In the welter of contradictory rumours, some of which are 
evidently invented by the imperial side, we can be certain of only two 
facts: firstly, the Magyars have crossed the Gran, and on the left bank 
of the Danube at Parkany, opposite Gran, have defeated the corps 
assembled there under Simunich; secondly, they have disappeared 
from Pest for the second time, and nobody can say where they have 
gone. 

Hence, little can be said about their present position or intentions. 
It is most likely that they will station themselves along the left bank of 
the Danube from Waitzen to Komorn, so as, after successfully 
relieving Komorn, to cross the Danube under the protection of this 
fortress’s guns and to cut off the retreat of the main imperial army. 

The corps defeated at Parkany was made up of the remnants of 
the Gotz brigade, the Simunich division and troops drawn from the 
corps besieging Komorn that could be spared there. 

According to remarks made by Austrian officers in Pest, it is more 
doubtful than ever that Waitzen has been re-occupied by the 
imperial forces. 

The imperial side is spreading the rumour that Jellachich has 
defeated the Magyars at Pest and forced them to retreat to Goddll6. 
But this rumour is deprived of all significance by the simultaneous 
and much better established news that the Magyars left Pest during 
the night, while the peasants in the area kept their watch-fires 
burning till daybreak to deceive the Austrians. 

One part of the Magyar army is said to have moved to the north 
from Parkany via Ipolysag, so as to be able together with the 
volunteer forces raised all over Upper Hungary to prevent the 
entry of Vogl’s corps. According to reports received via Pest and 

From the Theatre of War 331 

Pressburg, Vogl] is at Zbor6 (six miles* from Eperies); direct reports 
via Cracow and those in the Bohemian and Moravian papers which 
are best informed on these areas know nothing of this so far. Vogl’s 
entry has moreover been reported so often that by now no one 
believes in it any longer. In Pest and Ofen, and also among the 
troops, the rumour is being disseminated by the imperial side that 
Kossuth has resigned his post as President of the Hungarian Defence 
Council and taken to flight so as not to stand in the way of the 
negotiations which are now said to be about to begin (Welden’s 
proclamation may be remembered’). 

Two days ago it was reported that an imperial sharpshooter on 
patrol had shot Kossuth in the Hungarian camp. This report appears 
to have found no credence, hence this new invention. 

The Magyars will take care not to waste precious time on 
negotiations so that the defeated and weakened Austrians can gather 
their reinforcements at their leisure and then, supported by 
50,000-60,000 Russians, throw their adversaries back across the 
Theiss again! 

Bohm in Vienna has published the report that Komorn continues 
to be encircled, and that even the bridge from the citadel to the 
bridgehead on the right bank of the Danube has been destroyed by 
the royal imperial artillery. What truth there is in that remains to be 
seen. 

Transylvania is still in the hands of the Magyars. Under Bem’s 
direction, it has been converted into a gigantic fortress, unassailable 
from the Moldavian-Wallachian-Bukovina border. The Magyars 
make sorties from there into the Bukovina. Thus, on April 9, six 
companies of Szeklers with two guns advanced as far as Pojana- 
Stampi, beat the Austrians and retreated across the border with 14 
oxen and some horses as booty. Clearly, these raids keep the 
movement among the peasants in the area very much alive. Kobylica 
has promised to bring in a Hungarian army on the 12th and to make 
the peasants masters of all the land. 

Perczel still continues to advance in the Bacska. He has invaded the 
territory of the Chaikist battalion,” occupied Gospodincze, and is 
now in Tschurug on the Theiss, the largest base of the battalion. The 
Chaikist territory occupies the extreme angle between the Danube 
and the Theiss, east of Peterwardein. 

Both Puchner and the Russians are said to have arrived at Orsova 
on the borders of the Banat; 10,000 Russians are expected there. In 

@ See footnote on p. 20.— Ed. 
> See this volume, p. 316.— Ed. 

addition, Stratimirovich has emerged again and is rallying volunteer 
forces against the Hungarians in the Chaikist battalion. 
On the other hand, a report from Semlin, dated April 13, says: 
“The arrival of the steamboat passengers yesterday presented a sorry sight. The 
entire personnel of the general command of Transylvania, among them General 
Pfersmann and General Appel, disembarked. Their shabby garments and their pale 
countenances betrayed their misfortunes. After an hour’s rest, they continued their 

journey to Vienna by way of Agram. They carried with them the substantial war-chest 
and the archives.”* 

In the Voivodina, Rajachich is to assume the civil and Mayerhofer 
the military administration. The Serbs intend to hold a grand 
National Assembly on May 20 and to elect a new voivode. Kni¢anin 
has the best chances. We have the draft Constitution of the 
Voivodina before us; long faces will be pulled over it at Olmütz. We 
shall return to it. 

We have just received a letter from Lemberg dated April 16; it says 
nothing at all of Vogl’s entry into Upper Hungary.