70 years ago, on October 29, 1944, the strategic Budapest operation began. The fierce battle for Hungary lasted 108 days. During the operation, the troops of the 2nd and 3rd Ukrainian fronts defeated 56 divisions and brigades, destroyed almost 200 thousand. the enemy grouping and liberated the central regions of Hungary and its capital, Budapest. Hungary was pulled out of World War II.
Background. Hungary on the road to war and World War II
Back in 1920, the authoritarian regime of Miklos Horthy was established in Hungary (Politics of Admiral Horthy). Former admiral and commander-in-chief of the Austro-Hungarian navy, Horthy suppressed the revolution in Hungary. Under Horthy, Hungary remained a kingdom, but the throne remained empty. Thus, Horthy was regent in a kingdom without a king. He relied on the conservative forces, suppressing the communists and openly right-wing radical forces. Horthy tried not to tie his hands to any political force, focusing on patriotism, order and stability.
The country was in crisis. Hungary was not an artificial state with long-standing state traditions, but the defeat of the Austro-Hungarian Empire in World War I deprived Hungary of 2/3 of its territory (where, in addition to Slovaks and Romanians, millions of ethnic Hungarians lived) and most of the economic infrastructure. The Treaty of Trianon left an imprint on the entire post-war history of Hungary (agreements between the victorious countries in the First World War and the defeated Hungary). Romania received at the expense of Hungary Transylvania and part of Banat, Croatia, Backa and the western part of Banat went to Yugoslavia, Czechoslovakia and Austria received Hungarian lands.
In order to channel the people's discontent and thirst for revenge, Horthy blamed all the troubles of Hungary on communism. Anti-communism has become one of the main ideological pillars of the Horthy regime. It was complemented by the official national-Christian ideology, which was oriented towards the well-to-do strata of the population. Therefore, in the 1920s, Hungary did not establish relations with the USSR. Horthy considered the Soviet Union a source of "eternal red danger" for all mankind and opposed the establishment of any relationship with him. Revanchism was part of the ideology. So, on the occasion of the conclusion of the Treaty of Trianon, national mourning was declared in the Kingdom of Hungary, and all official flags were lowered until 1938. In Hungarian schools, students read a prayer for the reunification of their homeland every day before lessons.
Miklos Horthy, Regent of Hungary 1920-1944
At first, Hungary was guided by Italy, in 1933 relations with Germany were established. The policy of Adolf Hitler, aimed at revising the terms of the Versailles Agreement, completely suited Budapest. Hungary itself wanted to reconsider the results of the First World War and advocated the abolition of the terms of the Trianon Treaty. The hostile attitude of the countries of the "Little Entente", which received Hungarian lands and were suspicious of Budapest's attempts to reconsider the outcome of the war, and the coldness of France and England, made Hungary's pro-German course inevitable. In the summer of 1936, Horthy visited Germany. The Hungarian leader and the German Fuhrer found understanding in terms of rapprochement and rallying of forces under the banner of anti-communism. Friendship continued with Italy. When the Italians invaded Ethiopia in 1935, Hungary refused to set restrictions on trade and economic relations with Italy, as demanded by the League of Nations.
After Germany seized Austria, Horthy announced a program for the armament of Hungary - the army at the beginning of 1938 numbered only 85 thousand people. Strengthening the country's defense was named the main task of Hungary. Hungary abolished the restrictions on military forces imposed by the Trianon Treaty. By June 1941, Hungary had a strong army: three field armies and a separate mobile corps. The military industry also developed rapidly.
After that, Horthy saw no other choice but to continue rapprochement with the Hitlerite Reich. In August 1938, Horthy visited Germany again. He refused to participate in the aggression against Czechoslovakia, trying to preserve the autonomy of Hungary, but was not against the solution of the territorial issue in favor of Budapest through diplomatic means.
Hitler and Miklos Horthy take a walk on the footbridge during Horthy's visit to Hamburg for Hitler's 50th birthday in 1939
Under the terms of the Munich Treaty, on September 29, 1938, Prague was obliged to resolve the "Hungarian question" in accordance with the agreement with Budapest. The Hungarian government did not agree to the option of autonomy for the Hungarian community within the framework of Czechoslovakia. The first Vienna arbitration of November 2, 1938, under pressure from Italy and Germany, forced Czechoslovakia to give Hungary the southern regions of Slovakia (about 10 thousand km2) and the southwestern regions of Subcarpathian Rus (about 2 thousand km2) with a population of more than 1 million. human. France and England did not oppose this territorial redistribution.
In February 1939, Hungary joined the Anti-Comintern Pact and began an active restructuring of the economy on a war footing, sharply increasing military spending. After the occupation of all of Czechoslovakia in 1939, Subcarpathian Rus, which declared independence, was occupied by Hungarian troops. Hitler, wishing to tie Hungary to Germany as closely as possible, offered Horthy the transfer of the entire territory of Slovakia in exchange for a military alliance, but was refused. Horthy preferred to remain independent in this matter and solve the territorial issue on an ethnic basis.
At the same time, Horthy tried to continue a cautious policy, trying to maintain at least relative independence of Hungary. Thus, the Hungarian regent refused to participate in the war with Poland and to let German troops pass through Hungarian territory. In addition, Hungary received tens of thousands of refugees from Slovakia, Poland and Romania, including Jews. After the Soviet Union regained Bessarabia and Bukovina, which Romania captured after the death of the Russian Empire, Hungary demanded that Bucharest return Transylvania. Moscow supported this demand as fair. The Second Vienna Arbitration of August 30, 1940, by decision of Italy and Germany, transferred Northern Transylvania to Hungary with a total area of almost 43.5 thousand km and a population of about 2.5 million. Both Hungary and Romania were unhappy with this decision. Budapest wanted to get all of Transylvania, and Bucharest did not want to give anything away. This territorial division aroused territorial appetites for the two powers and tied them more strongly to Germany.
Although Horthy still tried to leave the Hungarian kingdom aside from the great European war. So, on March 3, 1941, Hungarian diplomats received instructions which read the following: “The main task of the Hungarian government in the European war until its end is the desire to save the military and material forces, human resources of the country. We must at any cost prevent our involvement in a military conflict … We must not risk the country, the youth and the army in anyone's interests, we must proceed only from our own. However, it was not possible to keep the country on this course, too powerful forces pushed Europe to war.
On November 20, 1940, under pressure from Berlin, Budapest signed the Triple Pact, entering into a military alliance between Germany, Italy and Japan. Hungarian industry began to fulfill German military orders. In particular, Hungary began to produce small arms for Germany. In April 1941, Hungarian troops took part in the aggression against Yugoslavia. Hungarian Prime Minister Pal Teleki, who tried to prevent Hungary from being drawn into the war, committed suicide. In his farewell letter to Horthy, he wrote "we have become perjurers", because we could not keep the country from "acting on the side of the villains." After the defeat of Yugoslavia, Hungary received the north of the country: Bachka (Vojvodina), Baranya, Medzhumur County and Prekmurje.
War against the USSR
Hitler concealed his plans with regard to the USSR from the Hungarian military-political leadership to the last. Back in April 1941, Hitler assured Horthy that relations between Germany and the USSR were "very correct" and that nothing threatened the Reich from the east. In addition, the German command counted on a "lightning war" in the east, so Hungary was not taken into account. Compared to the Wehrmacht, the Hungarian army was weak and technically poorly armed, and, as they thought in Berlin, could not strengthen the first and decisive blow. It is also worth considering the fact that the German Fuhrer was not sure of the complete loyalty of the Hungarian leadership and did not want to share his secret plans with him.
However, when the war broke out, Berlin revised its plans for Hungary's participation in the war. Part of the Hungarian leadership itself was also eager to take part in the carve-up of the "Russian bear skin". The Hungarian National Socialist Arrow Cross Party, although it was regularly banned, had massive support in society, including in the military environment, and demanded the country's participation in the war with the USSR. The Hungarian military, having tasted victories in the war with Yugoslavia and impressed by the military successes of the Wehrmacht in Europe, demanded to take part in the war. In the spring of 1941, the chief of the Hungarian General Staff, General Henrik Werth, demanded from both the Regent Horthy and the Prime Minister Laszlo Bardosi to raise the issue with Germany about the indispensable participation of the Hungarian army in the "crusade" against the Soviet Union. But Horthy bided his time, as did the government.
Hungary entered the war after an incident on June 26, 1941, when unknown bombers attacked the Hungarian city of Kosice. According to one version, the Soviet aviation made a mistake and had to bomb the Slovak city of Presov (Slovakia entered the war with the USSR on June 23), or the Soviet command did not doubt the future choice of Hungary, an accidental strike is also possible, due to the chaos in the command of troops at the beginning war. According to another version, the provocation was organized by the Germans or Romanians in order to drag Hungary into the war. On the same day, a proposal was received from the high German command to the general staff of the Hungarian army to join the war against the Union. As a result, Hungary declared war on the USSR. Hungary opened its territory for the transit of military materials from Germany and Italy. In addition, during the war, the Kingdom of Hungary became the agrarian base of the Third Reich.
In late June - early July 1941, the Carpathian group was sent to the Eastern Front: the 8th Kosice Corps (1st Mountain and 8th Border Brigades) under the command of Lieutenant General Ferenc Szombathely and the Mobile Corps (two motorized and one cavalry brigade) under the command of General Bela Miklos. Hungarian troops were attached to the 17th German Army as part of Army Group South. In early July, Hungarian soldiers engaged the 12th Soviet Army. Then the Hungarian troops took part in the battle of Uman.
Hungarian troops in the Don steppes, summer 1942
In September 1941, several more Hungarian divisions were transferred to the USSR. They were used to protect communications and to fight partisan formations in Ukraine, in the regions of Smolensk and Bryansk regions. I must say that the Hungarians "distinguished themselves" by a number of atrocities in the Chernigov region, Bryansk region and near Voronezh, where Hungarian soldiers thanked "God" that they could participate in the destruction of the "Slavic and Jewish infection" and without mercy killed the elderly, women and children. The Hungarians were noted for similar atrocities in the occupied lands of Yugoslavia. In the Serbian Vojvodina, soldiers of the Szeged corps of General Fekethalmi (the future head of the General Staff of the Hungarian army) carried out a massacre. Serbs and Jews were not even shot, but drowned in the Danube and chopped down with axes.
Therefore, the monument to the Hungarian soldiers, which was erected on the Voronezh land in the village of Rudkino, as well as the memorial burials for foreign discoverers in other villages of the Voronezh land, where the Magyar Hungarians carried out the most outrages, is a real blasphemy against the memory of Soviet soldiers, a betrayal of Russian civilization. This is the gradual introduction of enemy programs of political tolerance and political correctness
By the beginning of 1942, the number of Hungarian soldiers in the USSR had increased to 200 thousand people, and the 2nd Hungarian Army was formed. The Hungarians soon paid for their atrocities. During the Soviet counteroffensive during the Battle of Stalingrad, the Hungarian army was practically destroyed. The Hungarian army lost 145 thousand killed and captured (most of them were exterminated like mad dogs, our ancestors did not stand on ceremony with evil spirits) and most of the weapons and equipment. The 2nd Hungarian Army practically ceased to exist as a combat unit.
Hungarian soldiers killed at Stalingrad
After that, Adolf Hitler did not put the Hungarian troops in the forefront for a long time, the Hungarians now performed rear missions in Ukraine. Horthy, worried about the future fate of Hungary, replaced the government of Bardosi with the government of Kallai. Miklos Kallai continued the policy of supplying Germany with everything necessary, but at the same time the Hungarians began to seek contacts with the Western powers. So, Budapest pledged not to fire on Anglo-American aircraft over Hungary. In the future, the Hungarian government promised to go over to the side of the Anti-Hitler coalition, after the invasion of the Western powers in the Balkans. At the same time, Budapest refused to negotiate with the USSR. In addition, the Hungarians forged ties with the emigrant governments of Poland and Czechoslovakia, trying to preserve the pre-war territorial gains. Negotiations were also conducted with Slovakia, which was also supposed to go over to the side of the Anti-Hitler coalition, after Hungary went over to the side of England and the United States.
