The Royal Hungarian Army ( hu, Magyar Királyi Honvédség, german: Königlich Ungarische Armee) was the name given to the land forces of the
Kingdom of Hungary
The Kingdom of Hungary was a monarchy in Central Europe that existed for nearly a millennium, from the Middle Ages into the 20th century. The Principality of Hungary emerged as a Christian kingdom upon the Coronation of the Hungarian monarch, c ...
in the period from 1922 to 1945. Its name was inherited from the
Royal Hungarian Honvéd which went under the same Hungarian title of ''Magyar Királyi Honvédség'' from 1867 to 1918. Initially restricted by the
Treaty of Trianon
The Treaty of Trianon (french: Traité de Trianon, hu, Trianoni békeszerződés, it, Trattato del Trianon) was prepared at the Paris Peace Conference and was signed in the Grand Trianon château in Versailles on 4 June 1920. It forma ...
to 35,000 men, the army was steadily upgraded during the 1930s and fought on the side of the
Axis powers
The Axis powers, ; it, Potenze dell'Asse ; ja, 枢軸国 ''Sūjikukoku'', group=nb originally called the Rome–Berlin Axis, was a military coalition that initiated World War II and fought against the Allies. Its principal members were ...
in the
Second World War
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 opposi ...
.
History
Background
As a vanquished power in the
First World War
World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...
, Hungary had hardly grown at all in the immediate post-war years thanks to the territorial demands of its old and new neighbouring states, the
Kingdom of Rumania,
Czechoslovakia
, rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי,
, common_name = Czechoslovakia
, life_span = 1918–19391945–1992
, p1 = Austria-Hungary
, image_p1 ...
and the
Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes
Kingdom commonly refers to:
* A monarchy ruled by a king or queen
* Kingdom (biology), a category in biological taxonomy
Kingdom may also refer to:
Arts and media Television
* ''Kingdom'' (British TV series), a 2007 British television drama s ...
. The
Hungarian Red Army that was formed during the period of the
Hungarian Soviet Republic, in which many world war veterans enlisted, was defeated by the allied armies in the
Hungarian–Romanian war of 1919. The consequence was that large areas of Hungary were occupied and many regions that Hungary had claimed were finally lost.
In July 1919 the former Commander-in-Chief of the
Austro-Hungarian Navy
The Austro-Hungarian Navy or Imperial and Royal War Navy (german: kaiserliche und königliche Kriegsmarine, in short ''k.u.k. Kriegsmarine'', hu, Császári és Királyi Haditengerészet) was the naval force of Austria-Hungary. Ships of the A ...
, Admiral
Miklós Horthy, had begun to set up the "National Army" ( hu, Nemzeti Hadsereg) as directed by the opposition government. This was supported by former
k.u.k. officers like
Gyula Gömbös
Gyula Gömbös de Jákfa (26 December 1886 – 6 October 1936) was a Hungarian military officer and politician who served as Prime Minister of Hungary from 1 October 1932 to his death.
Background
Gömbös was born in Murga, Tolna County, Kingd ...
,
Döme Sztójay
Döme Sztójay ( sr-cyr, Димитрије Стојаковић, 5 January 1883 – 22 August 1946) was a Hungarian soldier and diplomat of Serb origin, who served as Prime Minister of Hungary in 1944, during World War II.
Biography
Born i ...
and
Anton Lehár. After the withdrawal of Romanian troops in 1919/20 they took over the defence of the country, but remained dependent on the goodwill of the victorious powers that had met at the
Paris Peace Conference.
The
Treaty of Trianon
The Treaty of Trianon (french: Traité de Trianon, hu, Trianoni békeszerződés, it, Trattato del Trianon) was prepared at the Paris Peace Conference and was signed in the Grand Trianon château in Versailles on 4 June 1920. It forma ...
that was signed on 4 June 1920 confirmed Hungary's territorial losses and restricted its armed forces to a
volunteer organisation of 35,000 men. Heavy weapons such as heavy artillery, tanks, aircraft and anti-aircraft guns were forbidden as was the creation of a
general staff
A military staff or general staff (also referred to as army staff, navy staff, or air staff within the individual services) is a group of officers, enlisted and civilian staff who serve the commander of a division or other large military ...
. Compliance with these restrictions was supervised by an allied control commission.
Early years
On 4 January 1922 the National Army was renamed the Royal Hungarian Army. On 11 May 1922 the new organisation came into being with seven military districts, each defended by a
mixed brigade
Mixed brigade ( es, brigada mixta) was a basic tactical military unit of the Republican army during the Spanish Civil War. It was initially designed as “pocket division”, an innovative maneuverable combined-arms formation. Because of high sa ...
