PLEASE NOTE: This book contains graphic description ... - HUNSOR

an Austrian colonel, Count Leopold Kolowrat. According to him, even the Serb commander wasshocked at the events.On August 19th, the Hungarian army in Bacska, by this time strengthened, was orderedby Defense Secretary Lazar Meszaros to lay siege to Szenttamas again. The assault started fromthree different directions, the villages Kisker, Verbasz, and Obecse. Though the attacking partiesof the 2nd infantry regiment, led by60Colonel Bakonyi and Lieutenant-Colonel Aulich, succeeded in breaching the fortification, theattack failed again because of the tough resistance of the Serbs.The main reason for the victory of the Serbs in Szenttamas is the fact that the rebel troopsconsisted of veterans, experienced frontier guards, and trained Serbian volunteers, while theHungarian soldiers were mostly untrained draftees.Owing to this, the third attack on September 21, proved also unsuccessful, although ithad been organized under Lazar Meszaros' leadership. The repeated failure of the Hungariansoldiers strengthened to a great extent the rebels' confidence and martial spirit.On April 1, 1849, Mor Perczel's division of 7,000 battle hardened soldiers laid siege toSzenttamas, which was defended by some four thousand Serb frontier guardsmen.The village, situated on the banks of the Ferenc Canal, was approached at dawn on the3rd of April by the two columns of Mor Perczel's forces, who came from two directions, east andsouth.One of the columns came from Verbasz, under the leadership of Colonel Miklos Gal, theother one was commanded by Miklos Perczel, from Kisber.Before the battle the dark image of the last year's atrocity in Foldvar, the image of the 37beheaded Hungarian children in front of the Catholic altar, had been circulating among theHungarian soldiers. Though few of them had participated in the reoccupation of Foldvar, all ofthem became furious while marching toward Szenttamas.The battle started with the pounding of artillery at seven in the morning. The Serbianfrontier guards beat back three charges of the Hungarian infantry. The long lasting gun fire andthe bayonet charges proved unsuccessful. Nevertheless, Miklos Perczel at last managed tooccupy the bridge-head. Taking advantage of this opportunity, Sandor Foldvary entered thefortification, flourishing a flag, accompanied by national guardsmen from Szeged.An awful hand to hand fight followed. The Serbs wanted to flee over the bridge, but thedetermined Hungarian soldiers, were chasing them and threw most of them over the railing ofthe bridge.At another location, Gal's column was unable to break the desperate resistance for a verylong time, and he could only succeed after Miklos Perczel had entered the village.Since the soldiers from Szeged were successful, the other Hungarian troops could occupythe right, then the left sides of the61fortification. Then the battle raged higher against the frontier guardsmen, who tried to seek aplace to hide in the village. At last it ended with a sweeping victory. The Hungarians cut down