The German invasion of Hungary occured in March 1944.
What?
I thought Hungary and Germany were allies.
Well, they were and Hungary participated in the invasion of the USSR.
However, things changed.
During two operations the Germans seized control of the country: Operation Margarethe
and Operation Panzerfaust.
In this video more on the German invasion of Hungary.
The Kingdom of Hungary was the fourth state to sign the Triparte pact on
27 September 1940.
By that time two Vienna Awards had taken place in which Hungary recovered a big chuck of
the territories the country lost after WW1.
Hungary did take part on the Axis invasion of Yugoslavia which commenced on 6 April 1941.
Hungary occupied the Bácska and Baranya regions.
Op 22 June 1941 the Germans invaded the USSR.
Germany did let Hungary know that Hungarian assistance was welcome. The Hungarian air force
directed an attack against the Galician town of Stanislau early morning June 27.
Ground troops crossed the border at Volóc (Volovets) in the afternoon as fire-fights
with Soviet border guards had already taken place in the morning.
And so, Hungary had joined Hitler's crusade.
If you want to have a more detailled look at why Hungary joined the Axis
and why the joined Hitler’s invasion of the USSR, I have more videos on that:
see links in the description and pinned comment.
In January 1943 the Don Distaster took place.
On the Don Front the Hungarian Second Army was annihilated by the Soviet forces.
About 50,000 Hungarian soldiers were killed or froze to death; 70,000 were POWed or became
MIA.
The Second Army lost 80% of its equipment.
It was one of the worst disasters in modern Hungarian history.
To some factions in the Hungarian government it was obvious that Hungary had to contact
the Allies to withdraw from the German allience.
The majority believed the Don Disaster was the fault of the Germans and that the Hungarian
forces were used as cannon fodder to cover the German retreat.
Thus the remaining Hungarian troops should be brought home at once!
Miklós Kállay (Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Hungary) was stirred to action to contact
the Allies and see if a settlement could've been made.
This wasn't easy since Hungary had no government in exile and no official access
to the Allied Powers.
Contacts had to be made through neutral countries, but neither Great Britain nor
the US seemed receptive.
On 11 April 1943 Regent Milkos Horthy visited Adolf Hitler.
Horthy was worn down, because of the loss of his son, István Horthy who died in a plane
crash in August 1942.
Hitler gave him a one-hour monologue.
Hitler claimed the Hungarian soldiers had fought bad!
And their morale was bad!
And their leadership was bad!
And the Hungarian government was bad.
Horthy did didn't stand up to Hitler but remained his dignity stating that he would leave the
performance of the Hungarian army for future historians to determin, observing that the
army did lose 146,000 regular soldiers, 36,000 labour servicemen, and all its equipment and
had therefore surely not disgraced itself.
Hitler then proceded to berate Horthy about his leniant treatment of the Hungarian Jews.
As time progressed the relations with Germany deteriorated.
Especially since the Germans were aware of Hungary's attempts to contact Allies.
When Italy surrendered in the fall of 1943 Hitler decided to prepare for eventual other
so-called betrayal.
A plan was drafted for a possible occupation of first Hungary and then Romania.
The plan was the Hungarian invasion was code-named Margarethe I.
According to the plan both Slovak and Romanian troops had to take part in it.
Early 1944 the Red Army made rapid advances in Ukraine.
When the Soviets would reach Hungarian borders, the Hungarians may well defect.
Hungarian Chief of General Staff Ferenc Szombathelyi requested for the return of the Hungarian
troops on the Eastern Front, but was once again met with a firm 'no'.
When Hitler exactly made his decision to execute Margarethe I is difficult to determine.
The plans changed several times.
It also had to do with deceiving information from the Allies that a future landing would
take place in the Balkans.
For Hitler the question was not to occupy Hungary but how to occupy Hungary.
Would Hitler allow Romanian, Slovak and Croat troops to take part in the invasion and dismemberment
of the kingdom?
Wilhelm Höttl, head of the German secret service in Hungary recommended a political
solution wíth military force.
Therefore they had to draw Horthy away from his post.
Early March German troops amassed near Hungary's borders.
Horthy was then invited to meet Hitler at Klessheim Castle, in Salzburg, Austria.
Prime minister Kállay urged him not to go, but Horthy went anyway.
On 18 March Horthy met Hitler, Ribbentrop and Keitel.
Hitler announced that he was going to occupy Hungary.
Horthy was furious and later claimed that íf he had his revolver with him, he would've
shot Hitler right there on the spot.
Horthy eventually left by train but the Germans on purpose delayed his train.
Because of this Prime minister Kállay received no instructions of what to do when Germans
would cross the border which happened on Sunday morning, 19 March 1944.
Germans crossed the border in trains, tanks and armored cars.
They were ordered to act in a restrained manner but crush any eventual resistance.
The Hungarian army reported that only forces in the Carpathians were ready for action.
Kállay called in army commanders who were in Budapest.
Some argued resistance was futile.
Others were willing to resist but didn't want to carry out others in the absense
of the regent.
Meanwhile Kallay's son sat at the telephone all night calling individuals for the upcoming
danger: left-wing politicians; pro-English politicians as well as Jewish representatives.
As German troops appeared in the country, the military was confused.
Here were their allies... invading them.
The confusing is expressed by one of the cadets of
a military academy:
In German military reports there is hardly any word about Hungarian opposition.
When visiting the Museum of Military History (Hadtorteneti Muzeum) in this city I did learn
some Hungarian units fought against the Germans, but that was because they weren’t informed
to stand down.
In the literature I read that at several border locations and airports there was firing on
German troops and at Bicske railroad workers tried to oppose them.
That's all I could find.
If you have any additional information on this, feel free to share it.
So in most places the Hungarian army didn't resist.
According to a German report in some places there were received ceremonially.
The German occupation troops took the Hungarians by surprise.
They entered the country as if on parade.
Some were not surprised since they had seen German troops before.
By the afternoon Germans were siting on café terraces.
An Hungarian student recalled:
For three days the Hungarian press made no mention of the German occupation.
The word also got out hardly, since Germany dominated the surrounding countries.
That meant that Hungary was sealed off the outiside world.
Yet, in the previous days the Germans arrested prominent Hungarians they deemed a threat. Horthy remained as a regent and this decision has been intensely debated ever since.
Horthy remained to keep the country together: he wanted Hungary to have a powerful army
áfter the war, so there wouldn't be any chaos like there was after the First World War.
Yet, with Horthy remaining as regent the Allied powers saw Hungary not as an occupied country,
but as a Nazi vassal state.
A Nazi vassal state Hungary was not...
YET.
Did you know there also existed a plan to invade Romania: Operation Margarethe II.
This plan was never carried out.
Romania successfully switched sides to the Allies.
Hungary however was not that fortunate.
Eventually Horthy would find his demise.
He continued to contact the Allies.
The Germans then organized a take-over: Operation Panzerfaust (carried out by Otto Skorzeny).
That is something for another video.