( hu, Vegyesdandár). In addition there were two cavalry brigades and three engineer battalions.
The length of military service was three years. Pre-military training under the supervision of army officers was conducted in the youth organisation, ''
Levente'', founded in 1921. From the age of ten, boys who wanted to pursue an officer's career, could attend a military middle school. Potential officers were then trained at the
Ludovica Military Academy in Budapest (for infantry or cavalry) or the János Bolyai College of Military Technology (for artillery, engineering and intelligence troops). Secret general staff courses were run from 1923 onwards. The senior officer corps was predominantly staffed by former k.u.k. officers, of which a disproportionate number were of German-Austrian extraction.
In addition to the army there were other armed organisations that were partly used to create a cadre of training military reservists. The most important of these was the gendarmerie ( hu, Csendőrség) which was subordinated to the Interior Ministry and was organised in the same way as the military districts and whose strength in places clearly exceeded that of the regular armed forces. Other organisations that took on ex-soldiers were the police, the customs and border guards and the treasury guard (''Finanzwache''). The river police ( hu, Folyamőrség) who monitored traffic on the River
Danube
The Danube ( ; ) is a river that was once a long-standing frontier of the Roman Empire and today connects 10 European countries, running through their territories or being a border. Originating in Germany, the Danube flows southeast for , pa ...
with 8 patrol boats initially worked to the Interior Ministry until it was subordinated in January 1939 to the Defence Ministry as a corps of river troops ( hu, Magyar Királyi Honvéd Folyami Erők).
Monitoring by the allied control commission ended on 31 March 1927 and in the same year the government of
István Bethlen
Count István Bethlen de Bethlen (8 October 1874, Gernyeszeg – 5 October 1946, Moscow) was a Hungarian aristocrat and statesman and served as prime minister from 1921 to 1931.
Early life
The scion of an old Bethlen de Bethlen noble fa ...
signed a treaty of friendship with Fascist
Italy
Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...
which was intended to form a counterweight to the encirclement of Hungary by the powers of the
Little Entente
The Little Entente was an alliance formed in 1920 and 1921 by Czechoslovakia, Romania and the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats and Slovenes (since 1929 Yugoslavia) with the purpose of common defense against Hungarian revanchism and the prospect of a ...
. In the years that followed the armament of the army, which had hitherto still consisted of wartime and pre-war stock, was modernised and, especially under
Gyula Gömbös
Gyula Gömbös de Jákfa (26 December 1886 – 6 October 1936) was a Hungarian military officer and politician who served as Prime Minister of Hungary from 1 October 1932 to his death.
Background
Gömbös was born in Murga, Tolna County, Kingd ...
, defence minister from 1929, clandestinely expanded.
The re-establishment of an air force had been planned as early as 1920 by the Ministry of Transport and, from 1925, by the Air Office of the Ministry of Trade. On 6 December 1928 the
Royal Hungarian Air Force
The Hungarian Air Force ( hu, Magyar Légierő), is the air force branch of the Hungarian Defence Forces.
The task of the current Hungarian Air Force is primarily defensive purposes. The flying units of the air force are organised into a single ...
( hu, Magyar Királyi Honvéd Légierő) was founded, but its existence was kept secret until 1938.
Expansion and territorial changes from 1938
On 5 March 1938, Prime Minister
Kálmán Darányi announced the Győr Programme that envisaged the investment of a billion
pengő over 5 years on the expansion of the armed forces. This was probably aimed at securing a rapid agreement with the Little Entente states on arms equality, something that was achieved by the
Bled agreement in August 1938. The reorganization of the army began on 1 October 1938 under mobilisation plans Huba I-III. In the seven military districts, the mixed brigades were now grouped into
corps
Corps (; plural ''corps'' ; from French , from the Latin "body") is a term used for several different kinds of organization. A military innovation by Napoleon I, the formation was first named as such in 1805. The size of a corps varies great ...
of three brigades each (from February 1942, light divisions).
