[3] With the breakthrough at Branyiszkó on 5 February 1849 by the Corps of the Upper Danube led by General Artúr Görgei, the concentration of the Hungarian armies against the invading Austrian troops became possible.

led by Field Marshal Alfred I, Prince of Windisch-Grätz entered the Hungarian capitals Buda and Pest, the occupied the western, northwestern and central parts of Hungary.

From the north an Austrian corps led by Lieutenant General Franz Schlik entered the country from Galicia at the beginning of December and pushed forward rapidly, soon capturing the important city of Kassa.

Parrot's brigade, consisting of 3 battalions, 4 cavalry companies, and 1 battery, would march from Gyöngyöspata to Gyöngyös and put itself at the disposal of Lieutenant-General Wrbna; the rest of Schlik's corps had to advance along the Tarna valley to Verpelét and thus to come into contact with the main army.

[7][9] Seeing that the battle was desperately wavering and that neither side could gain a decisive advantage, Lieutenant General Csorich, directed 4 more companies and 1 reserve battery into the forest led by Major Salis, , which, on their way suffered heavy losses from the Hungarian mortar and shell fire.

[7] Moreover, the patrols sent out by Poeltenberg, returned with the erroneous report that Kápolna was already in enemy possession, which made the Hungarian lieutenant colonel,[9] to destroy the bridges and evacuate Aldebrő and Feldebrő and retreat towards Kerecsend.

[13] At the beginning of the battle, the Driquet Brigade belonging to the I Corps' Máriássy Division was positioned on the western bank of Tarna, between the Kompolt Forest and the vineyards of Kápolna.

A similar action was taken by Szekulits, who took up a position on the right bank of the Tarna in front of the Kompolt and Kál villages, and with his withdrawn left flank establishing the connection with Máriássy's division at the aforementioned wood.

[7] Just when it seemed that success was finally in favour of the Hungarians, a cavalry detachment of Schwarzenberg's column appeared on one side, and on the other Colonel Montenuovo's chevau-légers, whose determined charge forced the hussars, which were fighting already without much order because of the preemptive attack of the Austrian uhlans, to retreat.

[9] Schwarzenberg followed the retreating troops as far as the stream flowing down from Vécs towards Zsadány, in front of which the Dietrich Brigade formed up in two battle lines, with 1 battery on each flank.

[11] In the first day's battle, which remained undecided, the entire II Corps of the Austrians and 2 battalions of the III Corps took an active part, numbering about 14,000 men, of which 1,500 were cavalry and 102 guns; on the Hungarian side, the divisions of Szekulits, Máriássy, and Poeltenberg participated, and from the Dessewffy division only Idzikowski's detachment got into the fight; in total, about 13,500 men - among them 2,250 cavalry - and 52 guns, i.e. the two opposing forces, apart from the artillery (in which the Austrians had superiority), were about equal.

[15] The whole day Windisch-Grätz was in Gyöngyös, busy with the affairs of the army, and unaware of what was happening at Kápolna, and it was only from Wrbna's report in the evening he learned that only a few hours from his headquarters, one of the decisive battles of the war had begun between his own troops and the Hungarians.

[9] The commander-in-chief was particularly worried about Schlik after Wrbna had reported his non-arrival to his corps, and so the officers from the Austrian headquarters feared that the one-eyed lieutenant-general might be captured on his way back from their meeting, leaving his brigades without the necessary command and instructions.

[11] Dembiński, together with the chief of staff of the army Lieutenant József Bayer, drew up the next day's measures, according to which Aulich had to leave Maklár for Kál during the night to reinforce the left wing, and there, together with Szekulits, to prevent the enemy from crossing the Tarna; Máriássy to hold at Kápolna, Poeltenberg to go back to Debrő, prevent Schlik from joining with Wrbna on the Domoszló-Verpelét road, whereupon he will receive further orders from Klapka, who, taking up position with Dessewffy's division at Verpelét, will block Schlik's advance; Schulz's division to defend Eger by occupying Egerszólát and Egerbakta, and with the remainder of his division to stay at Klapka's disposal, and finally Guyon and Kmety had to march immediately from Mezőkövesd and Bükkábrány towards the battlefield: the former to Kápolna in support of Máriássy, the latter to Kerecsend and form the reserve.

