Henrik Werth (26 December 1881 – 28 May 1952) was a Hungarian military officer, who served as Chief of Army Staff 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 ...

Biography

Henrik Werth was born in Rezsőháza, Hungary (

Knićanin Knićanin (, ) is a village in Serbia. It is located in the Zrenjanin municipal area, in the Banat region (Central Banat District), Vojvodina province. Its population is 2,034 (2002 census) and most of its inhabitants are ethnic Serbs (97.39%) ...

, today in

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...

), on 26 December 1881. He became a military cadet in the Austro-Hungarian Army in 1897 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 ...

, and got a rapid advance in rank during

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 ...

. By 1918, he was a

lieutenant colonel Lieutenant colonel ( , ) is a rank of commissioned officers in the armies, most marine forces and some air forces of the world, above a major and below a colonel. Several police forces in the United States use the rank of lieutenant colone ...

. He later served the Hungarian Soviet Republic after the collapse of Austria-Hungary as the commander of the

Hungarian Red Army The Hungarian Ground Forces ( hu, Magyar Szárazföldi Haderő) is the land branch of the Hungarian Defence Forces, and is responsible for ground activities and troops including artillery, tanks, APCs, IFVs and ground support. Hungary's ground f ...

's I Army Corps before being given command of the 7th Infantry Division. Werth continued serving after the fall of the communist regime, being promoted to

colonel Colonel (abbreviated as Col., Col or COL) is a senior military officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th and 19th centuries, a colonel was typically in charge of ...

in 1920, and to

major general Major general (abbreviated MG, maj. gen. and similar) is a military rank used in many countries. It is derived from the older rank of sergeant major general. The disappearance of the "sergeant" in the title explains the apparent confusion of a ...

in 1926. He taught at the general staff academy and briefly served as the chief of operations on the general staff during that time. Werth was given mandatory retirement at age of 55, which he reached in 1936. However, he was recalled up into service in 1938 and became the chief of general staff. Of German ancestry, he supported Hungary's entry into

and believed that Hungary could profit from helping the Germans. He was later dismissed from his post because of making a promise to the Germans that all Hungarian Army units would be available to them (without the permission of Regent Miklós Horthy). He was recalled from retirement in February 1945 by the Soviet forces, and was immediately arrested. The Hungarian People's Court sentenced him to death because of war crimes. He was transferred to the

USSR 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 nationa ...

where he died in 1952.Kursietis, Andris J., and Antonio J. Munoz. ''The Hungarian Army and Its Military Leadership in World War II.'' Bayside, NY: Axis Europa & Magazines, 1999. Print.

References

Sources

Profile (search "W" for Werth)
''Magyar Életrajzi Lexikon''; accessed 24 January 2018. 1881 births 1952 deaths Hungarian people of German descent Military personnel from Zrenjanin Hungarian soldiers Austro-Hungarian military personnel of World War I Austro-Hungarian Army officers Hungarian military personnel of World War II {{Hungary-mil-bio-stub