The Fourth Battle of Komárom was fought in 30 July and 3 August 1849 between the Hungarian garrison of the fortress of Komárom led by General György Klapka and the besieging Austrian army led by Lieutenant field marshal Anton Freiherr Csorich von Monte Creto. Thanks to the capturing, by a Hungarian detachment of Hussars, of a statement containing the number of the besieging Austrian II. corps, Klapka understood, that he actually has numerical superiority over the besiegers. So in two sorties made on 30 July and 3 August he managed to crush their siege on the northern, then also on the southern section of the fortress, chasing them towards West, and causing them heavy losses. Thanks to this victory Klapka liberated the region between Komárom and Győr, planning to attack Austria, when he learned about the surrender of the Hungarian main troops from 13 August, and as result of this, he retreated with his troops in Komárom.
Background When, after the battle of Komárom from 11 July, on 12–13 July the Hungarian Army of the Northern Danube led by General Artúr Görgei's departed from Komárom towards Vác, in the fortress remained around 18,300 soldiers.. The Hungarian troops stationing in Komárom were the II. and the VIII. corps, their commander being the 29 years old Major General György Klapka. After the departure of Görgei's troops, on 13 July Klapka organized the units which remained in Komárom as it follows. The two corps were organized in 5 infantry and one cavalry division, the division leaders being for the VIII. corps: Col. Móric Kosztolányi, Col. count Pál Esterházy, Col. Pál Janik; for the II. corps: Lieutenant Colonel Samu Rakovszky, Lieutenant Colonel Pál Horváth and Lieutenant Colonel Ignác Mándy as the commander of the cavalry division. The commander was Major General György Klapka. The command post was led by Colonel Ferenc Ascherman as the commander of the fortress, the chief of staff was Colonel Péter Szillányi, while the main aide-de-camp was Lieutenant Colonel János Prágay, Lieutenant colonel Sándor Mednyánszky and Major Latinovics were aide-de-camps and orderly officers, Lieutenant colonel Karl Jungwirth was the commander of the artillery of the fortress, Lieutenant colonel Zsigmond Thaly the director of the fortification works of the fortress, and Lieutenant colonel Szabó the camp commander. And the government commissioner László Újházi represented the Hungarian government.Petheő, Attila: Az 1849. augusztus 3-i komáromi kitörés története Katonák, papok, polgárok 1848/49-ben. Tudományos konferencia a Juhász Gyula Tanárképző Főiskola Történettudományi Tanszékén, 1999, pp. 115 On 14 July the Austrian troops encircled the fortress, closing the Hungarians inside it. From that day nobody from the fortress and the town was allowed to leave it without permission, and the soldiers and the inhabitants had to content themselves with a daily food ration.
Klapka's duty was, with an active defence, to tie down as many enemy troops as possible, keeping them away, as long as possible, from participating in Field Marshal Julius Jacob von Haynau's main armies campaign in the main theatre of war. For 10 days Klapka managed to fulfill this mission, keeping two Austrian corps with 28 000 soldiers and 114 cannons under the fortress, but on 23 July Haynau ordered to General Franz Schlik to march with the I. corps to Pest, so the siege armies number dropped to less than its half. The cause of the I. corps departure was probably the fact that the defenders did not shown enough activity, and did not made enough sorties and attack against the besiegers, which made Haynau to think that only half of the besieging troops are enough to station under Komárom. In this respect we can say that the defenders did not fulfilled their task to tie down the enemy.
