The Battle of Jarkovác (now Jarkovac, in the Sečanj municipality, Central Banat District, Vojvodina Serbia) was a battle in the Hungarian War of Independence of 1848–1849, fought in the night and early morning of 15 December 1848 between the Hungarian Army under the command of Colonel János Damjanich against the Serbian insurgents led by General Stevan Šupljikac and Colonel Stevan Knićanin. The Hungarian army led by General Ernő Kiss started an offensive against the Serbian insurgents in December 1848, achieving important successes (for example the capture of the Serb military camp from Alibunár) against them. When the tired soldiers of Damjanich's column arrived in Jarkovác and tried to rest in the night between 14 and 15 December, Šupljikac organized an ambush against them with the help of the Serbian inhabitants of the village. Damjanich sensed the trap and took precautions by refusing to quarter his soldiers in the houses of the inhabitants and installing the troops on the streets. Thanks to this, although with heavy losses, the combined night attack of the Serbian army and the inhabitants of Jarkovác was repulsed, and the attackers chased away. Because the commander of the Hungarian main forces, Ernő Kiss did not notice that the Serbs evacuated the bridgehead of Tomasevác, Šupljikac's and Knićanin's troops managed to escape with heavy losses.
Background After the victory at Battle of Alibunár-Károlyfalva, at 9 am on 13 December, the united Hungarian army led by General Ernő Kiss continued its march towards Tomasevác.. The march led through Szeleus to Illáncsa. From one of the houses in the village, a Serb opened fire on the Hungarian Hussars. As a result of this, on the orders of Colonel János Damjanich, the Honvéds burned and devastated the settlement, which was inhabited by Serbs but was almost empty this time. Only the house of a seventy-year-old man was spared. A soldier of the 10th Battalion shot dead the priest of the village. Unfortunately, during the Hungarian-Serbian conflict from 1848 to 1849, both sides committed atrocities against each other's civilians. Hungarian soldiers often committed killings, arson, or summary executions in retaliation for earlier Serbian massacres of Hungarian civilians, or in response to attacks like the above by Serbian civilians.Hermann Róbert: Etnikai konfliktusok és a magyar-szerb háború 1848-1849-ben. Társadalmi Konfliktusok Kutatóközpont 1980
There was a great distrust among the Hungarian troops towards the Serbian population. Therefore, when the army resumed its march to Dobrica on the evening of the 13th, it set up camp outside the village as a precautionary measure. There was exhaustion among the troops; the 9th Battalion was already grumbling about not having bread, but the others were also angry.
According to the operational plan of the Hungarian headquarters at Nagybecskerek, on 13 December, Ernő Kiss's troops, sent to Banatski Despotovac|Ernesztháza and Zsigmondfalva, advanced to the bridgehead of Tomasevác within a distance of a cannon shot and were to wait for Damjanich's attack.Olchváry Ödön: A magyar függetlenségi harc 1848–1849-ben a Délvidéken Budapest, 1902, pp. 107 These troops surrounded the bridgehead in a large semicircle on the evening of the 13th, and in Bótos was the headquarters.
According to the Hungarian plan, the attack was to take place on the 14th. The distance between Dobrica and Tomasevác is about 20 kilometers, but with the exhaustion of the troops Damjanich wanted to be sure that Kiss's troops were already in front of Tomasevác. He led his troops from Dobrica to Jarkovác, near the Berzava Canal, and had them stationed there. Then he rode to Bótos on the canal's right bank to coordinate the attack's details with Kiss.
Prelude Jarkovác is located on the left bank of the Berzava canal, and a wooden bridge led from the village to the other bank.. East of Jarkovác was a small forest.
The population greeted the soldiers warmly, offering them plenty of food and wine at lunch and supper.Hegyesi Márton: Az 1848-49-iki harmadik honvédzászlóalj története Franklin-Társulat, Budapest, 1898, pp. 71 Captain Károly Leiningen-Westerburg was already thinking how unfair they were in their distrust of the Serbs. It was striking that the population was particularly generous with wine. The Hungarian officers became suspicious of the unusual hospitality of the Serbian inhabitants. For this reason, when Damjanich returned from Bótos, he ordered the companies to camp outdoors, in front of their captain's quarters, instead of in the houses of the Jarkovácians.
The outposts were set up by the 9th (Red-hatted) Honvéd Battalion.Olchváry Ödön: A magyar függetlenségi harc 1848–1849-ben a Délvidéken Budapest, 1902, pp. 108 The guns and luggage carriages were positioned in the main square near the church. The tired troops rested after the long march. At Margitica, the canal crossing there was held by a detachment, but the bridge behind Jarkovác was left unguarded by the Hungarians. Damjanich was unaware that the Serbs had gathered at Újfalu and were threatening his army. All his concerns were directed only toward Tomasevác.
Stevan Šupljikac, the commander-in-chief of the Serbian troops, realized after the defeats at Károlyfalva and Alibunár that the Hungarians' aim was to attack the Tomasevác camp from two directions. He, therefore, ordered Stevan Knićanin to evacuate Tomasevác and march with his troops to Szamos. Šupljikac himself gathered the troops expelled from Károlyfalva and Alibunár, as well as part of the Pancsova garrison, at Újfalu. Knićanin arrived on 14 December between 7–8 pm, Šupljikac between 10 and 12 pm. Knićanin left 100 men and 2 guns at the bridgehead in Tomasevac to watch the Hungarian troops. The combined force numbered about 10,000 men and 20 guns; Damjanich had 19 infantry companies (i.e. three strong battalions), 4 cavalry companies, including the ones captured at Alibunár and Károlyfalva, at most 14–16 guns.
