Battle at the hilltop of Karancs (northern Hungary)
May 5-10, 1919

In 1919 a Czech platoon occupied the hilltop of Karancs. By the foot of the hill were the positions of the 53/II. Hungarian Red Army battalion. The 724 meters high Karancs was an excellent observation point for the Czech artillery. When the Czechs opened machine-gun fire at the Hungarian position, the battalion commander asked for permission to siege the Karancs. At the dawn of 5th May the assault group rallied close to the hilltop by the chapel ruin.

   
  A soldier of the Hungarian Red Army  

The commander of the battalion left a company at about the ruin, and the assault team moved forward to the direction of the hilltop. After short firefight they occupied the position. At night the Czech tried to recapture the hilltop. On the night of 6th May they had success.

   
  Position  

The Hungarian battalion commander was prepareing for the next siege. He had a reinforced company, and an artillery battery provided supporting fire during the attack. At 5'o clock in the morning the assault group departed. The commander selected the best soldiers, and directed them to the back of enemies. As the Czechs noticed them, the firefight began. In that moment the rest of the assault group started an attack against the frontside of the Czech position. The Czech withdrew their defenders.

   
  Combat team from the town Salgótarján  

In April 2002 we searched the battlefield. On the hilltop there is a 50 by 50 m wide plateau. Nowadays there is a lookout tower and a little elevation with trenches. I supposed tham to be the remains of the Czech positions.

 
The trenches at the hillside

 

 
The trench   The lookout tower of Karancs

At about the elevation we found a lot of Mannlicher cartridge cases with different headstamps. Unfortunately the Hungarian and the Czech soldiers had the same Mannlicher M95 rifles and they also used the same WWI left-over ammunition. That's why we could't differentiate between the cartridge cases spent by the Czech and the Hungarian troops, but the location of the artifacts showed the directions of the attacks.

Headstamps of 8x50R (M.93.) Mannlicher cartridge cases

Weiss Manfréd (Budapest) Sellier & Bellot (Prag) Berndorff (Austria)
Georg Roth (Austria) Hirtenberger (Austria) unknown

 

 
We used little white flags to sign the artifacts   Mannlicher cartridges

 

 
Shrapnel shell   Sole leather of boot

 

 
The chapel now   Path from the chapel to Karancs

 

 
The arrow shows the hilltop, the broken line shows the location of cartridge cases   The hilltop from the west