The Austrian siege corps led by Lieutenant field marshal Anton Freiherr Csorich von Monte Creto, was composed by 3 brigades, led by Major General Baron Joseph Johann Nepomuk Freiherr von Barco, Major General Karl Liebler von Asselt and Lieutenant General Gustav Ritter von Pott. In total the Austrian siege corps was composed by 16 infantry battalions, 6 cavalry companies and 75 cannons (from these 18 were long range 18-pounder guns). Csorich's chief of staff was Lieutenant Colonel Franz Jungbauer, his chief of artillery being Major Bahr, and Lieutenant General Franz de Paula Gundackar II. Fürst von Colloredo-Mannsfeld was the commander of the division which contained the aforementioned three brigades. The Barco-brigade occupied the line between the Herkály grange (Puszta-Herkály), through the Ács forest to the Danube and the Monostor wineyards from Monostor, its detachments holding the Csém grange, Mocsa and Dunaalmás.Petheő, Attila: Az 1849. augusztus 3-i komáromi kitörés története Katonák, papok, polgárok 1848/49-ben. Tudományos konferencia a Juhász Gyula Tanárképző Főiskola Történettudományi Tanszékén, 1999, pp. 115-116 The Liebler brigade took positions in Csallóköz, massing soldiers in Csallóközaranyos, Keszegfalva, and the bridgehead from Nagylél. Pott's brigade was positioned on the left bank of the Vág river, its detachments holding Martos, Ógyalla and Bagota, sending outposts to Puszta-Káva, Puszta-Konkoly, Csuzi and Halom-szeg, stretching them later to Hetény, Kurtakeszi and Marcelháza.Petheő, Attila: Az 1849. augusztus 3-i komáromi kitörés története Katonák, papok, polgárok 1848/49-ben. Tudományos konferencia a Juhász Gyula Tanárképző Főiskola Történettudományi Tanszékén, 1999, pp. 116 In order to strengthen their position the Austrians dug from the Herkály grange (Puszta-Herkály), through the Ács forest to the Danube 7 big ramparts with several trenches, barricading the edge of the Ács forest with cut trees. In Csallóköz in order to strengthen the position from the bridgehead from Nagylél and the position from Csallóközaranyos, the Austrians built 6 defence works, and they dug a trench between Csallóközaranyos and Dudva. The same happened also on the left bank of the Vág river, where Pott, seeing that the river Zsitva's water got so down, that, in the case of an attack, the Hungarians could cross it easily, ordered his soldiers to build barricades and parapets at Halomszeg and Konkoly, strengthening also Komáromszentpéter.
The reduction of the number of the enemy army was sensed by the defenders after two days.
Prelude Klapka learned that the Austrians stockpiled a large amount of food supplies at Tata, so he decided to attack the garrison from there. On 25 July Klapka sent a detachment against Mocsa, to divert the attention of the Austrians from his main purpose: the attack against Tata.Petheő, Attila: Az 1849. augusztus 3-i komáromi kitörés története Katonák, papok, polgárok 1848/49-ben. Tudományos konferencia a Juhász Gyula Tanárképző Főiskola Történettudományi Tanszékén, 1999, pp. 117 The detachment of the defenders which attacked Tata consisted of two battalions of infantry, a cavalry company and a half battery of cannons, led by Colonel Kosztolányi. The surprise attack with the help of the people from the nearby villages was a full success: they took all the garrison from Tata prisoners, together with a major, three captains and a lieutenant. The loot was substantial: a large amount of food, several wagons, many horses, the pharmacy of the Austrian army, and the Vienna stagecoach, filled with money and a document which showed the number and positioning of the Austrian troops around Komárom. Thanks to this Klapka learned that the besiegers are less than the garrison of the fortress, and that the Austrians think that the Hungarian defenders are much less than they were in reality, thinking that the soldiers of Klapka are only around 8000. On the stagecoach they found a so-called Black book, which contained the list of the Hungarians whom the Austrians planned to capture and execute.Petheő, Attila: Az 1849. augusztus 3-i komáromi kitörés története Katonák, papok, polgárok 1848/49-ben. Tudományos konferencia a Juhász Gyula Tanárképző Főiskola Történettudományi Tanszékén, 1999, pp. 116-117 From the captured money Klapka paid extra military compensation for two days for all his soldiers.