Klapka, with Dessewffy's division, which, apart from Idzikowski's detachment, which was defending the Sirok Pass, numbered only 3,600 infantry, 500 cavalry, and 16 guns, at dawn he was positioned at Verpelét as follows: the 1st Don Miguel and 43rd Home Guard Battalions occupied the town itself, with a 1/2 six-pounder battery stationed along its northern flank to hold the bridge of the Tarna under fire; the remainder of the division took up a waiting position on the high ground east of the town.

[9] After his discussion with Windisch-Grätz on the 25th, Schlik did not arrive back to his corps in Pétervására until noon on the 26th, from where he sent orders to march, and his troops, with the Kriegern Brigade in the lead, started towards the battlefield in the afternoon.

[15][18] Then, Schlik ordered the cavalry under General Deym to advance to increase the advantage gained until then, the first of which, despite the effective fire of Dessewffy's batteries, was the Prince of Prussia's regiment of cuirassiers, which broke out from Verpelét, with the mission to push further back the Hungarians.

[18] Colonel Jerzy Bułharyn with the remnants of the Dessewffy Division occupied Ilka hill, south-east of Verpelét, where the column which was protecting the headquarters of the VII Corps, which consisted of 2 companies of grenadiers, a small squadron of the German Legion, the remnants of the 3rd Battalion of the 40th Regiment (which survived, after the battalion was crushed in the Battle of Nagyszombat), a battery of Congreve rockets and 1 battery of cannons, were ordered to move from Kerecsend, while Poeltenberg was ordered to take up a position on the hills east of Feldebrő.

[18] Wyss now, in order to make the most of his first successes, rushed for the cavalry and artillery waiting on the right bank of the Tarna, under the leadership of Colonel Montenuovo, but by the time he returned to the village the situation there had changed radically.

[15] This was the time of Wyss's attack on Kápolna, which prompted Dembiński at about 10 a.m., to attempt retaking this village with the Zanini and the 47th battalions which he initially led against Tótfalu, supported also by his batteries installed in an advantageous position.

This attempt had good chances of success because at the same time, Aulich attacked Schwarzenberg from the Austrian right flank, and, following an order from Dembiński, deployed part of his division towards Kompolt, thus in the immediate vicinity of Kápolna.

[18] The attack of the Zanini battalion and their subsequent flight is described in the memory of the camp chaplain Cézár Mednyánszky, who led them: I got off the horse, said a few words to the soldiers, and then we started to advance.

[22] Máriássy's battalions were driven out of the village, being pushed east of it,[3] to the road to Kerecsend, where they joined the rest of his division, together with the batteries that had escaped the danger, retreated opposite to the Bishop's manor.

[15] The Austrian troops spent the night in the positions they had taken at the end of the battle; the Zeisberg column, which had followed the army on the right, did not take part in the second day's fighting either but advanced from Méra via Tarnabod to Erdőtelek.

[24] Encouraged by this victory, the Hungarian army began to advance again against the troops of Windisch-Grätz, but the overly cautious Dembiński stopped it and ordered his soldiers back to Tiszafüred, behind the Tisza.

[18] There is no doubt that Dembiński's personality has also contributed to much criticism of his activities: on several occasions, he has shifted responsibility to his subordinates and his defensive leading methods have led to clashes with his staff.

[27] According to Vetter's recollection, his candidacy was agreed to by Minister of Defence Lázár Mészáros, who had already relieved him of his previous post, in order to be named immediately after the inquiry the new commander-in-chief.

The battle had also exhausted the Imperial troops to such an extent that, despite the occupation of the Tarna line, they had no strength left to pursue, and even suffered a smaller defeat at Mezőkövesd on 28 February.

[36] The prayer had already found a considerable echo abroad from the mid-19th century, its text was translated into English, French, Polish, German and Italian, and it was also spread in several versions, in Slovakian in poetic form.

[32] Tracing the genesis of the fictitious prayer, its textual variations, its pictorial representations, and its spread over countries, we can conclude that, despite its discreditability, it satisfied a kind of mass demand during the 1848-49 War of Independence and after its defeat.