The Second Battle of Nagyszeben (or Sibiu, or Hermannstadt) was a battle in the Hungarian war of Independence of 1848-1849 fought on 11 March 1849 between the Hungarian army led by the Polish General Józef Bem and the garrison of Nagyszeben, the Habsburg headquarters of Transylvania, composed by the Russian detachment led by Colonel Grigory Skariatin Austrian troops led by Lieutenant General Alois Pfersmann, and Transylvanian Saxon national guards. Before the battle, Bem managed to make the commander of the Austrian main Commander-in-Chief of Transylvania, Lieutenant General Anton Puchner think that he barricaded himself at Segesvár, while he escaped, heading to Nagyszeben. While Puchner was trying to encircle Segesvár where he thought that Bem was hiding, the latter headed through a quick march to Nagyszeben, where he defeated the Ruso-Austro-Saxon garrison led by General Skariatin, and captured the city. Hearing about this, Puchner suffered a mental collapse, as a result of which, the still much superior Austrian and Russian troops retreated from Transylvania. Thanks to this victory Bem reinstalled the Hungarian rule over the province. This victory was the overture of the victorious Hungarian Spring Campaign which leberated almost all the territories of Hungary from the imperial rule.
Background After the Battle of Piski on 9 February, Major General Józef Bem was informed that the Austrian imperial troops had again invaded Northern Transylvania, threatening the Hungarian possession of this part of the province.. Bem responded to this threat quickly, by bypassing Puchner, who prepared him a trap at Szászsebes, and then he quickly reached North Transylvania and drove out the imperial troops led by Lieutenant General Ignaz von Malkowski.
Meanwhile, the main commander of the imperial armies of Transylvania, Lieutenant General Anton Puchner was in a state of near lethargy after the defeats of Piski and Alvinc, suffered against Bem. He had waited nearly a week to write his official report on the events of the week which passed between the battles of Vízakna and Alvinc, and he had no mindset to dictate it all at once: on 15 February he wrote a chronicle of the successes between 4 and 8 February, and only the next day pulled himself together to report to the main commander of the imperial forces from Hungary, Field Marshal Alfred I, Prince of Windisch-Grätz about the battles of Piski and Alvinc; although from these reports it was hard to understand if they were victories or defeats. He felt that fate had once again done him an injustice. His losses so far had been 1,600 soldiers, 1,000 of whom were recovering their injuries in hospitals, writing to Windisch-Grätz, that he had captured 21 guns with the heroism and blood loss of his soldiers. Bem had remained - as Puchner claimed - with 3,000 men and 2 cannons after Vízakna, and at the moment when he thought he had been annihilated, a single Hungarian relief force reinforced him, not only replacing his losses, but increasing them two or three times as they were before, while his forces were diminishing day by day, and under such circumstances the most brilliant victory won - I mean in its immediate consequences - will be a real defeat.. He believed that Bem now had 6–8,000 men and 25-30 guns, so he did not want to attack until he had received reinforcements. He asked for help from both Windisch-Grätz and from the Austrian garrison of Temesvár.. His officers had previously tried in vain to persuade him to attack immediately, but only on 28 February - having been informed of Malkowski's attack in northern Transylvania - he finally moved out of his headquarters from Nagyszeben, marching northwards. His intention was to clear the valley of the Küküllő, beat Bem at Medgyes and then take Marosvásárhely. He asked Malkowski to advance from Beszterce to Marosvásárhely.
On 1 March Bem arrived in Medgyes. The next day, on 2 March, the imperial attack began at Kiskapus, which was initially successful, but then the Hungarian troops retook their previous positions. We ran out of ammunition, so we were forced to retreat until we were resupplied, finally they [those whose job was to supply the soldiers] stopped us, but they did not supply us with ammunition, because there was none in the whole camp, but [they told us that] we had to attack [only] with bayonets and drive the enemy away, which we finally did, in the evening with a great noise, because we could make a noise better [scream louder] than they could, and we chased them all the way to Asszonyfalva, [but] we did not chase them any further - wrote a participating soldier. Both sides suffered heavy losses in the fierce fighting, and the Hungarian artillery fired almost all its ammunition.. On 3 March, all of Puchner's troops arrived on the battlefield and attacked with a considerable advantage.. At first the Hungarian troops held against their fire well, but the artillery of the imperial army inflicted increasingly heavy losses on the Hungarian artillery. Puchner's left wing pushed back the Hungarian right wing, forcing the artillery to retreat. Bem attempted to regroup his troops, but Puchner's infantry soon broke through the weakened Hungarian army center, and Bem ordered a retreat. Towards evening Bem received reinforcements, which stopped the advance of the imperials. Bem ordered an attack, but the enemy infantry repulsed it and forced the Hungarian infantry to flee. Bem was then forced to retreat towards Segesvár. The Hungarian losses were at least as high as at Piski - i.e. about 700.Babucs Zoltán: „Most pedig megyünk Nagyszebenbe!” Magyarságkutató Intézet, 21 March 2021
After the battle, in order to successfully resist an attack from Medgyes, Bem took position in the defensive earth works he had already built between Segesvár and Dános.. Bem now had some time to reorganize his troops, and also received new reinforcements in Segesvár, which made him to plan again to attack Nagyszeben, this time hoping to finally occupy the Austrian headquarters from Transylvania, after his insuccess from 21 January.
