Austro-Hungarian VI Corps commander Svetozar Boroevic demanded aggressive behavior from his subordinates. When the 39th Honvéd Infantry Division detected Russian infantry to its front, the enthusiasm of the haiduks to close with and bayonet the Russians surprised even Boroevic and his officers. There would be no elaborate maneuvers for Boroevic: VI Corps would meet the Russian XIX Corps head on and push it back.

Ezredes (Colonel) Gyula Preinreich led the 9th Honvéd Infantry Regiment, a mostly Slovak outfit from Kassa in eastern Slovakia, into battle on the morning of 26 August with just over 3,000 effectives. By nightfall casualties numbered over 1,200 men killed and wounded, among them three-quarters of the regiment’s officers. But they had taken their piece of ground, the slight rise near Tarnavatka, and pushed the Russians back, just as their general had ordered.