19. Army Bulletin with Glosses

Hungary. 6 February 1849
Hungary.
No. 214, 6 February 1849
* The 19th Army Bulletin has appeared. Even if we give credence to this document, the advantages gained by the imperial troops in the recent period are not worth mentioning.
We learn nothing of the army corps in the Slovak (north-western) comitates.5
Thus this corps is evidently still fully occupied with the
“pacification of the territories already occupied”.
Of the troops sent from Pesth to Miskolcz, who are supposed to establish the connection between Windischgrätz and Schlick and for whom,10
it will be recalled, we prophesied a fairly long journey, of these troops, whose advance posts, according to purported letters from Schlick’s camp, were said to be already at Miskolcz, we likewise learn
nothing. Proof that they have not yet got far.
Of the Banat gypsy bands we likewise learn nothing.
And finally, of the troops sent out against Bem we hear absolutely nothing. In general, not only the official bulletins,
but also the otherwise so boastful unofficial mendacious reports have
for some time been completely silent about Bem. Proof enough that opposite him the
imperials are likewise reaping no laurels. Since we thus have no news whatsoever of Bem, we need not be at all surprised if he
soon suddenly appears in Schlick’s rear or on his flanks, thereby upsetting the whole imperial war plan.
That the bulletin likewise knows nothing of the storming of Leopoldstadt,25
now falsely reported six times by the martial-law papers and believed six times by Mama Dumont, we hardly need mention. The capture of this fortress is thus still to be “hoped for”.

That, then, is what the bulletin does not say. What does it say?
It is informed on three points: on the Slavonian frontier, at
Szolnok, and on the upper Theiss. Of these three points it naturally
reports “brilliant successes” once again.
Firstly: “Feldzeugmeister Count Nugent, who set out from
Kanisa on the 25th of January to expel5
the rebels assembled at Fünfkirchen, moved his headquarters on the 29th of January
to Fünfkirchen, which town the rebels, 4,000 strong with
10 cannon, left on the 26th of January, and may have taken the direction of
Essegg, in order to rally under the protection of the10
fortress occupied by the rebels, in which, however, they will not succeed, since this fortress is invested by the brigade of Colonel van der Null
of the Gradiskan Border Regiment, and Feldzeugmeister
Count Nugent will also follow them in this direction. The appearance of the
Imperial-Royal army in the Barany and Tolna comitates has completely annihilated the elements hostile to the government.”
Let us first of all state that, according to this, the fortress of Essegg on the Drave
has not been taken, as the martial-law rumours asserted, but rather that it has only just been “invested”, an investiture that will be broken through all the more readily by the “4,000
men with 10 cannon”, as it is20
on the left bank of the Drave, owing to the extensive marshes, hardly possible at all.
The further success consists in Nugent having advanced as far as Fünfkirchen. Since, according to the 18th Bulletin, Kaposvar was already occupied by the imperial troops, the whole advantage lies in the army’s position having been pushed forward by some 10 miles,
parallel to the Drave. Nothing has been gained by this but a more difficult provisioning, which increases
to the same extent as the army approaches the heart of Hungary. The
Magyars here, moreover, are evidently following the same tactics as Görgey in
the Slovak territory: they hold the towns as long as possible and then begin the guerrilla war in the countryside. What is said of the pacification
of the Barany and Tolna comitate is entirely reminiscent of the
pacifications in the Slovak region. We will soon hear that here, too,
the army was unable to advance because it first had to restore peace and order in the comitates already conquered.
Secondly: “As already communicated in the 18th Bulletin, the
cavalry brigade Ottinger, reinforced by 3 battalions of infantry and 2 foot batteries, had taken up position at Cegled. On hearing reports that the rebels intended
to attack it, Field Marshal
Prince zu Windischgrätz found himself prompted to march against them with all the disposable40
troops, in the hope that the rebels would accept a battle.

Hungary. 6 February 1849
Here too, however, they did not dare to risk a decisive encounter this time, and seeing this reinforcement advance, they withdrew hastily, pursued by the Grammont brigade, back across the Theiss.”
So there we are! The fact that Windischgrätz himself went to Cegled “with all the disposable troops”5
proves that Herr Ottinger must have suffered a severe drubbing there.
Even the reinforcing “3 battalions and 2 batteries” thus availed nothing! The advantage is limited
to the fact that the Austrians are thus once again on the Theiss at Szolnok.
Comical is Windischgrätz’s annoyance that the rebels
once again declined to give battle. As if it had not been the plan from the start
to avoid all decisive battles for the time being, to lure the imperial troops as far as possible into Hungary, and to organise peasant war and guerrillas in their rear! In due time they will certainly “risk a decisive
encounter”.
Thirdly: “Lieutenant-Field Marshal Count Schlick, after having already accomplished the cleansing of the Zips, has now also achieved that of the zemplin
comitat of the rebels, and has thereupon advanced on Tokaj,
whither Kossuth’s adherents were moving from all sides. The vanguard20
of Lieutenant-Field Marshal Schlick under Major Piattoli encountered
the enemy on the 19th of January at Szanto and threw him back upon Tokaj.
On the 21st of January a reconnaissance showed that
the opponent had withdrawn and had taken up a fairly advantageous position
at Tokaj, Tarczal and Keresztur. On the 22nd of January,
Lieutenant-Field Marshal Count Schlick undertook the general attack on
this position. Major Herczmanovsky led his brave battalion
Stephan together with a squadron of Kaiser Cavalry and four cannon
against Keresztur, while Lieutenant-Field Marshal Count Schlick with
the main column advanced via Tallya and Mad against Tarczal. The
engagement ended victoriously for the imperial troops. The enemy suffered
considerable losses, especially in dead of the Polish legion.”
This advantage is completely surprising. Schlick has driven back the outposts
of the Hungarians by a few miles and fought with them at Tallya and35
Keresztur. “The engagement ended victoriously for the Imperial-Royal
troops –” runs the laconic report on the success. Whether Tallya
and Keresztur are taken, whether the Magyars have withdrawn across the Theiss,
not a word of it. Things will probably be much the same with this victorious
and resultless engagement as with Ottinger’s last victory, which in the end turned into a defeat.

“The cleansing of the Zips” is no great art, since the Zips is largely inhabited by
Germans. Ruthenes live in the Zemplin comitat, thus
for the time being still friends of the imperial troops, and here, too, it sounds
comical to hear talk of “cleansing”.
The main result of the bulletin is that the imperial troops are on the Theiss at two widely5
separated points. The two corps
are without connection. Kossuth will now probably soon dare the decisive
blow: either to throw himself with full force on each of the two
corps singly, or to break through in the midst of them, march on
Pesth, and thus fall into the Austrians’ rear.
And while matters still stand thus, while the imperial troops
in spite of their superior numbers advance only very hesitantly and cautiously,
allowing all their columns to operate singly without giving a thought to concentration,
while the Magyars stand armed behind the Theiss, the
martial-law press reports: Kossuth has been captured in the Stry circle in Galicia.
And German papers print this.