Šupljikac learned from the inhabitants of Jarkovác that the Hungarians were camped there and that communication with General Kiss's army had been re-established via Neuzina. Šupljikac issued the following order for the raid to be carried out on Szamos: Captain Petar Joannović with 2 companies of border guards from Pétervárad and 1/2 company of Jarkovác militias (under National Guard Lieutenant Pavle Putnik) will advance to the woods between Jarkovác and Margitica and occupy them with one company, while the rest of the force will turn towards Jarkovác and occupy the edge of the village along the canal without being noticed. Lieutenant Putnik with a troop of shooters will try to advance unnoticed further along the same route and take up a position on the wooden bridge of the Berzava Canal. Lieutenant Lazić with 2 companies of German-Banatian border guards, will occupy the northern edge of the village up to the bridge, bypassing the enemy's right flank, as will the other squad, in order that these two groups prevent the Hungarians from breaking out and escaping across the canal, and saving the cannons over the bridge. It is clear from this that the inhabitants even informed Šupljikac that the bridge behind Jarkovác was not guarded by the Hungarians.Olchváry Ödön: A magyar függetlenségi harc 1848–1849-ben a Délvidéken Budapest, 1902, pp. 108–109 In the front line against the southern edge of the village, were the 3rd and 4th battalions of the German-Banatian border guard regiment, headed by the Servian (volunteers coming from the Principality of Serbia) skirmishers. They formed the 1st line of battle under the command of Knićanin. The 2nd battle line was formed by the Illyrian-Banatian Battalion, while the 3 Pétervárad Border Guard Battalion under the command of Mihajlo Joannović was the reserve.Olchváry Ödön: A magyar függetlenségi harc 1848–1849-ben a Délvidéken Budapest, 1902, pp. 109 The latter stayed on the hill behind the road to Tomasevác, probably in order to cover his retreat in case the ambush failed. Šupljikac's plan was to destroy Damjanich's column in a night raid, and he could count on the cooperation of the local population.
In the meantime, the inhabitants of Jarkovác did everything to prepare the perfect ambush for the Hungarians. Besides trying to get them drunk, they tried, as they could, to make the Hungarian cannons and the soldiers' fusils unusable, to cut the Hussars horses' halters, to take down the saddles.Hegyesi Márton: Az 1848-49-iki harmadik honvédzászlóalj története Franklin-Társulat, Budapest, 1898, pp. 72 Some Serbs climbed on the church's tower, while others climbed in the attics of the houses, and other elevated places, taking firing position there. Preparing for the battle, in order to know them in safety, the Serbs from Jarkovác sent their women away.
Opposing forces
Unit Infantry companies Cavalry companies Men Horses Cannons3rd (White Feathered) Honvéd Battalion 3 – 418 – –9th (Red Hatted) Honvéd Battalion 4 – 748 – –10th Honvéd Battalion ? – 931 – –3rd Battalion of the 60th (Wasa) Infantry Regiment ? – 602 – –6th Hussar Regiment – 2 202 202 –13th Hussar Regiment – 1 162 160 –Artillery – – ~ 160 ~ 160 14–16Total 7 + ? 3 ~ 3,223 ~ 522 14–16
Unit Battalions Men Cannons3rd battalion of the 12th (German-Banatian) Border Guard Regiment 1 1,500 –4th battalion of the 12th (German-Banatian) Border Guard Regiment 1 1,500 –18th (Illyrian-Serb-Banatian) Border Guard Regiment 2 2,200 –9th (Pétervárad) Border Guard Regiment 3 2,000 –Servians (volunteers from the Ottoman-Serbian Principality) – 1,500 –Artillery – ? 20Total 7 8,700 + ? 20
Besides the regular troops, an undefined number of armed inhabitants of Jarkovác joined the battle on the Serbian side, and together with these, there were around 10,000 men bearing arms fighting on Serbian soldiers.
Battle The attack took place between 3 and 3.30 am. The Serbs led by Knićanin attacked the Hungarian outposts and drove them into the village. By the time the surprised Hungarian troops wakened, there was great confusion. As the Serb troops entered the village, the villagers also took up arms and shot at the gathering Hungarian troops from attics, windows, and other high places. ...Bullets were whistling from the direction of the church, the attics of houses, from everywhere and in all directions – wrote later a soldier of the 9th (Red-hatted) Battalion of the Hungarian Army.
By the time of the attack, Damjanich, Major Pál Kiss and Leiningen were sleeping in a house. After the attack, they all rushed to their troops. Fortunately, the Hungarian troops, which as shown before, thanks to the precaution of Damjanich, were camped in the open street, could now be assembled relatively quickly.
In the initial phase of the ambush, when Knićanin entered the village with the first line of battle, his Servians took two 6-pounder cannons from the Hungarians and dragged them off triumphantly.Olchváry Ödön: A magyar függetlenségi harc 1848–1849-ben a Délvidéken Budapest, 1902, pp. 112 For about half an hour a terrible hand-to-hand struggle developed between Serbs and Hungarians. There were Hungarian groups of soldiers who were cut from the rest of their comrades, like the 70 soldiers from the 3rd (White Feathered) Battalion, led by Lieutenant Szikszai, who defended themselves in a ditch against hugely outnumbering Serb troops, supported also by cannons, breaking miraculously out of the encirclement, and retreating through the Berzava canal north to the village. A group of Hungarians cut through the enemy lines, that the trumpeter of the Hannover-Hussars, József Reinhart riding forward, trumpeting the attack signal, then a squadron of hussars galloped forward with a great roar but stopped immediately. This was repeated several times. The feigned Hussar attacks frightened the Serbs, who started fleeing every time when they heard that, opening the way for the Hungarian troops' escape.