VOJNE OPERACIJE GENERALA DÜNEWALDA U SLAVONIJI 1687. GODINE
Military Operations of General Dünewald in Slavonia in 1687

Summary/Abstract: After the key Habsburg victory at Nagyharsány in August 1687, General Heinrich von Dünewald received the command of a separate corps (Dünewäldischen Corpo), from the supreme commander, duke Charles of Lorraine, which was largely composed of units of Croats from the Military border, on whose lead he forced river Drava into Slavonia and almost entirely liberated it from the Ottomans. Dünewald and his corps first besieged and captured Voćin on September 14, 1687, and began the siege of Valpovo five days later. Following the stark resistance, the Valpovo fortress surrendered on September 30, after which the general sent Colonel Ladron with cavalry to occupy Osijek, which the Ottomans had left after receiving news of the fall of Valpovo. Count Ivan Drašković and Dünewald solemnly entered Osijek on October 5. The corps continued towards Orahovica, which was easily occupied on October 9, with the fall of Požega following on October 12, after being abandoned by Požega beg who left with his army across the Sava. Not having enough men, resources, or time to conquer the last Ottoman strongholds in Slavonia, Gradiška and Slavonski Brod, Dünewald ended his military operations in 1687 by taking care to set up appropriate garrisons in all the newly acquired fortifications and supply them over the winter. In mid-November, he left Slavonia with his army in the hope that the emperor would allow him to go to Silesia to recover his health, and grant his exhausted people comfortable winter quarters in Upper Hungary. General Dünewald's military operations are recorded thanks to letters he sent to the Viennese court in October and November 1687, and in the contemporary press, from which examples of the weekly newspapers in French and German languages are singled out in this paper.

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