Author's Note: Alas, I had hoped to make this update much more meaty, but the evil flu virus hath conspired against me
My holidays are also coming to an end, and so I cannot guarantee I will be doing daily updates as I had been doing. Nevertheless, the show (or the story) must go on!
The next series of updates will cover approximately January to March, 1849, from the various geographical perspectives that have been introduced thus far.
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Early 1849, Hungary
As the march of Windisch-Grätz's Austrian army approaches the opposing Hungarian force at Komárom, Hungarian armies elsewhere throughout the country start the new year with mixed results. [1]
Ottinger, the general who was to meet an Austrian army at Nagykanisza in the southwest, had pulled well back towards the Serb-Hungarian frontier in Vojvodina when the expected threat never materialized. [2] The Hungarian commander already in that area, János Damjanics, had been forced back to a line just south of the towns of Baja, Szabadka, and Szeged; though an able commander, his forces are thwarted by resilient partisans and a growing influx of fighters both from Serbia and from nearby Slavonia, while also contending with an equally prickly peasantry. The arrival of a more regular Croat force under Todorović from the west is a further complication; Damjanics is now almost certainly outnumbered. Ottinger fords the Danube near Baja only a week or so and 30 kilometers north of Todorović. His arrival is well-timed; Kossuth recalls Damjanics from the region, concerned his Serb heritage is now a hinderance to his effectiveness, despite his unwavering loyalty thus far to the Hungarian cause. Ottinger takes command and prepares to defend Szabadka, where the next Serb offensive is expected.
Damjanics is in fact transferred to command in Transylvania, where the lack of a true commander and strategy for dealing with the rebels has left little Hungarian control in the region. Nascent talks between the Romanians and Hungarians over a ceasefire begin in Cluj bring about a temporary halt to the raids of Iancu's partisans. Rumors swirl that the Hungarians are prepared to offer concessions of special status to Romanians in Transylvania if they will turn their revolutionary fire back across the mountains to the now jointly Russian-Ottoman occupied principalities of Moldovia and Wallachia. Such an action seems unlikely, but it gives Damjanics time to corral the scattered Honvéd forces in the region and consolidate them to his command in Nagyvárad, where he plans to launch an assault on the Saxon-held lands to the north and east. The Saxons are perceived to be the weaker of the two threats, and additionally have not been made expressly aware of the attempts at negotiation in Cluj by either side.[3]
Kossuth rejoins the provisional government at Esztergom as they anxiously await news from Komárom, leaving the defenders of Buda in the hands of newly arrived Henryk Dembinski, a Pole who had spent time abroad after the failure of the Polish Uprising in the 1830's. He is to prepare the next line of Hungarian defense behind the Tisza river, using the town of Szolnok as his base, consolidating any remaining Honvéd units in central Hungary to his overall command. [4]
At Sashegy, Móga attempts to maneuver his forces around the high ground to defend the (now undefended) city below when Jelačić launches an attack. Rain over the past week has made the hill muddy, and the battle degenerates quickly into a chaotic slog through the mud, with both commanders severely hamstrung by poor communication with the front lines. By the end, some 2,000 men are dead; the losses are slightly higher for the Hungarians, but the damage to the Ban's army proves to be much worse. Thrice defeated, far from home, and stuck on a campaign that has seemingly gone nowhere, the Croats implore their leader to negotiate a truce and return home. Jelačić is furious, but his men threaten to mutiny if he refuses; in the end he reluctantly agrees. The Ban meets with Móga and pledges to withdraw his forces from Hungarian territory if granted safe passage, to which Móga agrees. The Ban, whose momentous proclamation had triggered a stirring series of events, now appears to be going home empty-handed.
Further north in upper Hungary, Schlik's army occupies Kassa in early January and, after leaving a detachment in the vicinity, pushes the offensive and the Hungarians all the way south to the upper Tisza, where Mészáros makes a stand at Tokaj. Overconfident Schlik attempts to win away a unit of Württemberg cavalry whom he had once led that had joined up with the Hungarians following the outbreak of hostilities, but his ruse fails and provokes a renewed energy from the Hungarian forces.[5] Schlik is soundly defeated and must retreat north towards Kassa, at the same time calling for reinforcements to regroup and launch a new offensive on Miskolc.
To the west, Guyon's forces had moved at an exceptional pace, inspired (or more likely threatened) by their commander, to Igló in late January. From there, they find the way through the Tatra mountains blocked by a force of Slovak partisans and peasants, who had apparently been aroused by Guyon's breakneck-speed march through the Slovak heartland. These Slovak forces occupy the key Branisko pass through which Guyon can retake Eperjes and Kassa; he implores his men to attack with a promise of double pay if they succeed and the threat of a bullet should they refuse. His tactics seem to pay off, as the decisive February 5th victory secures the pass and allows him to continue on to Eperjes. [6]
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[1] Komárom will be mentioned but not fought. I'm saving it for the next update that will cover Austria.
[2] Nugent's army, if you'll recall, had been diverted from Italy after the ceasefire with Piedmont. New revolts and the Venetian debacle forced Radetzky to recall those forces, and Nugent never quite made it to Hungary.
[3] This kind of thing happened iOTL a bit later (April-May), after the Saxons were basically already subdued and the Hungarians had regained much of Transylvania thanks to Jozef Bem (who iTTL never made it out of Vienna).
[4] Dembinski did indeed burst onto the scene early in 1849 iOTL, first in the northern army then in overall command by the Battle of Kápolna (Feb 26-27). He wasn't a very good commander and was extremely mistrustful of his other generals, which was problematic to say the least.
[5] This happened iOTL, though the Hungarian commander was by this time György Klapka (who is still in Komárom iTTL).
[6] As iOTL.