BEM JÓZEF: (1794-1850) Polish General and engineer, an Ottoman pasha and a national hero of Poland and Hungary. Rare L.S., J. Bem, one page, folio, Timisiora, 27th May 1849, in Hungarian. The document bears the printed heading "Az erdelyi felso tabor foparancsnoksaga" ("The high command of the Transylvanian superior camp"). Bem crosses few words and adds one in his hand. The present letter is written only ten days after Bem defeated von Puchner at Orsova on 16th May, but the Russian invasion forced him to retreat to Transylvania. Two months later his army was annihilated by overwhelming numbers in the Battle of Segesvar from where Bem escaped after feigning death. A month later, on the 6th of August, contrived to bring his fragmented army to the Battle of Timisoara to aid the hard-pressed General Dembinski, Bem was in command and was seriously wounded in the last pitched battle of the war. Untranslated text. Very small creasing, otherwise G

Bem´s extraordinary life and unbelievable achievements look like being taken straight out of a fairy tale. As a Polish General he distinguished himself in Polish Revolution 1830-31, later attempting to to hold Vienna against the Imperial troops, to further take part in the Hungarian revolution 1848-49, becoming a hero when Kossuth appointed him to command the Hungarian forces recovering Transylvania, gaining victories against the Austrians and making brilliant campaigns even with small forces. In a very short space of time Bem made himself the master of Transylvania. He also fought against Russians in Walachia but after his defeat, feigning dead and seriously wounded, escaped to Turkey, embraced Islam and became a revered Pasha under the name of Murad Pasha, becoming Governor of Aleppo where, at the risk of his life, he saved the Christian population from being massacred.