Armed forces of the Warsaw Pact countries. Hungarian People's Army

05.01.2024 | Paintings by artists

It is believed that two thirds of the million Hungarian soldiers who died in the two world wars are buried outside Hungary. Most of them lie in Russian soil, in the bend of the Don.The defeat of the 200,000-strong 2nd Hungarian Army near Voronezh in the winter of 1943 became the largest military defeat in the thousand-year history of this state.

Hungary's entry into the war against the USSR

After the collapse of Austria-Hungary and the signing of the Treaty of Trianon in 1920, the Kingdom of Hungary lost 2/3 of its territory and 60% of its population. From March 1920 to October 1944, the official head of the Hungarian state (regent) was Miklós Horthy, and his foreign policy was consistently aimed at regaining the "lost lands". Two Vienna arbitrations made it possible to partially achieve this goal: Hungary received part of the Czechoslovak and Romanian lands. This was possible only thanks to the help of the Axis countries, Germany and Italy. Now Hungary became their satellite and was forced to follow in the wake of German policy. 20 November
In 1940, Hungary joined the Berlin (Tripartite) Pact.

Seeing off Hungarian soldiers to the front at the railway station in Budapest

After the German attack on the USSR and the bombing of the Hungarian city of Kosice by unidentified aircraft, Hungary declared war on the Soviet Union on June 27, 1941. Counting on a quick victory for Germany, the Hungarian leadership, in exchange for military assistance, hoped for territorial acquisitions at the expense of other countries - primarily Romania. In order not to aggravate relations with other satellites of the Third Reich, Hungary officially declared the goal of the war to be a campaign against Bolshevism.

German historian Kurt Tippelskirch, in his article "The German Offensive on the Soviet Union", describes Hitler's attitude towards Hungary as follows:

“Hitler had little sympathy for the small Danube state. The political claims of Hungary seemed exaggerated to him, and he considered the social structure of this country to be outdated. On the other hand, he did not want to refuse military assistance to Hungary. Without devoting her to his political plans, he insisted on the expansion and motorization of the Hungarian army, which was liberated from the shackles of Trianon much more slowly than the German armed forces from the shackles of the Treaty of Versailles. Only in April did Hitler inform Hungary of his political plans. She agreed to allocate
15 divisions, of which, however, only a small part was combat-ready.”

The German command decided to use the Hungarian army as part of its Army Group South. The Hungarian formation was called the “Carpathian Group”, its core was a mobile corps, which included the 1st and 2nd cavalry, as well as the 1st and 2nd motorized brigades. The “Carpathian Group” also included the 8th Army Corps, which united the 1st Mountain and 8th Border Brigades. The total number of ground troops of the group was 44,400 people. From the air, the Hungarian formations were supposed to be covered by the 1st Aviation Field Brigade.

Soviet medium tank T-28 captured by the Hungarians

According to the memoirs of General Staff Captain Ernő Shimonffy-Toth, before the start of hostilities at the Carpathian Tatar Pass, Chief of the General Staff Lieutenant General Szombathelyi “he looked at us and said with sadness on his face: “What will come of this, Lord, what will come of this? And did we have to get involved in this stupidity? This is a disaster, we are rushing towards our destruction.".

After the first battles against the Soviet troops, the infantry units of the 8th Army Corps of the “Carpathian Group” suffered heavy losses and were left in Galicia as occupation forces. On July 9, the “Carpathian Group” was disbanded, and its mobile corps was reassigned to the German 17th Army. It was used by the German command to pursue retreating Soviet troops, as well as in the Uman operation. By the fall of 1941, the mobile corps had lost almost all its armored vehicles and a significant part of its personnel, was recalled to Hungary and disbanded. Of the Hungarian units on the territory of the USSR, by the beginning of 1942, there were six security infantry divisions deployed in the rear of Army Group South and performing occupation functions.

2nd Hungarian Army

The failure of the Blitzkrieg and the heavy losses suffered by the German army on the Eastern Front in 1941 led to the fact that Hitler and the German military elite were forced to demand that their allies and satellites send new large military formations. German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop and Field Marshal Wilhelm Keitel arrived in Budapest in January 1942 for negotiations, after which Miklos Horthy assured Hitler that Hungarian troops would take part in the Wehrmacht's spring military operations.

Another trophy - a pedestal quad installation of Maxim machine guns

This was to be done by the 2nd Hungarian Army, which was based on the 3rd, 4th and 7th Army Corps. In addition, the 1st Armored Brigade, as well as several artillery battalions and an air group, were subordinate to the army headquarters. The total number of these formations was 206,000 people. The new army also included the so-called “worker battalions”, which, according to various sources, contained from 24,000 to 35,000 people. They had no weapons, a significant part of them were driven into forced labor. For the most part, the “worker battalions” consisted of Jews, as well as representatives of other national minorities: Gypsies, Yugoslavs, etc. Among them were also “politically unreliable” Hungarians - mainly members of various left-wing parties and movements. Colonel General Gustav Jani became the commander of the 2nd Army.

