Battle of Nyárasd

In January 1849, the Austrian imperial troops led by Field Marshal Alfred I, Prince of Windisch-Grätz, which attacked Hungary, appeared in the region of Lower Csallóköz. The main target of their advance was the fortress of Komárom, the main fortification in Hungary. The defenders of the fortress were well aware of this and therefore tried to thwart the Austrian plans.^[1] From the fortress, military operations of varying degrees of importance were organized on several occasions in an attempt to repel the increasing numbers of enemy troops.^[1] In December 1848, Major General Joseph Ferdinand Franz Freiherr von Neustädter stationed one of his brigades here.^[3] The first noteworthy event in the vicinity of the town took place on 10 January 1849, when the soldiers of the garrison of Komárom captured eight Croatian Banderial hussars and a corporal under the leadership of Lieutenant Doktorić, who took possession of Nagymegyer.^[1]

A few days later, on 13 January 1849, a larger army (1000 soldiers) under the command of Colonel Ferdinand Querlonde du Hammel broke out of Komárom to repel the Austrian troops marching against the fortress.^[1] The unit consisted of three battalions of infantry, a company of the Hunyadi Hussars, and two batteries.^[3]

The Hungarian troop prepared for the departure at 8 a.m. on 18 January 1849 but waited in the snow until 10 a.m. before setting off.^[4] Around 1 p.m. they arrived in the area of Nyárasd, where patrols reported that the enemy was already there ready to fight. So the Hungarians took up battle positions.^[4] The Austrian army was led by Lieutenant Colonel Baron Gustav von Geramb.^[3] But as soon as they took up their fighting positions, the Austrians started firing with their guns at them, especially at the new recruit 37th Battalion, which at first turned to the right to avoid the shells, but as the enemy shells were inflicting increasing losses, they started routing.^[4] But at this point, however, the course of the battle was completely reversed, because the commander of the Hungarian artillery, Lieutenant Mihalovich, hit the enemy commander, Baron Geramb, causing him a mortal wound.^[2] Meanwhile, the fleeing 37th Battalion also halted, and after an hour of cannonade, Colonel Querlonde sent the infantry and the hussars to attack the Austrians.^[3] As a result, the Austrians started to rout, and the Hungarian infantry pushed into Nyárasd, but there they found no Austrians there because they ran away so fast.^[2] The Austrians were pursued by the Hunyadi Hussars through three villages.^[4] However, the 295th issue of the Pesti Hírlap, published in 1849, criticized the inadequate pursuit of the Austrian army.^[2] The Austrians retreated as far as Pozsony.^[2]