The Battle of Păuliș took place in September 1944 in

Arad County Arad County () is an administrative division ( județ) of Romania roughly translated into county in the western part of the country on the border with Hungary, mostly in the region of Crișana and few villages in Banat. The administrative cente ...

, western

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

as part of the wider Battle of Romania of

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

. It was fought between Hungarian and

Romanian Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania **Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language ***Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language **Romanian cuisine, traditional ...

troops, after the

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had put Romania on the side of the

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. The Romanians fought off persistent and heavy Hungarian attacks for 4 days. With the arrival of Soviet reinforcements they counter-attacked and pushed the Hungarians back to their original positions.

Background

Advancing on the northern bank of the

Mureș River Mureș may refer to: * Mureș County, Romania * Mureș (river) in Romania and Hungary (''Maros'') * Mureș culture, a Bronze Age culture from Romania See also * Târgu Mureș, the capital of Mureș County * Ocna Mureș, a town in Alba Cou ...

in the direction Sâmbăteni– Miniș, concomitantly with an enveloping maneuver of the right flank of the Romanian troops, the Hungarian 1st Armored and 6th Reserve Infantry Divisions made contact with the "Păuliș" Detachment west of the village of

Păuliș Păuliș () is a commune in Arad County, Romania, It is composed of four villages: Barațca (''Pálosbaracka''), Cladova (''Kalodva''), Păuliș, and Sâmbăteni (''Szabadhely''). Geography The commune lies on the banks of the Mureș River and i ...

(Ópálos) on 14September. The "Păuliș" Detachment included three battalions of cadets from the Reserve Infantry NCOs School of Radna, present-day Lipova (Lippa), Romania.

Initial clashes

The first assault by the Hungarian troops, carried out with two infantry battalions supported by tanks, was repulsed by the 2nd and 6th Companies of cadets. Five more attacks were subsequently carried out against the Romanian defenders, but by nightfall the Romanian units were firmly holding their positions. The Hungarians lost 18 tanks and 3 armored vehicles, all destroyed by the 4 anti-tank guns of the "Păuliș" Detachment. The following day the Hungarians concentrated their attack on the 1st Battalion of the 96th Infantry Regiment, at Hill 471. After a strong artillery preparation the Hungarians forced the Romanian troops to fall back on successive lines of defense, being stopped in the Cladova Valley only after they seized the villages of Cuvin and

Ghioroc Ghioroc () is a commune in Arad County, Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia t ...

. On the morning of 16 September, a surprise Romanian counterattack, without artillery preparation and carried out by the 5th Company of cadets, managed to destroy a large part of the Hungarian force which had broken through the defense perimeter the previous day.

Climax

The climax of battle was reached on 17September, when the Hungarian command committed all available forces in the attack. After a 45-minute artillery preparation, the Hungarians managed to breach the Romanian lines south-east of Miniș, where they clashed with the 3rd Company of cadets at Hill 365. The attempt to overrun the Romanian unit failed. On the 19September, reinforced by Soviet units of the

53rd Army The 53rd Army was a field army of the Soviet Union's Red Army which was formed in August 1941, disbanded in December 1941, and reformed in May 1942. It fought throughout World War II before again being disbanded after the war in October 1945. Th ...

which included tanks and

mechanised infantry Mechanized infantry are infantry units equipped with Armoured personnel carrier, armored personnel carriers (APCs) or infantry fighting vehicles (IFVs) for transport and combat (see also armoured corps). As defined by the United States Army, me ...

, the entire "Păuliș" Detachment attacked the Hungarian lines, and by the evening had recaptured their initial positions.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Paulis, Battle of Battles and operations of the Soviet–German War Battles of World War II involving Hungary Battles of World War II involving Romania Conflicts in 1944 September 1944 in Europe Hungary–Romania military relations