In November 1938 after the
First Vienna Award, Hungarian troops occupied the disputed areas of
Slovakia
Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the ...
and
Carpatho-Ukraine. In the occupied region an eighth corps was established. After the break-up of
Czechoslovakia
, rue, Чеськословеньско, , yi, טשעכאסלאוואקיי,
, common_name = Czechoslovakia
, life_span = 1918–19391945–1992
, p1 = Austria-Hungary
, image_p1 ...
in March 1939, the whole of Carpatho-Ukraine was occupied and, a little later, following the brief
Slovak–Hungarian War
The Slovak–Hungarian War, or Little War ( hu, Kis háború, sk, Malá vojna), was a war fought from 23 March to 31 March 1939 between the First Slovak Republic and Hungary in eastern Slovakia.
Prelude
After the Munich Pact, which weakened C ...
, a strip of land in East Slovakia.
That year
conscription
Conscription (also called the draft in the United States) is the state-mandated enlistment of people in a national service, mainly a military service. Conscription dates back to Ancient history, antiquity and it continues in some countries to th ...
was re-introduced. A new military service act forced officers with a Jewish parent to withdraw from active service. The remaining Jews, along with members of other national minorities and politically unreliable soldiers, were sent to serve in unarmed
labour battalions.
In March 1940, three field army commands were formed, each of three corps, together with the
Gyorshadtest ("Rapid Corps"). The
Chief of the General Staff The Chief of the General Staff (CGS) is a post in many armed forces (militaries), the head of the military staff.
List
* Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff ( United States)
* Chief of the General Staff (Abkhazia)
* Chief of General Staff (Af ...
now took over the military command that had previously been the responsibility of the Ministry of Defence. He was placed directly under the supreme commander, the regent.
Northern Transylvania
Northern Transylvania ( ro, Transilvania de Nord, hu, Észak-Erdély) was the region of the Kingdom of Romania that during World War II, as a consequence of the August 1940 territorial agreement known as the Second Vienna Award, became part of ...
, which had been promised to Hungary, was occupied in September 1940, after the
Second Vienna Award and a ninth corps established there. On 20 November 1940, Hungary joined the
Tripartite Pact
The Tripartite Pact, also known as the Berlin Pact, was an agreement between Germany, Italy, and Japan signed in Berlin on 27 September 1940 by, respectively, Joachim von Ribbentrop, Galeazzo Ciano and Saburō Kurusu. It was a defensive milit ...
.
Although minister president,
Pál Teleki, had signed a friendship and non-aggression treaty with Yugoslavia in December 1940, in March 1941 Hungary allowed the German ''
Wehrmacht
The ''Wehrmacht'' (, ) were the unified armed forces of Nazi Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the ''Heer'' (army), the '' Kriegsmarine'' (navy) and the ''Luftwaffe'' (air force). The designation "''Wehrmacht''" replaced the previo ...
'' to march through Hungarian territory. On 11 April 1941, following Telekis' suicide and by Hitler's invitation, the Hungarian
3rd Army joined the
Balkans Campaign in the wake of which
Bačka
Bačka ( sr-cyrl, Бачка, ) or Bácska () is a geographical and historical area within the Pannonian Plain bordered by the river Danube to the west and south, and by the river Tisza to the east. It is divided between Serbia and Hunga ...
,
Baranya,
Prekmurje and
Medjimurje were
annexed
Annexation (Latin ''ad'', to, and ''nexus'', joining), in international law, is the forcible acquisition of one state's territory by another state, usually following military occupation of the territory. It is generally held to be an illegal act ...
.
Operation Barbarossa
Unlike their enemy, Romania, Germany did not envisage Hungary participating 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 afte ...
and, as a consequence, it was not directly involved in the preparations for the operation. The Chief of the General Staff,
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 ...
, who was of German origin, pressed however for Hungarian participation in the campaign, supported by the Defence Minister,
Károly Bartha. On 21 June, as a gesture to Germany, Hungary broke off diplomatic relations with the Soviet Union. A few days after the beginning of the war, on 26 June 1941, aircraft with Soviet markings
bombed the Hungarian occupied towns of
Kassa and
Munkács, which gave Hungary the pretext to declare war on the Soviet Union.
On 1 July the so-called Carpathian Group ( hu, Kárpát Csoport) under Major General
Ferenc Szombathelyi
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 W ...
, consisting of the VIII Corps and the Rapid Corps, crossed the Soviet border and reached the
Dniester
The Dniester, ; rus, Дне́стр, links=1, Dnéstr, ˈdⁿʲestr; ro, Nistru; grc, Τύρᾱς, Tyrās, ; la, Tyrās, la, Danaster, label=none, ) ( ,) is a transboundary river in Eastern Europe. It runs first through Ukraine and t ...
within a week, meeting little Soviet resistance. The VIII Corps then remained as an occupation force in the conquered territory, while the Rapid Corps under
Béla Miklós was subordinated operationally to the German
17th Army to participate in subsequent operations. It was involved in the battles of
Uman
Uman ( uk, Умань, ; pl, Humań; yi, אומאַן) is a city located in Cherkasy Oblast in central Ukraine, to the east of Vinnytsia. Located in the historical region of the eastern Podolia, the city rests on the banks of the Umanka River ...
and
Kiev
Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the seventh-most populous city in Europe.
