Fourth Siege of Szenttamás

In mid-March 1849, after the winter defensive battles on the Maros line against the Serbs, the Hungarian troops stationed in and around Szeged prepared to launch an offensive against them, to liberate the Bácska and Bánát regions.

The War Theater in Southern Hungary in 1849. Dotted line: The Roman trenches

[1] Their new commander, General Mór Perczel, considered the most important task to be the relieving of the besieged fortress of Pétervárad. On 22–23 March his troops broke through the Serb positions around Szeged, on 28–29 March they relieved the northern part of the Pétervárad fortress from the besieging troops, and after the failed attack on the fortifications at Kamanc on 29 March, Perczel marched against Verbász on 31 March.[1] Here, at the floodgate, a Serbian troop of 500 men and 2 guns attacked Perczel's troops from the direction of Kula, but were defeated and they retreated towards Zombor, leaving one gun behind.[4] On 1 April Perczel set off for Kula, where under the command of Captain Forget a reinforcement of 2 infantry battalions, 1/2 cavalry company, and 6 guns arrived, sent by Lieutenant Colonel Igmándy from Szeged.[2] His army now consisted of 8 infantry battalions, 6 hussar companies and 30 guns.[4] Hearing about this, the Royal-Imperial (K.u.K.) and Serbian forces from Zombor retreated to Bezdán, and there they crossed the Danube.[1] The Hungarians captured a significant stock of grain at Kula.[4] Perczel's next destination was the Serbian fortified camp in Szenttamás.[1]

The troops arrived in front of the town at about the same time, and at about 8 a.m. the Hungarian artillery started shelling the entrenchments from both sides.[6] The right column drew 6 guns from the reserve, and now 12 guns were firing at the Serb positions.[6] Together with the guns brought from the reserve to the Pétervárad bridgehead, the 12 Hungarian guns were deployed in a semicircle, in three separate groups of 4-4 guns.[5] The infantry battalions were placed in the interspaces between these cannon groups, and as we can deduce from the events of the battle, they were placed in the following order: the 7th Infantry Battalion was on the right wing, leaning on the canal, the Turszky battalion was on the left flank, while the Szeged volunteers were in the center.[5] Little is known about the combat formation of the left column. Based on the battle formation of the earlier siege operations and the shape of the terrain, given that the Wasa Battalion attacked the western entrance to Szenttamás, it is likely that the artillery was deployed on both sides of this battalion, the 5th and 8th Battalions, which suffered the most casualties, were deployed on the flanks, while the National Guard Battalion and the Cavalry Company were deployed as general reserves at the rear.[12] Of the reserve troops, the 5 cavalry companies, moving along the road to Turia, raised a cloud of great dust, which the wind drove onto the bridgehead.[5] The National Guard battalion was positioned behind the left flank, facing the canal.[5]

The Hungarian batteries poured shells into the enemy entrenchments. But the enemy did not enter in panic but returned fire with vigor.[13] In the meantime, the 7th Honvéd Battalion attacked the bridgehead along the road to Turia, behind an advanced skirmish line.[13] However, they were repulsed by the Serb reserve troops.[13] The repeated bayonet assaults that followed were each time shipwrecked by the stubborn resistance and fusillade of the Serbs, and it seemed as if the reputation of the impregnability of the Szenttamás entrenchments was about to be confirmed again.[2] However, due to the continuous shelling by the Hungarians, at one point a 3-pounder gun of the Serbs was hit, becoming unusable.[13] On top of this, at about 9 a.m. a Hungarian shell blew up the ammunition magazine of the Pétervárad bridgehead.[6] Thanks to these the Hungarian batteries advanced and fired at the defenders with grapeshot.[6]

Map of the Fourth Siege of Szenttamás (3 April 1849)
hz. = Honvéd battalion
nz. = National Guard battalion
o.b.s. = Óbecse ramparts
p.v.h. = Pétervárad bridgehead
sz.ö. = Szeged volunteers
T. = Turszky battalion
Wsa. = Wasa battalion

First, the 1st squad of the 7th Battalion, under the command of Captain Bach, managed to reach the trench, and from there, together with the Szeged volunteers under the leadership of Major Sándor Földváry, they quickly reached the breastworks.[2] The Serbian soldiers near the entrance to the bridgehead retreated from the breastworks and ran towards the bridge over the canal.[13] Captain Stefanović rushed there and stopped them, forcing them back to their previous position, but at this moment Captain Bach was already on the breastworks with his men and drove the Serbs back with a bayonet charge.[13] Seeing this, Major Sándor Földváry, the commander of the 1/2 Battalion of the Szeged Volunteers, snatched the flag from the hands of the flag bearer and with a shout of "forward, boys!" he rushed at the head of his troops up the battlements.[13] Then the battalion of the 62nd Turszky Infantry Regiment broke into the camp at the Pétervárad bridgehead, and the defenders were driven towards the bridge over the Ferenc Canal.[6] The defenders routed towards the bridge of the canal.[13] The 7th Honvéd Battalion followed in hot pursuit. Many of them fell into the canal, where they died, and many of them were shot by the Honvéds.[13] The bridgehead was in Hungarian hands at 10:30 a.m.[6] The Serbs retreating into the town, fired continuously from the houses[6] trying to prevent the Hungarians to cross the canal's bridge. But the Serbs were driven out also from there and, fleeing from street to street, they rushed to the Óbecse ramparts, where the unarmed inhabitants had also fled, to run towards Óbecse by carriage or on foot.[13]

