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Engels in Neue Rheinische Zeitung February 1849
From the Theatre of War
Source: MECW Volume 8, p. 360;
Written: by Engels on February 12, 1849;
First published: in Neue Rheinische Zeitung No. 220, February 13, 1849.
We print below the fifth report of the Galician army corps, which confirms in part the Magyars’ reports of victory. It is clear that Schlick suffered defeat at Tarczal and Tokaj before the Theiss, otherwise he would not have retreated as far as Boldogköváralya, five miles from the battlefield. The description of the battle is also significantly uncertain. What is certain, however, is that Schlick retreated from the Theiss after being involved in heavy fighting there. The report that he later drove the Hungarians back across the Theiss is no more than a martial-law rumour.
News coming in from Transylvania is quite different from what Puchner’s latest reports of victory would lead one to expect. Instead of fleeing to Thorenburg after the battle at Hermannstadt, Bem threatened that town once more on January 26. Although he had received reinforcements, Puchner was forced to withdraw all his troops and concentrate them before the town of Hermannstadt. This makes it appear as if the battle of Hermannstadt and all the later encounters were no more than a prelude and as if the really decisive battle was still to be fought. In the Bukovina also there is already fear of another invasion by Bem, who, even according to Austrian reports, has 40,000 men with him.
In the South, according to letters from Agram which have appeared in the Constitutionelles Blatt aus Böhmen, which is hostile to the Magyars, the town of Esseg has been stormed by the imperial troops. The Magyar garrison is meanwhile still holding out inside the fortress. The differences of opinion between Stratimirovich and Rajachich still persist.