Battle of Friedau

The Battle of Friedau was a battle in the Hungarian War of Independence of 1848-1849, fought on 8 November 1848 between the Hungarian Revolutionary Army under the command of General Mór Perczel and the Austrian K.u.K. troops under General Johann Wilhelm Burits de Pournay. Perczel, after liberating on 17 October the Muraköz, at the beginning of November, got information that the Austrian troops from Styria and the Croatian troops plan to perform a concentrated attack against him, with much superior forces, so he decided to do a preemptive attack against the Austrian troops from Styria. He defeated the troops of General Burits at Friedau, then retreated back to Hungary, thus securing Muraköz for another month.

After the complete cleansing of the Muraköz (the region between the Drava and the Mura rivers, today part of Croatia, called Međimurje County), thanks to the Battles of Letenye and Kotor, General Mór Perczel gathered information from the Croatian regions until Varasd. Because of the rugged terrain, he found it increasingly difficult to perform reconnaissance activities, also because the bushy, wooded landscape made it difficult to use cavalry for this. But he knew from reconnaissance data that there was a significant enemy force in and around Varasd (Varaždin), which was twice his own strength. On 21 October, he had learned that Todorović's 12,000-strong column was on its way to Varasd. This news prompted him to abandon his plan to capture the bridge at Varasd and devote all his efforts to fortifying Csáktornya.

In his report to the National Defence Commission (the temporary de facto Hungarian government led by Lajos Kossuth), written on 21 October, Perczel had written that his position was very precarious, and a very heroic defense will be necessary to hold it. On 24 October, he considered any more daring campaign impossible until the defense works at Csáktornya will be completed. On 27 October, he reported to the National Defense Committee that at Varasd, under the command of General Dahlen, the following troops were positioned: the Johann Dragoons, the Otočac border guards recalled from Italy, the 12,000 men of Todorović, the border guards and the insurrectionists withdrawn from the Muraköz, with 18 guns and half Congreve rocket battery. At the same time, Perczel reported that Styria was defended by Major-General Laval Nugent von Westmeath and Major-General Benko with 4,000 to 5,000 men and 24 guns. In his reports of 27 and 30 October, he clearly made any further offensive movements dependent on the arrival of reinforcements.

The National Defence Committee (OHB) also recommended caution. Already when Perczel entered Muraköz, when it took his first victory report, it gave him the task only to retake Muraköz. At the time, the OHB instructed him to keep an eye on Todorović's army, because it feared that it will attack Perczel from behind, while he was attacking Croatia. On 1 November - still unaware of the Hungarian defeat at Schwechat - the OHB also wrote to Perczel that he could not expect any reinforcements for the time being.

Perczel's situation was quite dangerous. The Croats could cross the Drava at any time, and the conduct of the Styrian Imperial troops was also uncertain. He was therefore relieved when he received a letter from Major General Burits, the commander of the Vanguard of the Styrian K.u.K. Army Corps. Burits said he would like to meet Perczel as soon as possible. Perczel's envoy returned with a request from Burits and Nugent for the restoration of travel and traffic between Hungary and Styria and for a cease-fire between the Hungarian and Styrian armies. By 30 October however, the negotiations had failed. The Styrian commanders wanted to include also the Croats in the negotiations, but the Croats refused.

Incoming intelligence reports showed that Burits used the negotiations to reinforce his troops. Perczel came to the conclusion that the Croatian army in Varasd and Légrád, and the Styrian K.u.K. army were preparing a concentrated attack against him on 9 November to take Muraköz. Perczel convened the military council, which accepted the proposal of the Chief of General Staff, Lieutenant Colonel Miklós Gaál and Perczel that the enemy attack must be prevented and at least one of the opposing armies must be pushed back. The attack was also motivated by the fact that Perczel could only expect the Veszprém and Somogy National Guards to remain at duty until mid-November when their period of conscription expired. Thus, on 8 November, he was able to launch a relatively large offensive for the last time, mobilizing most of his army. The attack against Varasd was made more difficult by the need to cross the river, so the attack on Styria was chosen, where no such obstacle stood in the way of the Hungarian troops. Perczel's concern was justified indeed; Nugent and Dahlen had already agreed on 27 October that whichever of them was attacked, the other would attack in the rear of the Hungarians.

The Hungarians:

The Austrians: