If you've been following this channel you know that I'm all about niche historical
topics. I got another one for you: how about the Hungarian invasion of Yugoslavia in April 1941.
Exactly, because in April 1941 the German-ed Axis powers invaded the kingdom of
Yugoslavia and toppled it within 12 days and the Hungarians did participate in this
invasion, albeit on a small scale. This here is a forgotten part of an already not very
well-known invasion. In this video I'm gonna cover the Hungarian invasion of Yugoslavia, keep watching!
A sore point in Hungarian history, perhaps the sorest point in Hungarian history, is the infamous
Treaty of Trianon which was drafted in 1920. Versailles was for Germany and the Treaty of Trianon
was for Hungary after WW1 was over. Hungary was in a dual monarchy with Austria,
the Austro-Hungarian Empire, which had collapsed towards the end of WW1 and Hungary
that was a medium-sized state before was now reduced to a landlocked smaller nation and this
did not sit well with the Hungarian politicians and one of their main aims in the interwar era
was the revision of the old borders; now this was not easy as France backed the so-called Little
Entente, which consisted of Czechoslovakia, Romania, and the Kingdom of Yugoslavia in order to keep
Hungary in check. Hungary strengthened its ties with Germany and when Hitler rose to power the
road to revision seemed to be open. “[Hungarian Prime-minster] Pál Teleki’s foreign policy following the
outbreak of the war was guided by two basic principles: abstention from the armed conflict of the Great
Powers (armed neutrality) and fulfillment of the revisionist policy.” Nazi Germany and Hungary
had their differences. See, where Nazi Germany wanted to gain its former territory back and
expand Hungary only wanted to redraw the map to the old borders from before Trianon. Hitler
made clear to Hungary that 100 per cent revision was simply not realistic. Things changed in the second half of
the 1930s when Germany was overturning the status quo: with the First and Second Vienna Award in 1938
and 1940 where Hungary received a part of Southern Czechoslovakia and Northern Transylvania from
Romania. Hungary signed a German-Italian-Japanese Tripartite Pact on the 20th of November 1940.
Near the end of 1940 the Yugoslav-Hungarian Treaty of Eternal friendship was signed in Belgrade; it
would spare neither one of them. Hitler decided to invade Yugoslavia and demanded Hungary to
join... well so much for the 'eternal friendship' part. Now if Hungary would join the invasion
it would lose the goodwill of the west... but if it refused it would be vulnerable for a German
attack. A grave dilemma and on the 3rd of April Hungarian prime minister Pál Teleki shot himself.
After this the Hungarians accepted all Germany's requests for using their territory as a staging
area but participating in the invasion itself the Hungarians were reluctant. Why? I hope you enjoyed
the video so far. I like making stuff like this but YouTube itself... well not really. Topics like
this won't get that many views, but the point is: I make a part-time income via YouTube, but yeah with
videos like this I won't get that much. Personally I don't care because I love making videos like
this but I also, you know, need to earn a living. So if you can support me, please do so. You can do that
via Patreon, via PayPal, or via a Super Thanks. You can all find the information below the video and
to all those who already donated, thank you so much! Let's continue with the episode. Well like
I said: the Hungarians wanted to stay out of a big war. So if they would participate in the invasion
they wanted to be sure it would be a victory. Hungarian prime minister Bárdossy, he said: look,
we're gonna help with the invasion but only if the Yugoslav Kingdom disintegrates and Croatia
secedes. On the 10th of April the independent state of Croatia was proclaimed and this was
the green light for the Hungarian participation in the Axis invasion of Yugoslavia. I read the
Yugoslav Air Force without a declaration of war bombarded Hungarian targets that
day. Radio Budapest broadcasted the order of Regent Miklos Horthy to take back the Hungarian populated
territories. “Late that evening at a meeting of the council of ministers, a long, carefully worded
proclamation was drawn up, signed by Horthy and Bárdossy, stating that Hungary must protect the
Hungarian population broken off from Hungary in 1918 and secure their safety. Bárdossy hoped that
the wording of the proclamation would win the understanding of the Allies.” Whether this or
Pál Teleki's suicide did the trick... Britain did not declare war on Hungary. On the 11th
of April the men of the Hungarian Third Army were crossing the Yugoslav frontier north of Osijek and
near Subotica into Vojvodina. On the next day the Hungarians pursued the retreating Yugoslav First
Army and occupied the area between the Danube and Tisza Rivers meeting virtually no resistance. On the
12th of April the Hungarian First Parachute Battalion captured canal bridges at Vrbas
and Srbobran. Meanwhile Sombor was captured against the determined Chetnik resistance and Subotica was
also captured. Now do notice that when I say Chetniks a lot of people think about the Chetniks
led by Draža Mihailović during the WW2, first and a resistance organization and
later as collaborators (a complicated story, I covered that in another video). Now do notice
that there also existed Chetnik units within the Royal Yugoslav Army and the Hungarians were beset
by prejudices against the Serbian population. As a leaflet that was handed out to Hungarian
forces read the following: “As it is known, the Serbs throughout their history have been a
conspiratorial people, prone to rebellion, violence, even bloody solutions. […] [T]he Serb is a typical
conspirator with an inclination to organize secret organizations and terrorist associations.” In
Zombor (Sombor) and Szabadka (Subotica) Hungarian forces were ambushed by Chetnik units which killed several of them
and left several wounded. Hungarian Lieutenant-General Elemér Gorondy-Novák issued the order
that people caught with weapons or munition were immediately shot dead. Killings occurred even after
the armistice. The most infamous one was the one that occurred in January 1942 which was known as
the Novi Sad raid or the Novi Sad Massacre and this statue right here is dedicated to the
victims of this Hungarian perpetrated massacre. On the 13th of April Novi Sad was captured.
The Hungarian forces also took Prekmurje (Slovenia) and Medjimurje (Croatia). On the 17th
the Yugoslavs signed the armistice. German General von Weichs signed on behalf of the Germans and the
Italian military attache in Belgrade signed on behalf of the Italians; interesting enough
the Hungarians did not sign the armistice as they were like technically not at war with Yugoslavia.
The following day the terms of the armistice came into effect; the campaign had lasted just 12 days.
“According to Yugoslav sources, the military invasion claimed 3,506 civic victims within a matter of a few days, while Hungarian sources mention 1,122 dead, […].
The Hungarian army suffered 126 dead and 241 wounded in the course of the invasion. Approximately 15,000 Yugoslav soldiers became Hungarian prisoners of war;
however, they were released soon after or turned over to German or Croatian authorities.”
And where the Hungarian invasion ended, the Hungarian ccupation began. More on that in another video.