Ky ...
. By the end of October it had reached
Izium
Izium or Izyum ( uk, Ізюм, ; russian: Изюм) is a city on the Donets River in Kharkiv Oblast (province) of eastern Ukraine. It serves as the administrative center of Izium Raion (district). Izium hosts the administration of Izium urban ...
on the
Seversky Donets, before being recalled in late November to Hungary. Hitler had previously reached an agreement during a meeting with Horthy to provide five Hungarian "security brigades" to protect the hinterland in exchange for the deployment of the Rapid Corps. These were subordinated to the occupation group ( hu, Magyar Megszálló Csoport) formed on 6 October 1941, whose headquarters was moved from
Vinnytsia to
Kiev
Kyiv, also spelled Kiev, is the capital and most populous city of Ukraine. It is in north-central Ukraine along the Dnieper River. As of 1 January 2021, its population was 2,962,180, making Kyiv the seventh-most populous city in Europe.
Ky ...
in December.
1942–43
On 7 Dec 1941, the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and ...
declared war on Hungary who, in return, backed the German-Italian declaration of war on the United States on 13 Dec 1941. On 17 Jan 1942 Romania announced that they were participating in the 1942 campaign with two armies and, five days later, Hungary stated that they were ready to dispatch their own army. On 11 April the
2nd Army under
Gusztáv Jány began moving to the front occupied by the German
Army Group South
Army Group South (german: Heeresgruppe Süd) was the name of three German Army Groups during World War II.
It was first used in the 1939 September Campaign, along with Army Group North to invade Poland. In the invasion of Poland Army Group So ...
near
Kursk
Kursk ( rus, Курск, p=ˈkursk) is a city and the administrative center of Kursk Oblast, Russia, located at the confluence of the Kur, Tuskar, and Seym rivers. The area around Kursk was the site of a turning point in the Soviet–German stru ...
. The army took part in the German summer offensive, ''
Fall Blau
Case Blue (German: ''Fall Blau'') was the Wehrmacht, German Armed Forces' plan for the 1942 strategic summer offensive in southern Russia between 28 June and 24 November 1942, during World War II. The objective was to capture the oil fields o ...
'', that began in June 1942, and reached the
River Don south of
Voronezh
Voronezh ( rus, links=no, Воро́неж, p=vɐˈronʲɪʂ}) is a city and the administrative centre of Voronezh Oblast in southwestern Russia straddling the Voronezh River, located from where it flows into the Don River. The city sits on ...
in July, where it moved into defensive positions.
In Jan 1943, the 2nd Army was shattered by a major attack on the
Voronezh Front
The 1st Ukrainian Front ( Russian: Пéрвый Украи́нский фронт), previously the Voronezh Front ( Russian: Воронежский Фронт) was a major formation of the Soviet Army during World War II, being equivalent to ...
(the
Ostrogozhsk–Rossosh Offensive). The remnants were withdrawn from the front and allocated to occupation forces in the Ukraine and southern White Russia. In summer 1943, a wide-ranging re-organization of the army was introduced: the ''Szabolcs I'' plan. The hitherto light divisions were largely disbanded and in their place fully fledged infantry and reserve divisions were formed. Two corps with a total of nine security divisions remained in the Soviet Union, where they were increasingly drawn into the fight with the advancing
Red Army
The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian language, Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist R ...
.
1944
After the Hungarian government of
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 ...
had entered into negotiations with the Western Powers in summer 1943 over a separate peace agreement, Germano-Hungarian relations noticeably worsened. Hungary's refusal to provide troops for the occupation of the Balkans, as well as her demands, to pull occupation troops out of Ukraine and White Russia to defend the homeland, were viewed with suspicion by the Germans. In March 1944 the ''Wehrmacht'' occupied large parts of Hungary in
Operation Margarethe
Operation Margarethe (''Unternehmen Margarethe'') was the occupation of Hungary by German Nazi troops during World War II that was ordered by Adolf Hitler.