Puchner did not pursue the retreating Hungarian army. The Austrian corps was very exhausted from the two days of fighting, which is why Puchner wanted to rest his troops on 4 and 5 March before moving on to strike a decisive blow at Bem.
Puchner, as he had received no reinforcements from anywhere, now had only the troops he had fought with in the Battle of Medgyes, whose order of battle, according to Philipp August Joachim Freiherr von der Heydte - was this. The corps was divided into three brigades. The division commander was József Kalliány, the only general in the mobile corps other than Puchner.
1st Brigade Commander: Colonel Van der Nüll:
3d Battalion of the 31st ("Leiningen") Infantry Regiment, 1st and 3d Battalions, 41th ("Sivkovich") Infantry Regiment, one battalion of the 16th (1st Romanian) Border Guard Infantry Regiment, 2 companies of the 5th ("Prinz von Savoyen") Dragoon Regiment, one three-pounder infantry battery of the 5th ("Bervaldo") Artillery Regiment, one six-pounder infantry battery of the 5th ("Bervaldo") Artillery Regiment. Total: 4 battalions. 2 cavalry regiments, 2 batteries. (2480 infantry, 180 cavalry, 12 guns).
2nd Brigade Commander: Baron Colonel Stutterheim:
3d Battalion of the 51st ("Karl Ferdinand") Infantry Regiment, 1st and 2nd Battalions of the 63rd ("Bianchi") Infantry Regiment, 3d battalion of the 16th (1st Romanian) Border Guard Infantry Regiment, two companies of the 11th (Székely) Border Guard Hussars Regiment, one six-pounder infantry battery of the 5th ("Bervaldo") Artillery Regiment, one three-pounder infantry battery of the 5th ("Bervaldo") Artillery Regiment. Total: 4 battalions, 2 cavalry regiments, 2 batteries (2530 infantry, 166 cavalry, 12 guns).
Reserve Brigade Commander: Baron Lieutenant Colonel Uracca:
3rd Battalion of the 24th ("Parma") Infantry Regiment, 3rd and Reserve Battalion of the 62nd ("Tursky") Infantry Regiment, one "Uracca” Grenadier Battalion. 1/3 Battalion of the Bukovina Border Guards, 2/3 battalion of Saxon Kaiserjägers, eight companies of the 3rd ("E. H. Max") Chevau-léger Cavalry Regiment, one six-pounder infantry battery of the 5th ("Bervaldo") Artillery Regiment. Total: 5 battalions, 8 cavalry companies, 2 batteries. (2,740 infantry, 580 cavalry, 12 guns)..
So the whole corps consisted of 13 battalions, 12 cavalry companies, and 6 batteries (36 guns). The total number of its personnel (without the artillerymen and carters) was 8676 soldiers.. From this figure, however, must be deducted the losses caused by the battle of Medgyes, which were 322 men. Thus, the Austrian troops under Puchner, without the artillerymen and charioteers, numbered 8354, but with them, they could have reached 9,000.
His victory at Medgyes made Puchner to make a bold to surround and destroy Bem's troops with attacks from several directions. The military operation plan of Puchner's army was prepared by the chief of staff of the Corps - Major Maroičić. Its basic idea was that a stronger detachment under the leadership of Major August von Heydte would feign an attack in the direction of the Medgyes-Segesvár road through Berethalom-Váldhíd-Erzsébetváros-Holdvilág-Dános,. make Bem to think that the main imperial troops are coming from there, thus luring him into the aforementioned defensive position. Meanwhile, the rest of the corps would start its march on 6 March, bypassing Segesvár from the south, via Riomfalva (today a village of the municipality of Berethalom)-Bürkös-Szentágota-Hégen-Apold-Segesd (today a village of the municipality of Apold),. cutting off the Hungarian army from the main source of its strength, Székely Land. At that time, Maroičić was still counting on the support of Lieutenant-General Malkowski's troops from Bukovina, which, he thought, by the time Puchner reached Segesvár, should have reached Marosvásárhely (he did not know that Bem already had driven Malkowski out of Transylvania), thus tying up part of the Hungarian forces in Székely Land, from where Bem expected his reinforcements.. Captain Count Alberti, with 1 1/2 companies of the 3rd Chevau-léger Regiment, starting from Medgyes, will reconnoitre the right bank of the Nagyküküllő and seek a connection to Marosvásárhely with the division of Lieutenant General Malkowski.. The plan had one, but very serious flaw: it had too many uncertainties. If Malkowski didn't attack, if any of the encircling columns were late, if Bem detected the encirclement attempt, the whole plan could fall apart.
The quicker Puchner made his encircling movement, the less the Hungarian army could reorganize itself from the damages suffered at Medgyes, and the less he could strengthen itself by picking up reinforcements. But it was also certain that, it would have been inadvisable to attack Bem with a worn-out, exhausted Austrian army, after they covered the distance of 92 kilometers over hills and valleys on unmaintained bad roads, as it was planned. But, as we have seen above, this - and the waiting for Malkowski - was the main reason that caused Puchner to lose two days, and thus to lose the advantage won at Medgyes..