Hungary's attempt to withdraw from the war
In 1944, the situation escalated sharply. The Wehrmacht and the Romanian army suffered severe defeats in the southern strategic direction. Hitler demanded that Horthy carry out a total mobilization. The 3rd Army was formed in Hungary. But Horthy continued to bend his line, for him the inevitability of the defeat of Germany, and therefore Hungary, was already obvious. The internal situation in the country was characterized by the growth of economic difficulties and social tension, the growth of the influence of radical pro-German forces.
Hitler, doubting the reliability of Budapest, forced Horthy in March 1944 to agree to the entry of German troops into Hungary, and with them the SS troops. In Hungary, the pro-German government of Döme Stoyai was established. When an anti-German coup took place in Romania on August 23 and Romania sided with the countries of the Anti-Hitler coalition, the situation for Hungary became critical. August 30 - October 3, 1944, the troops of the USSR and Romania conducted the Bucharest-Arad operation (Romanian operation) against the Wehrmacht and the Hungarian army. In the course of this operation, almost all of Romania was liberated from the German-Hungarian troops and the Red Army occupied the initial areas for the offensive into Hungary and Yugoslavia. In September 1944, Soviet troops crossed the Hungarian border. Later, in the course of the East Carpathian operation (Ninth Stalinist blow: East Carpathian operation), the 1st Hungarian army suffered heavy losses, was essentially defeated.
On the basis of military defeats in Hungary, there was a government crisis. Horthy and his entourage tried to gain time and prevent the entry of Soviet troops into Hungary in order to preserve the political regime in the country. Horthy deposed the pro-German Stoyai government and appointed General Geza Lakatos as prime minister. The military government of Lakatos was opposed to Germany and tried to preserve the old Hungary. At the same time, Horthy tried to continue negotiations with Britain and the United States to conclude an armistice. However, the solution of this issue could no longer be opposed without the participation of the USSR. On October 1, 1944, the Hungarian mission was forced to arrive in Moscow. The Hungarian envoys had the authority to conclude an armistice with Moscow if the Soviet government agreed to the participation of Anglo-American troops in the occupation of Hungary and to the free evacuation of the Wehrmacht from Hungarian territory.
On October 15, 1944, the Hungarian government announced an armistice with the USSR. However, Horthy, unlike the King of Romania Mihai I, could not bring his country out of the war. Hitler was able to keep Hungary for himself. The Fuhrer was not going to lose his last ally in Europe. Hungary and East Austria were of great military and strategic importance. It housed a large number of military factories and had two significant sources of oil, which the German military was in dire need of. The SS detachment stole in Budapest and took hostage the son of Horthy - Miklos (the Younger) Horthy. The operation was carried out by the famous German saboteur Otto Skorzeny (Operation Faustpatron). Under the threat of deprivation of his son's life, the Hungarian regent abdicated and transferred power to the pro-German government of Ferenc Salasi. Power was received by the leader of the Nazi Arrow Cross Party and Hungary continued the war on the side of Germany.
In addition, the Fuhrer sent large armored formations to the Budapest area. In Hungary, a powerful grouping was deployed - Army Group South (German 8th and 6th armies, Hungarian 2nd and 3rd armies) under the command of Johannes (Hans) Friesner and part of the forces of Army Group F.
Admiral Horthy was sent to Germany, where he was held under house arrest. His son was sent to the camp. Part of the Hungarian military, led by the commander of the 1st Hungarian Army, General Bela Miklos, went over to the side of the Red Army. Miklos made a radio appeal to the Hungarian officers to go over to the side of the USSR. In the future, the army commander will head the Provisional Hungarian Government. In addition, the formation of Hungarian units within the Red Army will begin. However, the majority of the Hungarian army will continue the war on the side of Germany. Hungarian troops will actively oppose the Red Army during the Debrecen, Budapest and Balaton operations.
The 2nd Hungarian Army will be defeated during the Debrecen operation, its remnants will be included in the 3rd Army. Most of the 1st Hungarian Army will be destroyed in the stubborn fighting in early 1945. Most of the remnants of the 3rd Hungarian Army will be destroyed 50 km west of Budapest in March 1945. The remnants of the Hungarian formations that fought on the side of the Germans will retreat to Austria and surrender only in April - early May 1945 on the outskirts of Vienna.
Ferenc Salasi in Budapest. October 1944