The Verbas entrenchments were defended by Captain Bosnić's border guards from Pétervárad and the armed Serb inhabitants of Szenttamás.[6] Colonel Gaál, after fierce cannonading, made two assaults on the entrenchments, and in the same time the Wasa infantry battalion attacked the western entrance to Szenttamás; but the 5th and 8th Honvéd battalions suffered considerable losses, and failed to break into the entrenchments.[14] It was only when the Serbs fighting here were informed of what was happening on the southern side that they gave up further resistance, to avoid being caught between two fires.[2] But the most bitter part of the battle came only afterwards, within the city walls, and it almost escalated into a massacre.[2] Neither side showed mercy to the other. A terrible massacre raged in the streets of Szenttamás.[15] The determined Hungarians unleashed their unrelenting fury on the Serbs, while the Serbs desperately defended themselves.[15] Then finally, the Serbs, realizing that all their efforts were in vain, fled in all directions, pursued vigorously by the Hungarian hussars who had also arrived at the scene of the battle.[2] The defenders of the entrenchments broke out of the Szenttamás camp through the Krivaja, but many of them died in the muddy waters.[6]

Others jumped into the Ferenc Canal and tried to escape towards Kiskér, but there they fell under the arms of the reserve and cavalry troops.[15] The great mass, men, women, old men and children, ran towards Óbecse.[15] The only way out was through the ramparts, via the Srbobran redoubt, and there was a great crowding and confusion as the crowd fled towards Óbecse.[15] Unfortunately, the Hungarian soldiers' thirst for revenge for the Serb atrocities of the previous months, in which thousands of Hungarian civilians fell victims (most notorious the Massacre of Zenta from 1–3 February 1849),[16] now did not spare the Serb civilians either, and they only stopped the massacre when the government commissioner Count Kázmér Batthyány and the Hungarian officers, who had rushed to the scene, stopped it.[15]

In his analysis of the siege, Ödön Olchváry notes that during the capture of Szenttamás, the attacking columns attacked the Verbász ramparts and the Pétervárad bridgehead with almost equal force.[15] But while the strength of the troops fighting at the bridgehead was proportional to the size of the bridgehead, the Verbász ramparts would have required more troops.[15] The Serbs were expecting danger from the Verbász battlements, and these defensive walls were defended by the heroic Teodor Bosnić, who had already successfully defended Szenttamás twice before.[17] Captain Jovan Stefanović Vilovski had taken command of the bridgehead only two days before; therefore, the troops did not trust him too much and were not very attached to him as they had to Bosnić.[18]

According to György Klapka, the Serbs lost 2,000 men, and according to other, more plausible sources, around 1,000, but this figure must also include the lives of civilians, women, and innocent children.[2] In addition, 5 guns, several flags, and a large amount of armament fell into the possession of the Hungarians.[15] According to historian Róbert Hermann the Serbs lost 2000–4000 men, and 6 guns were captured by the Hungarians.[3] According to József Bánlaky, the Hungarian losses in dead and wounded did not exceed 200,[2] while according to Ödön Olchváry, it far exceeded it.[15] According to Róbert Hermann the Hungarians lost 22 dead and 100 wounded soldiers.[3] Szenttamás was burned on the same day, and the entrenchments, the symbol of the three Hungarian failed sieges, were destroyed at the order of Perczel on 4 and 5 April.[2]

The capture of Szenttamás was also an important psychological success. The three unsuccessful sieges in the summer and autumn of 1848 made the fortress a symbol of Serbian resistance in the eyes of the public.[19] Its capture signaled that the Hungarian army was capable of putting down the Serbian rebellion and thus bringing peace to a much-suffered part of the country.[19]

On 6 April two Hungarian columns marched to conquer the Šajkaška District.[18] One column, under the command of Colonel Gaál, marched towards Csurog, to occupy this place and to observe Bácsföldvár, Óbecse and the left bank of the Tisza. The other column, under the command of Mór Perczel, marched towards Goszpodince against the Roman ramparts.[18]

The enthusiasm in the Hungarian troops and the impact of the victorious battles of the Hungarian offensive in Southern Hungary, which had begun, under the leadership of General Mór Perczel in March, boosted the mood.[18] The squadrons and companies were led by proven officers, famous for their talent and bravery.[18] The commander-in-chief, Mór Perczel, although not the most talented of the commanders of the Hungarian War of Independence, was not lacking in courage, determination, and purposefulness.[18]

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