WWII Military History of Hungary
1938Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy sought to enforce peacefully the claims of Hungarians on territories Hungary lost in 1920 with the signing of the Treaty of Trianon, and made two significant territorial awards.
On the 2nd of November 1938, the First Vienna Award transferred parts of Southern Slovakia and Carpathian Ruthenia to Hungary with a size of 11,927 km˛ and a population of 869,299 (86.5%) of them Hungarians according to an 1941 census. Hitler later promised to transfer all territories of Slovakia to Hungary in exchange for a military alliance, but his offer was rejected. Instead, Horthy chose to pursue a territorial revision to be decided along ethnic lines.
1939
In March 1939, Czechoslovakia was dissolved and Hungary occupied the rest of Carpathian Ruthenia. Hungary immediately recognized the German puppet state of Slovakia led by the fascist Jozef Tiso. But, on 23 March 1939, disagreements with Slovakia over the new common eastern border led to a localized armed conflict between the two countries. The Slovak-Hungarian War (also known as the "Little War") ended with Hungary gaining only the easternmost strip of Slovakia.
1940
In September of 1940, with troops massing on both sides of the Hungarian-Romanian border war was averted by the Second Vienna Award. This award transferred the northern half of Transylvania to Hungary with a total size of 43,492 km˛ and a total population of 2,578,100 about half of them Hungarian. By dividing Transylvania between Romania and Hungary, Hitler was able to ease tension and avoid war between his potential allies. In October of 1940, the Germans initiated a reciprocity policy between Romania and Hungary which was continued until the end of World War II.
War
On November 20, 1940, Pál Teleki signed the Tripartite Pact, which allied Germany, Italy, and Japan.
In December of 1940, he also signed an ephemeral "Treaty of Eternal Friendship" with Yugoslavia. A few months later, after a Yugoslavian coup threatened the success of the planned German invasion of Russia (Operation Barbarossa), Hitler asked Hungarians to support his invasion of Yugoslavia. He promised to return some territory to Hungary in exchange for military cooperation. Unable to prevent Hungary's participation in the war alongside Germany, Teleki committed suicide. The right-wing radical László Bárdossy succeeded him as Prime Minister.
Invasion of Yugoslavia
Days after the Teleki's death, the Luftwaffe mercilessly bombed Belgrade without warning, and German troops invaded Yugoslavia. Horthy dispatched the Hungarian Third Army to occupy Vojvodina, and Hungary eventually annexed sections of Baranja, Backa, Medjumurje, and Prekomurje.
1941-1943 - The War in the East
Hungary did not immediately participate in the invasion of the Soviet Union, which began on June 22, 1941, but Hitler did not directly ask for Hungarian assistance. Nonetheless, many Hungarian officials argued for participation in the war so as not to encourage Hitler into favouring Romania in the event of border revisions in Transylvania. Hungary eventually entered the war against the Soviets before the end of June. This was after the Soviet bombing of Koice (Kassa). On July 1, 1941, at the direction of the Germans, the Hungarian Karpat Group attacked the 12th Soviet Army. Attached to the German 17th Army, the Karpat Group advanced far into southern Russia. At the Battle of Uman (3-8 August 1941), the Karpat Group's mechanized corps acted as one half of a pincer that encircled the 6th Soviet Army and the 12th Soviet Army. Twenty Soviet divisions were captured or destroyed.
Worried about Hungary's increasing reliance on Germany, Admiral Horthy forced Bárdossy to resign and replaced him with Miklós Kállay, a veteran conservative of Bethlen's government. Kállay continued Bárdossy's policy of supporting Germany against the Red Army while he also began negotiations with the Western Allies.
During the Battle of Stalingrad, the Hungarian Second Army suffered terrible losses. The heavy Soviet breakthrough at the Don River sliced directly through the Hungarian units. Shortly after the fall of Stalingrad in January of 1943, the Hungarian Second Army nearly ceased to exist as a functioning military unit.
Secret negotiations with the British and Americans continued. As per the request of the Western Allies, there were no connections made with the Soviets. Aware of Kállay's deceit and fearing that Hungary might conclude a separate peace, Hitler ordered Nazi troops to occupy Hungary in March of 1944. Horthy was confined to a castle, in essence, placed under house arrest. Döme Sztójay, an avid supporter of the Nazis, becomame the new Prime Minister. Sztójay governed with the aid of a Nazi military governor, Edmund Veesenmayer.
1944 - The War Comes to Hungary
In March of 1944, the Nazis launched Operation Margarethe and German troops occupied Hungary, and mass deportations of Jews to German workcamps occupied Poland were set to begin. In August of 1944, Horthy replaced Sztójay with the anti-Fascist General Géza Lakatos. Under the Lakatos regime, acting Interior Minister Béla Horváth ordered Hungarian gendarmes to prevent any Hungarian citizens from being deported.
In September of 1944, Soviet forces crossed the Hungarian border. On October 15, 1944, Horthy announced that Hungary had signed an armistice with the Soviet Union. The Hungarian army ignored the armistice. The Germans launched Operation Panzerfaust and, by kidnapping his son (Miklós Horthy, Jr.), forced Horthy to abrogate the armistice, depose the Lakatos government, and name the leader of the Arrow Cross Party, Ferenc Szálasi, as Prime Minister. Horthy abdicated and Szálasi became Prime Minister.
Soon Hungary became a battlefield. Szálasi promised greatness for Hungary and a prosperity for the peasants, but in reality Hungary was crumbling and its armies were slowly being destroyed. As an integral part of German General Maximilian Fretter-Pico's Armeegruppe Fretter-Pico, the re-formed Hungarian Second Army enjoyed a modest level of combat success. From 16 September 1944 to 24 October 1944, during the Battle of Debrecen, Armeegruppe Fretter-Pico managed to achieve a major win on the battle field. Avoiding encirclement itself, Armeegruppe Fretter-Pico encircled and destroyed three Soviet tank corps of Mobile Group Pliyev under the command of Issa Pliyev. Earlier, in the same battle, Mobile Group Pliyev had easily sliced through the Hungarian Third Army. But success was costly and, unable to replace lost assets, the Hungarian Second Army was disbanded on 1 December 1944.
In October of 1944, the Hungarian First Army was attached to the German 1st Panzer Army and participated defensively in the Lvov-Sandomierz Offensive.
On December 28, 1944, a provisional government was formed in Hungary under acting Prime Minister Béla Miklós. Miklós immediately ousted Prime Minister Ferenc Szálasi's government. The Germans and pro-German Hungarians loyal to Szálasi fought on.
1945
The Red Army completed the encirclement of Budapest on 29 December 1944 and the Battle of Budapest began and continued into February 1945. Most of what remained of the Hungarian First Army was destroyed about 200 kilometers north of Budapest between January 1 and February 16, 1945.
On January 20, 1945, representatives of the Hungarian provisional government signed an armistice in Moscow.
The siege of Budapest ended with the surrender of the city on February 13, 1945. But, while the German forces in Hungary were generally in a state of defeat, the Germans had one more surprise for the Soviets. In early March of 1945, the Germans launch the Lake Balaton Offensive. This offensive is almost over before it begins. By March 19, 1945, Soviet troops had recaptured all the territory lost during a 13-day German offensive.
After the failed offensive, the Germans in Hungary were defeated. Most of what remained of the Hungarian Third Army was destroyed about 50 kilometers west of Budapest between March 16-25, 1945. Officially, Soviet operations in Hungary ended around April 10-13, 1945 when the last German troops were expelled. Some pro-fascist Hungarians like Szálasi went with the Germans.
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