Hungarian Heritage Review, 1987 (16. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1987-02-01 / 2. szám
'feature of 3Honth participated in all the major engagements — Fontenoy, Rocoux, Laufeldt, and the siege of Maastricht. At Laufeldt (July 22, 1747) the French Hungarian hussars collided with their opposite numbers serving the Austrian side. Hungarian sabered Hungarian at the finale of the greatest battle of the war. Although deprived of the fruits of military victory in Flanders by the peace of Aix-la-Chapelle (October 1748), the veterans of this campaign were endowed with many honors and fine properties. Among them was András Polereczky, the son of one of Rakoczi’s more legendary kurucz commanders. András had risen from the rank of major to brigadier general in five years’ time. He was made military governor of Molsheim, Alsace-Lorraine, and used his salary to raise his own regiment. The Polereczky Hussars became peculiar even from the standpoint of the Hungarian contingents. Its riders carried two swords — one for the enemy, and one for the enemy’s horse. Moreover, as French attention focused on the New World, events were to provide András’ two sons, Ferenc András and Janos László, with opportunities of showing their mettle. The Hungarian hussars in the French armies continued to be the darlings of the cavalry after the conclusion of the War of Austrian Succession. Now, however, more native Frenchmen clamored for admission to the ranks of the hussar regiments. Marshal Victor Francois de Broglie, who had been driven from Prague through no fault of his own, requested greater French participation in these units. Writing to Bercsényi, he stated: “It would be advisable to mix some French officers into the hussar regiments. This could only have good results by familiarizing them with your service.” Bercsényi replied: “I know the French are good at all trades, but in twenty years of command I have yet to be aware of this need. ” By the time of the outbreak of the Seven Years War (1756), Frenchmen were successfully integrated in the hussar regiments, where they learned to swear in Hungarian. Unfortunately, the French Hungarians themselves were increasingly relegated to administrative duties — where they were vulnerable to the palace intrigues of Versailles. Broglie took it upon himself to head a secret intelligence mission to America. He selected as his right hand Ferenc András Polereczky, son of the distinguished hussar brigadier general. The Broglie mission concluded that, with French power eliminated in North America, the Englishspeaking colonists would turn against their mother country. Ferenc Polereczky’s association with Broglie became the source of unpleasantness once the two men returned to France. Broglie’s enemies were now ascendant at Versailles, and this faction intrigued against the marshal constantly. The Minister of War engineered Broglie’s banishment to his country estate, and the regiments under his command were disbanded. Ferenc Polereczky remained unemployed for two years. Louis XVI was willing to acquiesce in this exile for political reasons, but after Broglie was restored at Versailles, the king was quick to compensate Ferenc. He sent the cavalry commander the entire back pay due to him, and made Ferenc military governor at Molsheim, where his father had held the same post. Ferenc’s younger brother, Janos László Polereczky, eventually obtained a commission in the Volunteer Legion of the Duc de Lauzun, who was continuing the military reforms begun by Maurice de Saxe earlier. Most of this force consisted of Hungarian hussars or Polish lancers, with the addition of a number of Irish dragoons from the old Regiment de Dillon. Lauzun’s Legion scored several victories over the British in Africa in 1779, and was then dispatched to America to aid a newlyestablished ally of France. Major Janos Polereczky witnessed firsthand how accurate his older brother’s American prognosis had been. Lauzun’s hussars spent the winter of 1780-81 in rural New England, and then moved southward to aid General Washington in the reconnaissance around British-held New York City. Later, when the Franco-American forces marched to Virginia, the hussars expertly screened the evacuation from New York. French expeditionary commander Rochambeau noted: “To the Lauzun hussars fell the greatest burden; I was obliged to put them in charge from the first day to the last. They had been the (vanguard) and rear-guard of the American Army.” They also came up in a fast gallop from the rear, arriving in time to defeat the British dragoons of Colonel Bannistre Tarleton at Gloucester, Virginia, on October 3, 1781. With the British successfully bottled up inside Gloucester, Lauzun dispatched Major Polereczky and a picked troop of hussars to cross the York River to aid Washington in reconnaissance for the main battle of Yorktown. When Cornwallis capitulated on October 19, Janos Polereczky commanded the honor guard of cavalry. Indeed, he had come to identify with the American struggle to such an extent that he soon afterwards exchanged his citizenship. The fate of this older brother, who remained in France, serves as a representative example of the fate of French Hungarian officers generally. Bourbon France and Habsburg Austria had become allied in part by the marriage of Louis and Marie Antoinette. The Hungarians, considered parvenu aristocrats at best among the French nobility, were consequently even more loyal to the monarchy. Ironically, the sons and grandsons of men who fought for Rákóczi against the Habsburgs were now committed to the party preserving the Franco-Austrian alliance. Moreover, Marie Antoinette was neither the first nor the last female Habsburg to be enamored with Hungarian gallantry, and bestowed many favors on the hussars. The court Hungarians consequently sided with the throne after the French Revolution erupted in 1789. Ferenc Polereczky attempted to aid the royal family in escaping the country in the ill-fated “flight to Varennes”; after the effort was aborted, he fled to his ancestral Hungary. Others followed his example, and ended their military careers in the service of Austria against Napoleon — an ironic reversal of the past hundred years. The French hussar units eventually outclassed their Hungarian parents. In 1809, Napoleon’s army penetrated Hungary, and a noble levy was launched against him at Gy or. The French hussars put their Hungarian counterparts to rout, and the incident marked the last occasion in Hungarian history in which a noble levy was called. But the Hungarian hussar remained a legendary figure; his “last hurrah” in this capacity came at Temesvár in August 1849 when — at the climax of the last great battle of the Hungarian War of Independence — the hussars were ridden over by the heavier Austrian cavalry. The Hungarian legacy in French service persisted. The Bercsényi Paratroop Brigade of the current-day French Army is a worthy descendent of its Hungarian ancestor. EDITOR’S NOTE: The Hungarian Hussars of Lauzun’s Hussars, who died in the historic Battle of Yorktown, are buried at Gloucester Point, Virginia. FEBRUARY 1987 HUNGARIAN HERITAGE REVIEW 17
