Battle of Polgardi
 | This article is incomplete because it is pending further input from participants, or it is a work-in-progress by one author. Please comment on this article's talk page to share your input, comments and questions. Note: To contribute to this article, you may need to seek help from the author(s) of this page. |
| Battle of Polgardi | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Part of the Ruvelkan Civil War | |||||||
| |||||||
| Belligerents | |||||||
 Ruvelkan SR |
 Imperial Separatists | ||||||
| Commanders and leaders | |||||||
|
Fruzsina Illes Patrik Apród Rostom Tsulukidze Marcell Balla Erik Oláh Arnold Nagy |
Kátálin Dorman Ármin Szücs Henrietta Kende Imre Fodor Hanna Szekeres Roland Mezei | ||||||
| Strength | |||||||
| 42 divisions | 65 divisions | ||||||
| Casualties and losses | |||||||
| 210,000 casualties | 170,000 casualties | ||||||
The Battle of Polgardi was fought between 16 February 1916 and 11 January 1917 as part of the western front of the Ruvelkan Civil War, pitting General Kátálin Dorman’s Seperatist Western Army against Red Army General Fruzsina Illes’ Eastern Front. The battle began as part of General Dorman’s counter-offensive following a prolonged, but unsuccessful, siege of the Mures Valley and having successfully pushed General Illes out of striking distance of Hajdúböszörmény. After a string of defeats, the Red Army finally rallied a defense on the outskirts of Polgardi, managing to halt the Separatist advance.
The Imperial Separatists had been on a steady advance following their success in their December 1915 offensive, but started to lose steam in their unrelenting pursuit over the course of January. By mid-February, the Western Army was exhausted and Dorman ordered her forces to halt; this allowed Illes to dig in around Polgardi and reinforce her battered army with several divisions from nearby Vasvár. Knowing that the Southern Separatist Army was making a concentrated drive to Aszód, Illes ordered no retreat in the hope that General Katona could win a pitched battle against Paloma Keresztes.
After a week, General Dorman renewed her offensive on 16 February with a six hour artillery barrage starting at 4AM. The Imperials were unable to penetrate the Red Army’s defenses and were pushed back to their original positions by the early afternoon and spent the next several days preparing themselves for a Communist counter-attack that did not come. Aerial reconnaissance conducted by the Imperial Balloon Corps confirmed the now reinforced Red Army positions and Dorman came to the decision to dig in on her own while awaiting reinforcements from Kristóf Barta’s Eastern Army.
Lasting 331 days, the battle of Polgardi is one of the longest and most costly battles in Siduri history, accounting for 380,000 military casualties.