Royal Hungarian Army
Hungarian National Army Magyar Nemzeti Hadsereg | |
---|---|
Type | Army |
Size | 115,447 (1920)[4] 35,000 (1921)[4] 57,648 (1930)[4] 85,332 (1937)[4] 1,000,000 (1944)[4] |
Garrison/HQ | Budapest |
Nickname(s) | MKH |
Motto(s) | Királyért és hazáért[5] "For King and Country" |
Anniversaries | 28 June[6] |
Engagements | Subcarpathia Slovak–Hungarian War World War II |
Commanders | |
Supreme Warlord | Miklós Horthy (1919–44) Ferenc Szálasi[7] (1944–45) |
Commander-in-Chief | Pál Nagy (1922–25) Hugó Sónyi (1936–40) |
Chief of the General Staff | Viktor Lorx (1922) Károly Beregfy (1944–45) |
Notable commanders | Károly Beregfy Lajos Csatay Elemér Gorondy-Novák Gusztáv Jány Géza Lakatos Dezső László Béla Miklós Vilmos Nagy Lajos Veress |
Insignia | |
Insignia (1942–1945)[8] | |
War Flag (1919–1939)[9] | |
War Flag (1939–1945)[10] |
The Royal Hungarian Army (Hungarian: Magyar Királyi Honvédség, German: Königlich Ungarische Armee) was the name given to the land forces of the Kingdom of Hungary in the period from 1922 to 1945.[11][12][13] 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 to 35,000 men, the army was steadily upgraded during the 1930s and fought on the side of the Axis powers in the Second World War.
History
Background
As a vanquished power in the
In July 1919 the former Commander-in-Chief of the
The
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 (Hungarian: 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,
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 (Hungarian: 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 (Hungarian: Folyamőrség) who monitored traffic on the River Danube 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 (Hungarian: 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 signed a treaty of friendship with Fascist Italy which was intended to form a counterweight to the encirclement of Hungary by the powers of the Little Entente. 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, 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
Expansion and territorial changes from 1938
On 5 March 1938, Prime Minister
In November 1938 after the
That year
In March 1940, three field army commands were formed, each of three corps, together with the
Northern Transylvania, 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.
Although minister president,
.Operation Barbarossa
Unlike their enemy, Romania, Germany did not envisage Hungary participating in
On 1 July the so-called Carpathian Group (
1942–43
On 7 Dec 1941, the
In Jan 1943, the 2nd Army was shattered by a major attack on the
1944
After the Hungarian government of
In April the
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
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
Many Hungarian officers were sentenced and executed for war crimes, including
in Hungary.Royal Hungarian River Guard Magyar Királyi Folyamőrség[14] (1921–1939) Royal Hungarian Army River Forces Magyar Királyi Honvéd Folyami Erők[15] (1939–1945) | |
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Active | 1 March 1921[14] – 8 May 1945[16] |
Country | Kingdom of Hungary |
Type | Navy |
Size | c. 1700 personnel[17] |
Garrison/HQ | Budapest |
Engagements | World War II |
Commanders | |
Commander[18] | Olaf Richárd Wulff (first) (1921–1933) Ödön Trunkwalter (last) (1944–1945) |
Insignia | |
Naval Ensign (1921–1939)[19] | |
Naval Ensign (1939–1945)[20] |
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.[15] 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. From April 1944 on its minesweepers assisted the Kriegsmarine (German navy) in clearing the Danube of aerial mines.[21]
- 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[18]
- 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 (1936–38)
- Lajos Keresztes-Fischer (1938)
- Henrik Werth (1938–41)
- Ferenc Szombathelyi (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
- First Army (Hungary)
- Royal Hungarian Air Force
- Royal Hungarian Gendarmerie
- Second Army (Hungary)
- Third Army (Hungary)
- Waffen-SS foreign volunteers and conscripts#List by nation and unit
References
- ^ ISBN 9633272254.
- ^ "46154/eln. B. 1920. számú körrendelet. A honvédelmi minister és az alája rendelt összes hatóságok, hivatalok, alakulatok, csapatok, stb. "m. kir." címzéssel való ellátása". Rendeleti Közlöny a Magyar Királyi Nemzeti Hadsereg számára: Szabályrendeletek. 47 (16): 65. 3 April 1920.
- ^ "239/eln. 15. 1922. számú körrendelet. "M. hir. honvédség" elnevezés használatbavétele". Rendeleti Közlöny a Magyar Királyi Honvédség számára: Szabályrendeletek. 49 (2): 13. 22 January 1922.
- ^ ISBN 9638582758.
- ISBN 9639015040.
- ^ "17.733/Elnöki oszt. – 1940. számú körrendelet. Honvédnap rendszeresítése". Honvédségi Közlöny. 67 (8): 120–121. 15 April 1940.
- ISBN 9781846033247.
- ^ "18.535/eln. 3. b. – 1942. számú körrendelet. Páncéljárművek új felség- és ismertetőjelei". Honvédségi Közlöny. 69 (53): 613. 1 December 1942.
- ^ "1921. évi XLIX. törvénycikk a m. kir. honvédségről". 1000 év törvényei. CompLex Kiadó.
- ^ "45000/Elnökség A. – 1938. számú körrendelet. M. kir. honvéd csapatzászlók, m. kir. honvéd lobogók és a nemzeti lobogó rendszeresítése". Honvédségi Közlöny. 65 (32): 317–318. 15 December 1938.
- ISBN 1-891227-19-X
- ISBN 978-1-84603-324-7.
- ^ The Royal Hungarian Army, 1920-1945, Volume II, Hungarian Mobile Forces, by Dr. Peter Mujzer
- ^ ISBN 9789633274880.
- ^ ISBN 9633271533.
- ISBN 9633271533.
- ISBN 9789633274880.
- ^ ISBN 9789633274880.
- ^ "Nemzeti lobogó és árbocjelvények". Szolgálati utasítás a m. kir. folyamőrség számára: szolgálat az úszóegységekben. Budapest: Centrum Kiadóvállalat. 1931. pp. 6–7.
- ^ "100/Elnökség A. – 1939. számú körrendelet. A m. kir. honvéd folyamerők lobogóinak és jelvényeinek rendszeresítése". Honvédségi Közlöny. 66 (4): 11. 16 January 1939.
- ^ Thomas and Szabo (2008), p. 9.
Literature
- Nigel Thomas, László Pál Szabó: The Royal Hungarian Army in World War II, Osprey Publishing, 2008. ISBN 978-1-84603324-7.
- Sándor Szakály: Honvédség és tisztikar 1919–1947, ISTER Kiadó, Budapest, 2002. ISBN 963-9-243671.