The Royal Hungarian Army in World War II by Nigel Thomas

Author:Nigel Thomas
Language: eng
Format: epub
Tags: The Royal Hungarian Army in World War II
ISBN: 9781780963341
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Published: 2011-12-12T16:00:00+00:00

A section machine gunner shouldering the standard Swiss M1931 8mm Solothurn LMG infantry weapon. Note the camouflage leaves tied to the chicken-wire helmet net. (Vitéz Gábor)

THE BATTLE OF BUDAPEST

Budapest, with a population of about 1 million, is divided by the Danube into Buda (west) and Pest (east). Hitler designated it on 6 Dec 1944 as a ‘fortress’, requiring defence to the last man; the siege lasted 102 days, 3 Nov 1944–13 Feb 1945. On 9 Dec ‘Leader of the Nation’, Szálasi fled to Szombathely, in March 1945 to Vienna, and later to Munich.

The Budapest garrison, under SS-Ogruf Karl Pfeffer-Wildenbruch (a militarily incompetent senior policeman), comprised 79,000 personnel. The principal Hungarian units were Budapest I Corps, with 1 AMD, 10 & 12 ID, part of 1 HD; 1, 7 & 10 Assault Artillery Bns; Parachute, Budapest Guard, five AA and five Gendarmerie battalions; 16 KISKA home guard battalions (25 Sept 1944–6 Jan 1945); also seven Hungarist Combat Groups of Szálasi Militia, Arrow Cross Youth and Budapest Police units. German forces included IX SS-Mountain Corps (13. Pz, Feldherrnhalle PzGren, 8. & 22. SS-Cav Divs), 153. Field Training and 271. VolksGren Divs, plus SS-Police units. Other units from Fretter-Pico (23 Dec 1944, Balck) west of Budapest fought in the city until 27 Dec, besieged by the 177,000-strong 2nd Ukrainian Front and Romanian 4th Army.

Three concentric earthwork rings of the Attila Line I (outer), II and III protected Pest. 12 ID, 8. SS-Cav Div and Hungarian paratroopers repelled 2nd Ukrainian Front on the south-eastern Attila I Line on 5 Nov, and 13. Pz, 18. SS-PzGren and 46. Inf Divs halted a north-eastern probe on 22 November. Soviet forces took Csepel Island in the south on 21 Nov against 1 HD, and broke through northern Attila I at Fót on 10 Dec against Feldherrnhalle and Hungarian 10 ID, paratroopers and KISKA. Meanwhile Soviet-Romanian units pushed back 10 ID and 12 RD, penetrating Attila II at Isaszeg on 12 December. Discounting a western attack, Army Group South had built no defences around Buda, but 3rd Ukrainian Front reached the western Buda suburbs on 24 Dec, taking Budaörs the following day, capturing Üröm on the 26th and Szentendre on the 27th in the north, completing Budapest’s encirclement. Soviet artillery began shelling, while Arrow Cross Militia terrorized civilians and murdered Jews. Soviet-Romanian forces penetrated the Pest suburbs on 25 Dec, occupied most of the Attila I and II lines, and by 5 Jan 1945 were fighting house-to-house inside Attila III. They occupied Pest on 18 Jan, most of its defenders having evacuated to Buda.

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