Course of events
Hungarian Prime Minister Miklós Kállay, who had been in office from ...
in order to prevent her from leaving the Axis alliance. The largely demobilised Hungarian army offered no resistance. The newly elected government under
Döme Sztójay
Döme Sztójay ( sr-cyr, Димитрије Стојаковић, 5 January 1883 – 22 August 1946) was a Hungarian soldier and diplomat of Serb origin, who served as Prime Minister of Hungary in 1944, during World War II.
Biography
Born i ...
declared itself ready to support the Germans with new deployments of troops.
In April the
1st Army First Army may refer to:
China
* New 1st Army, Republic of China
* First Field Army, a Communist Party of China unit in the Chinese Civil War
* 1st Group Army, People's Republic of China
Germany
* 1st Army (German Empire), a World War I field Arm ...
under
Géza Lakatos was sent to the front in
East Galicia, in order to prevent the Soviets seizing the Carpathian passes. With the help of a newly established line of defence it was able to hold here until July 1944, before it had to pull back into the Carpathians in the face of the
Lvov–Sandomierz Offensive.
At the end of August 1944, the 2nd and 3rd Armies were mobilised again, in order to defend Transylvania and South Hungary following Romania's change of sides. The 2nd Army was subordinated to Army Group Fretter-Pico. In the wake of the
Carpatho-Dukla Offensive and
Battle of Debrecen, the Hungarian-German armies were pushed back during September and October into the
Great Hungarian Plain
The Great Hungarian Plain (also known as Alföld or Great Alföld, hu, Alföld or ) is a plain occupying the majority of the modern territory of Hungary. It is the largest part of the wider Pannonian Plain. (However, the Great Hungarian plain ...
. During these battles, on 15 October, ''Reichsverweser'' Horthy was removed by the
SS after his unilateral agreement of a ceasefire with the Soviet Union during
Operation Panzerfaust, and the
Arrow Cross Party
The Arrow Cross Party ( hu, Nyilaskeresztes Párt – Hungarista Mozgalom, , abbreviated NYKP) was a far-right Hungarian ultranationalist party led by Ferenc Szálasi, which formed a government in Hungary they named the Government of National ...
under
Ferenc Szálasi
Ferenc Szálasi (; 6 January 1897 – 12 March 1946), the leader of the Arrow Cross Party – Hungarist Movement, became the "Leader of the Nation" (''Nemzetvezető'') as head of state and simultaneously prime minister of the Kingdom of Hunga ...
took over the government and control of the army. As a result, the commander of the 1st Army,
Béla Miklós, went over to the Soviet side and they installed him as head of an opposition government with its headquarters in Debrecen. Its Defence Minister was ex-Chief of the General Staff,
János Vörös, who had also defected to the Soviets.
A 102-day-long
Siege of Budapest by troops of the
2nd and
3rd Ukrainian Fronts began on 3 Nov 1944 and they invested the city until 26 December. Amongst the encircled troops who surrendered on 13 February 1945 that included Wehrmacht and SS units, was the Hungarian I Corps.
End of the war and war crime trials
The 2nd Hungarian Army was disbanded in December 1944 after suffering heavy losses and the remaining units absorbed into the 3rd Army. The 1st Army pulled back to the
Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia
The Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia; cs, Protektorát Čechy a Morava; its territory was called by the Nazis ("the rest of Czechia"). was a partially annexed territory of Nazi Germany established on 16 March 1939 following the German oc ...
after the fall of Budapest, where they surrendered in May 1945 to the
4th Ukrainian Front. The 3rd Army had taken part in March in the abortive
Plattensee Offensive, after which it was largely disbanded. The remnants gave themselves up in May to British and American forces in
Austria
Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...
.
Many Hungarian officers were sentenced and executed for war crimes, including
Ferenc Szombathelyi
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 W ...
,
József Grassy,
Ferenc Feketehalmy-Czeydner and
László Deák
László Deák (1 July 1891 – 5 November 1946) was a Hungarian army officer who served in World War I and World War II. He was accused and convicted of war crimes due to his involvement in the massacre of Serbian and Jewish civilians durin ...
in
Yugoslavia
Yugoslavia (; sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Jugoslavija, Југославија ; sl, Jugoslavija ; mk, Југославија ;; rup, Iugoslavia; hu, Jugoszlávia; rue, label= Pannonian Rusyn, Югославия, translit=Juhoslavij ...
for their part in the
massacre at Novi Sad, and
Károly Beregfy,
Döme Sztójay
Döme Sztójay ( sr-cyr, Димитрије Стојаковић, 5 January 1883 – 22 August 1946) was a Hungarian soldier and diplomat of Serb origin, who served as Prime Minister of Hungary in 1944, during World War II.
