown pack. The Shako was black with a white metal shield and a plume that hung down from the cockade and was tied on both sides of the shako. Two companies fought in the battle of Isaszeg. Each company was 250 strong. The buttons were silver metal.
E. Rockets
Both sides fielded several batteries of rockets and both had them at the battle of Isaszeg. The Hungarians were making rockets based on the Austrian version early in the war. They were not like the heavy Congreve rockets from the Napoleonic wars, but a lighter version, firing a shrapnel shell about the size of a six-pound cannon ball. They were tripod affairs that were placed close together in battery and fired at close range. The range was no more than 600 yards, but they were usually fired horizontally at 400 yards or less. They were used in the tactical situations where you would find artillery firing canister. They reportedly were very effective against cavalry. The wood was either natural or the same color as the artillery carriages for the respective armies. The metal was bare or painted black.
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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