connected to Pest by railway. Its citizens took part in the Hungarian Revolution of 1848 in 1848-49. In the Battle of Szolnok, the Austrians were defeated by the armies of General János Damjanich. After the Ausgleich, the population and importance of Szolnok grew. In 1876, Szolnok became capital of the comitatus again. By 1879, it already had 16,001 residents. 20th century Szolnok saw action in the First World War in May 1919 when a long and bitter battle raged along the Tisza between the advancing Romanian army and the Hungarian Red Army. Romanian troops caused terrible damage to the area as the front stagnated here for 77 days. After the defeat of the Red Army in July 1919 in the Tiszántúl (the regions east of Szolnok), the Romanians crossed the Tisza and occupied the city. The occupation lasted until February 25, 1920. The railroad bridge, which had been destroyed during the battle, was finally reconstructed in 1923. In 1930, the city had 38,764 inhabitants. Several higher level educational institutions existed, including boys' and girls' grammar schools, a scientific secondary school, trade schools for boys and girls both, lumber- and metal-works vocational school, and a midwifery training institute. The interwar period saw a surge in industry, including factories for weights, mirrors, furniture, vinegar spirits, rum, and liquor, ice, cotton wool, bricks, sugar; smelting furnace and metalworks factory; machinery factory and iron foundry; two electrical distribution systems; four lumber mills; and four steam mills. In the interwar period, most of the damage done to the city had been successfully repaired. During World War II, Szolnok was bombed twelve times, mostly by American troops, which caused serious damage to the buildings and the population. In the so-called "Frantic" attack (June 2 - September 19, 1944) a wave of 600 fighter planes bombed Debrecen; the right wing also bombed Nagyvárad (now Oradea), Kolozsvár (now Cluj Napoca), Szeged, and Balmazújváros, and the left wing Szolnok and Miskolc. Szolnok suffered great damaged under these attacks and many people died. The train station of Szolnok was bombed several times, by both British and American fighters. During 1944, it became the location of a "labor camp" and a concentration point for Hungarian Jews being deported to Mauthausen in Austria. It was critical to the success of the Hungarian Jews roundup and deportion. By the end of the war, the majority of the population had fled; the Soviet troops