World War II History of Hungary

hungarian leader miklós horthy , german leader adolf hitler in 1938



a map of kingdom of hungary in 1941



ernö gömbös, (r.) aide-de-camp ferenc szálasi , gyula gömbös s son, along honved officer , member of arrow cross party, in front of ministry of defense, 1944



hungarian jews being sent deaths in gas chambers @ auschwitz death camp (may 1944).

nazi germany , fascist italy sought enforce claims of hungarians living in territories hungary lost in 1920 signing of treaty of trianon peacefully, , 2 vienna awards (1938 , 1940) returned parts of czechoslovakia , transylvania hungary.

on 20 november 1940, under pressure germany, pál teleki affiliated hungary tripartite pact. in december 1940, signed ephemeral treaty of eternal friendship yugoslavia. few months later, after yugoslavian coup threatened success of planned german invasion of soviet union (operation barbarossa), hitler asked hungarians support invasion of yugoslavia. promised return former hungarian territories lost after world war in exchange cooperation. unable prevent hungary s participation in war alongside germany, teleki committed suicide. right-wing radical lászló bárdossy succeeded him prime minister. hungary annexed small parts of present-day slovenia, croatia , serbia.

after war broke out on eastern front, many hungarian officials argued participation in war on german side not encourage hitler favoring romania in event of border revisions in transylvania. hungary entered war , on 1 july 1941, @ direction of germans, hungarian karpat group advanced far southern russia. @ battle of uman, gyorshadtest participated in encirclement of 6th soviet army , 12th soviet army. twenty soviet divisions captured or destroyed.

worried hungary s increasing reliance on germany, admiral horthy forced bárdossy resign , replaced him miklós kállay, veteran conservative of bethlen s government. kállay continued bárdossy s policy of supporting germany against red army, while surreptitiously entered negotiations western powers.

during battle of stalingrad, hungarian second army suffered terrible losses. shortly after fall of stalingrad in january 1943, hungarian second army ceased exist functioning military unit.

secret negotiations british , americans continued. aware of kállay s deceit , fearing hungary might conclude separate peace, hitler ordered nazi troops launch operation margarethe , occupy hungary in march 1944. döme sztójay, avid supporter of nazis, become new prime minister aid of nazi military governor, edmund veesenmayer.

the infamous ss colonel adolf eichmann went hungary oversee large-scale deportations of jews german death camps in occupied poland. between 15 may , 9 july 1944, hungarians deported 437,402 jews auschwitz concentration camp.

in august 1944, horthy replaced sztójay anti-fascist general géza lakatos. under lakatos regime, acting interior minister béla horváth ordered hungarian gendarmes prevent hungarian citizens being deported.

in september 1944, soviet forces crossed hungarian border. on 15 october 1944, horthy announced hungary had signed armistice soviet union. hungarian army ignored armistice. germans launched operation panzerfaust and, kidnapping son (miklós horthy, jr.), forced horthy abrogate armistice, depose lakatos government, , name leader of arrow cross party, ferenc szálasi, prime minister. szálasi became prime minister of new fascist government of national unity , horthy abdicated.

in cooperation nazis, szálasi restarted deportations of jews, particularly in budapest. thousands more jews killed hungarian arrow cross members. retreating german army demolished rail, road, , communications systems.

on 28 december 1944, provisional government formed in hungary under acting prime minister béla miklós. miklós , szálasi s rival governments each claimed legitimacy: germans , pro-german hungarians loyal szálasi fought on, territory controlled arrow cross regime shrunk gradually. red army completed encirclement of budapest on 29 december 1944 , battle of budapest began; continued february 1945. of remained of hungarian first army destroyed 320 km (200 mi) north of budapest between 1 january , 16 february 1945. budapest unconditionally surrendered soviet red army on 13 february 1945.

on 20 january 1945, representatives of hungarian provisional government signed armistice in moscow. szálasi s government fled country end of march. officially, soviet operations in hungary ended on 4 april 1945, when last german troops expelled. on 7 may 1945 general alfred jodl, german chief of staff, signed unconditional surrender of german forces.

as regards hungary s world war ii casualties, tamás stark of hungarian academy of sciences has provided detailed assessment of losses 1941 1945 in hungary. calculated military losses @ 300,000–310,000, including 110–120,000 killed in battle , 200,000 missing in action , prisoners of war in soviet union. hungarian military losses include 110,000 men conscripted annexed territories of greater hungary in slovakia, romania , yugoslavia , deaths of 20,000–25,000 jews conscripted army labor units. civilian losses of 80,000 include 45,500 killed in 1944–1945 military campaign , in air attacks, , genocide of romani people of 28,000 persons. jewish holocaust victims totaled 600,000 (300,000 in territories annexed between in 1938 , 1941, 200,000 in pre-1938 countryside , 100,000 in budapest). see world war ii casualties.