Biography
Born i ...
,
Gusztáv Jány and
Dezső László in Hungary.
Naval forces
In April 1919 the Hungarian government established the Naval Forces (''Hadihajós csapat'', literally "warship group") under the authority of the Defence Ministry for the purpose of patrolling the Danube. It was replaced on 1 March 1921 by the civilian Royal Hungarian River Guard (''Magyar Királyi Folyamőrség'') under the Interior Ministry. Between March 1927 and May 1930 it expanded to about 1700 personnel, a number that held until the end of World War II. On 15 January 1939 the River Guard was renamed the Royal Hungarian Army River Forces (''Magyar Királyi Honvéd Folyami Erők'') and placed under the Defence Ministry.
It used naval ranks until 1 July 1944, when it switched to army ranks. In April 1941 it took part in the
invasion of Yugoslavia
The invasion of Yugoslavia, also known as the April War or Operation 25, or ''Projekt 25'' was a German-led attack on the Kingdom of Yugoslavia by the Axis powers which began on 6 April 1941 during World War II. The order for the invasion was ...
. From April 1944 on its minesweepers assisted the ''
Kriegsmarine
The (, ) was the navy of Germany from 1935 to 1945. It superseded the Imperial German Navy of the German Empire (1871–1918) and the inter-war (1919–1935) of the Weimar Republic. The was one of three official branches, along with the a ...
'' (German navy) in clearing the Danube of aerial mines.
[Thomas and Szabo (2008), p. 9.]
;Order of battle (1 April 1940)
*Patrol Boat Regiment (Budapest)
**I Group
**II Group
*River Security Regiment (
Újvidék (Novi Sad) after April 1941)
**1 Battalion
**2 Battalion
**3 Battalion
;Commanders
*Olaf Richárd Wulff (10 March 1920 – 30 April 1933)
*Ferenc Galántai Hild (1 May 1933 – 30 April 1934)
*Richárd Dietrich (1 May 1934 – 30 April 1938)
*Ármin Bauszern (1 May 1940 – 30 April 1942)
*Captain Guidó Tasnády (1 May 1940 – 30 April 1942)
*Vice-Admiral (Lieutenant-General) Kálmán Hardy (1 May 1942 – 15 October 1944)
*Major-General (Rear-Admiral) Ödön Trunkwalter (16 October 1944 – 8 May 1945)
Chiefs of the General Staff
*
Viktor Lorx (1922)
*
Kocsárd Janky (1922–30)
*
Vilmos Rőder (1930–35)
*
József Somkuthy (1935–36)
*
Jenő Rátz
Vitéz Jenő Rátz de Nagylak (20 September 1882 – 21 January 1952) was a Hungarian military officer and politician, who served as Minister of Defence in 1938.
He fought in the First World War. During the Hungarian Soviet Republic he served ...
(1936–38)
*
Lajos Keresztes-Fischer (1938)
*
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 ...
(1938–41)
*
Ferenc Szombathelyi
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 W ...
(1941–44)
*
János Vörös (1944)
*
Károly Beregfy (1944–45)
Commanders-in-Chief
*
Pál Nagy (1922–25)
*
Kocsárd Janky (1925–30)
*
Kamilló Kárpáthy (1930–35)
*
István Shvoy (1935–36)
*
Hugó Sónyi (1936–40)
See also
*
Hungary in World War II
During World War II, the Kingdom of Hungary was a member of the Axis powers.[First Army (Hungary)
The Hungarian First Army was a field army of the Royal Hungarian Army that saw action during World War II.
Commanders
* Lieutenant-General Vilmos Nagy - March 1, 1940 – February 1, 1941
* Lieutenant-General István Schweitzer - February 1, ...](_blank)
*
Second Army (Hungary)
*
Third Army (Hungary)
*
Waffen-SS foreign volunteers and conscripts#List by nation and unit
References
Literature
* Nigel Thomas, László Pál Szabó: ''The Royal Hungarian Army in World War II'', Osprey Publishing, 2008. .
* Sándor Szakály: ''Honvédség és tisztikar 1919–1947'', ISTER Kiadó, Budapest, 2002. .
{{Authority control
Military history of Hungary
Hungary in World War II
Disbanded armies
1919 establishments in Hungary
1945 disestablishments in Hungary
Military units and formations established in 1919
Military units and formations disestablished in 1945
Military units and formations of Hungary in World War II