Ferenc Szombathelyi (17 May 1887 – 4 November 1946), born Ferenc Knausz or Ferenc Knauz, was a
Hungarian military officer who served, from September 1941 to April 1944, as Head of the General Staff of the
Royal Hungarian Army during
World War II
World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...
.
Military career
Szombathelyi joined the
Austro-Hungarian army as a cadet in 1902 and was subsequently promoted to lieutenant in 1907 in the 16th Infantry Regiment. From 1911, he studied at the ''
Kriegsschule'' (military academy) in
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
. After participating in
World War I
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, the United States, and the Ottoman Empire, with fightin ...
he joined the newly founded
Royal Hungarian Army.
From 1926 he taught at the
Ludovica Military Academy in
Budapest
Budapest (, ; ) is the capital and most populous city of Hungary. It is the ninth-largest city in the European Union by population within city limits and the second-largest city on the Danube river; the city has an estimated population ...
. From 1931-33, he was Chief of Staff of the 3rd Mixed Brigade, after which he served as
adjutant
Adjutant is a military appointment given to an officer who assists the commanding officer with unit administration, mostly the management of human resources in an army unit. The term is used in French-speaking armed forces as a non-commission ...
of the high command of the armed forces in 1935–36. In 1938, he became the commander of the Ludovica Military Academy. From 1934 onward, he used his mother's maiden surname rather than his own given surname.
In 1938–39 he held the post of Deputy Chief of Staff. From 1939-41, he commanded the VIII Corps before he was appointed commanding general of the "Carpathian group" (Kárpát Csoport), with which he took part in
Operation Barbarossa
Operation Barbarossa (german: link=no, Unternehmen Barbarossa; ) was the invasion of the Soviet Union by Nazi Germany and many of its Axis allies, starting on Sunday, 22 June 1941, during the Second World War. The operation, code-named after ...
. On 6 September, he was appointed by Regent
Miklós Horthy to succeed the pro-German
Henrik Werth
Henrik Werth (26 December 1881 – 28 May 1952) was a Hungarian military officer, who served as Chief of Army Staff during World War II.
Biography
Henrik Werth was born in Rezsőháza, Hungary ( Knićanin, today in Serbia), on 26 December 18 ...
as Chief of General Staff. Szombathelyi assessed the prospects of war with the
Soviet Union
The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, it was nominally a federal union of fifteen national ...
sceptically and did not hesitate to share this view with his German counterpart. Shortly after his appointment he was present at a meeting between
Hitler
Adolf Hitler (; 20 April 188930 April 1945) was an Austrian-born German politician who was dictator of Germany from 1933 until his death in 1945. He rose to power as the leader of the Nazi Party, becoming the chancellor in 1933 and then ...
and Horthy when the latter promised to provide more troops.
He successfully delayed this measure until it could no longer be avoided following
German Army
The German Army (, "army") is the land component of the armed forces of Germany. The present-day German Army was founded in 1955 as part of the newly formed West German ''Bundeswehr'' together with the ''Marine'' (German Navy) and the ''Luftwaf ...
setbacks in the winter of 1941-42 and the increased commitment of Romania. In April 1942, he sent the
Second Army of
Gusztáv Jány to the
Eastern Front. Previously, in response to alleged attacks by communist partisans and Chetniks in the annexed Bácska, he ordered a military intervention by General
Ferenc Feketehalmy-Czeydner
Vitéz Ferenc Feketehalmy-Czeydner (22 November 1890 – 5 November 1946) was a Hungarians, Hungarian military officer who had a significant role in the Novi Sad massacre during the Second World War.
Military career
After training at the artil ...
, which evolved into punitive action against Serb-inhabited villages and culminated in the massacre of Újvidék (present-day
Novi Sad
Novi Sad ( sr-Cyrl, Нови Сад, ; hu, Újvidék, ; german: Neusatz; see below for other names) is the second largest city in Serbia and the capital of the autonomous province of Vojvodina. It is located in the southern portion of the Pan ...
).
In response to the
catastrophic defeats of the second Army in the winter of 1942-43, Hungary increasingly tried to distance itself from its
Axis partners. Szombathelyi's proposal to use Hungarian divisions to occupy the Balkans as a substitute for the failure of the second Army was welcomed by Hitler but rejected by
Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...
Miklós Kállay
Dr. Miklós Kállay de Nagykálló (23 January 1887, in Nyíregyháza – 14 January 1967, in New York City) was a Hungarian politician who served as Prime Minister of Hungary during World War II, from 9 March 1942 to 22 March 1944. By early 1 ...
. Contacts with the Western powers were initiated, with Kállay and Szombathelyi playing leading roles.
After the
German invasion of Hungary in March 1944, Szombathelyi was removed from office and placed under house arrest at German insistence, and retired in April. He was arrested in October 1944 after the
Arrow Cross Party assumed power. Szombathelyi was deported to Germany toward the end of the war, then taken into custody by the Americans, who, however, turned him over to Hungary shortly thereafter. He was convicted by the Hungarian people's court to life imprisonment, then extradited to
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label=Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavija ...
. On 4 November 1946, in Petrovaradin (Hungarian: Pétervárad), Vojvodina, Szombathelyi was executed by a firing squad. Hungarian writer Tibor Cseres in his book "Vengeance in Bácska" states that Szombathelyi was impaled, but there is no conclusive evidence of this.
References
FERENC SZOMBATHELYI – HEAD OF THE GENERAL STAFF OF THE HUNGARIAN ROYAL ARMY Thesis of University Doctorate (PhD) Dissertation by József Kaló; accessed 24 January 2018.
* Földi Pál: ''A Magyar Királyi Honvédség a második világháborúban'', Anno Kiadó, 2000;
* Földi Pál: ''Horthy tábornokai,'' Anno Kiadó, 2007, Debrecen;
* Dombrády Lóránd: ''Szombathelyi Ferenc a népbíróság előtt HM Hadtörténeti Intézet és Múzeum Line Design,'' 2007.
* Györkei Jenő: ''Idegen bírák előtt. Szombathelyi Ferenc újvidéki pere és kivégzése''. Zrínyi Kiadó, Budapest, 2002.
{{DEFAULTSORT:Szombathelyi, Ferenc
1887 births
1946 deaths
People from Győr
Hungarian soldiers
Austro-Hungarian military personnel of World War I
Austro-Hungarian Army officers
Hungarian military personnel of World War II
Executed Hungarian people
People executed by Yugoslavia by hanging