From the captured documents Klapka understood that he has a chance to defeat the besiegers in detail, and crush the siege. So Klapka decided to crush the siege with a large scale sortie. His job was eased also by the fact that the Danube split the Austrian siege corps into two which, because of this, could not help each other in the case of an attack, and the Vág river which flows in the Danube from the North, added a similar obstacle for the Austrian troops from the Northern shore. Klapka wanted to chase away first the Austrian units from the northern (left) shore of the Danube. There stationed the weaker enemy units, and with the attack against them he hoped to create the false feeling in the Austrians that the Hungarian army wants to continue its operations on the Northern shore of the Danube.
Opposing forces
Commander in chief: General György Klapka; Commander of the Fortress: Colonel Ferenc Aschermann; 133 infantry companies, 11 cavalry companies, 292 cannons, 19,124 soldiers.
Corps Division Unit Infantry company Cavalry company Saddled horse Traction horse Cannon NumberII. Corps
Colonel József KászonyiRakovszky infantry division
Lieutenant colonel Samu Rakovzsky 25. Honvéd battalion 48. Honvéd battalion 52. Honvéd battalion 56. Honvéd battalion 1 battalion of the "Dom Miguel" infantry regiment 30 - - - - 3643Horváth infantry division
Lieutenant colonel Pál Horváth 49. Honvéd battalion 54. Honvéd battalion 60. Honvéd battalion 61. Honvéd battalion 63. Honvéd battalion 30 - - - - 4358Mándy cavalry division
Lieutenant Colonel Ignác Mándy 6 companies of the "Württemberg" Hussar regiment 2 companies of the "Bocskay" Hussar regiment - 8 1023 - - 1003Artillery 1 six-pounder infantry battery 1 six-pounder infantry battery 1 three-pounder infantry battery - - 44 313 28 560 Total 60 8 1067 313 28 9564VIII. Corps
Colonel Ferenc AschermannKosztolányi infantry division
Colonel Móric Kosztolányi 18. Honvéd battalion 37. Honvéd battalion 64. Honvéd battalion 3. battalion of the "Alexander" infantry regiment 24 - - - - ?Janik infantry division
Colonel János Janik 46. Honvéd battalion 57. Honvéd battalion 70. Honvéd battalion 71. Honvéd battalion 20 - - - - ?Esterházy infantry division
Colonel Pál Esterházy 5. Honvéd battalion 40. Honvéd battalion 98. Honvéd battalion 99. Honvéd battalion 22 - - - - ?Cavalry 3 companies of the "Lehel" Hussar regiment - 3 - - - ?Artillery 1 three-pounder infantry battery - - - - 20 ? Total 66 3 ? ? 20 7560Army-adjacent unitsSappers sapper companies 7 - - - - 800Cavalry 1 company of the Cuman hussars - 1 - - - ?Fortress artillery 1 three-pounder infantry battery - - - - 244 1200 Grand total 133 11 1400 313+? 292 19,124
Commander in chief: Lieutenant General Anton Csorich; Chief of staff: Lieutenant Colonel Franz Jungbauer; 93 infantry companies, 6 cavalry companies, 62 cannons, 13,841 soldiers.
Corps Division Brigade Unit Infantry company Cavalry company Horse Cannon NumberII. Corps
Lieutenant General Anton CsorichColloredo division
Lieutenant General Franz Colloredo MannsfeldBarco brigade
Major General Joseph Barco 1. battalion of the "Mazzuchelli" infantry regiment 2. battalion of the "Mazzuchelli" infantry regiment 3. battalion of the "Mazzuchelli" infantry regiment 3. battalion of the "Baugartner" infantry regiment Landwehr battalion of the "Baugartner" infantry regiment 4. Otočac battalion 42 - - - ? Civalart uhlans - 3 788 - ? 3. six-pounder infantry battery 3. twelve-pounder infantry battery 4. twelve-pounder infantry battery 12. cavalry battery - - - 26 ? Total 42 3 788 26 6447Liebler brigade
Major General Karl Liebler 1. battalion of the "Archduke Stephen" infantry regiment 2. battalion of the "Archduke Stephen" infantry regiment