Hungarian Prime Minister Miklos Kallai, escorting one of the units of the 2nd Army to the front, said in his speech:

“Our land must be protected where it is best to defeat the enemy. By pursuing him, you will protect the lives of your parents, your children and secure the future of your fellow humans.”

To boost the morale of newly recruited military personnel, the Hungarian government has announced a number of special benefits for them and their families. However, this caused little enthusiasm: the Honvedians already saw that hopes for a blitzkrieg and a carefree stroll through the Russian expanses had not come true and difficult, exhausting battles awaited them.

Hungarian cavalry on the street of one of the captured Soviet cities

Almost all the armored units remaining in Hungary were sent to the 2nd Army - they were consolidated into the 1st Armored Brigade. In the same way, they tried to equip the army with vehicles as much as possible, but it was still lacking. There was also a lack of anti-tank artillery, and although Germany promised to provide assistance, this was never done in full: the Hungarians received only a few dozen outdated 50-mm Pak 38 anti-tank guns.

The 3rd Army Corps was the first to arrive at the front in April 1942, and the formation of the remaining units of the army was delayed. On June 28, 1942, the offensive of the German Army Group Weichs began: striking at the junction of the 40th and 13th Armies of the Bryansk Front, the Germans broke through the Soviet defenses. The German command set the Hungarian units the task of crossing the Tim River and on the same day capturing the city of the same name. This direction was defended by the Soviet 160th and 212th rifle divisions, which put up stubborn resistance and left Tim only on July 2 after it was encircled. In these battles, the Hungarian 7th and 9th light infantry divisions suffered heavy losses.

Hungarian soldiers in Stary Oskol, September 1942

Subsequently, the 3rd Corps began pursuing Soviet troops, occasionally engaging in battles with their rearguards. He was then included in the 2nd Hungarian Army, the remaining units of which arrived at the front only at the end of July and were ordered to take forward positions along the western bank of the Don south of Voronezh. The Chief of the Hungarian General Staff, Colonel General Ferenc Szombathelyi, visited army units in September 1942 and left the following note about it:

“The most amazing thing was that individual formations of our troops fell into complete lethargy; they did not follow their commanders, but left them in the lurch, throwing away their weapons and their uniforms so as not to be recognized by the Russians. They were hesitant to use their heavy weapons, not wanting to provoke the Russians into returning fire. They did not rise when it was necessary to go on the attack, they did not send out patrols, and there was no artillery or aviation preparation. These messages show that the Hungarian soldier is in a severe mental crisis..."

The German command did not have much hope for the fighting qualities of the troops of its satellites, but considered it quite possible for them to maintain a passive defense behind the water barrier. But, before starting to build a defensive line, the Hungarians had to eliminate the Soviet bridgeheads on the west bank, formed as a result of the withdrawal of the bulk of the troops. Having achieved, at the cost of high losses, the elimination of one of them in the Korotoyak area, the Hungarian units were never able to completely dislodge Soviet troops from the other two, Storozhevsky and Shchuchensky, from which the offensive of the Voronezh Front subsequently began. In total, in the summer-autumn battles, according to the modern Hungarian historian Peter Szabó, the losses of the Honvedians of the 2nd Army amounted to up to 27,000 people. At the end of December 1942, the 2nd Army finally switched to defensive actions.

Ostrogozh-Rossoshan operation of the Voronezh Front

After the encirclement of the German 6th Army in Stalingrad, the Soviet command developed an offensive plan on a broad front. One of its stages was the Ostrogozh-Rossoshan offensive operation of the troops of the Voronezh Front, the purpose of which was to encircle and destroy the Ostrogozh-Rossoshan enemy group, the main force of which was the 2nd Hungarian Army. The idea of the operation was to strike in three areas, far apart from one another: the 40th Army was to attack from the Storozhevsky bridgehead towards the 3rd Tank Army, advancing from the area north of Kantemirovka, and the 18th Rifle Corps, operating from the Shchuchensky bridgehead , delivered a cutting blow.

The offensive of the 40th Army, planned for January 14, 1943, began a day earlier, which was a consequence of the success of the reconnaissance in force carried out on January 12, which revealed the weakness of the Hungarian defense. At dawn on January 13, the troops of the first echelon of the 40th Army, after powerful artillery bombardment, went on the offensive from the Storozhevsky bridgehead. By the end of the day, the main defense line of the 7th Hungarian Infantry Division had been broken through on a 10-kilometer front.

Without coordination with the allies, nowhere. Conversation between Hungarian and German officers

As a result of three-day battles on January 13–15, units of the 40th Army broke through the positions of the 2nd Hungarian Army, overcoming the first and second lines of its defense. The offensive of the 18th Rifle Corps and the 3rd Tank Army also developed successfully, resulting in the encirclement and division of enemy groups into three parts over January 16–19. The final liquidation of the dissected units of the Ostrogozh-Rossoshan enemy group was carried out in the period from January 19 to 27.

This is how senior lieutenant of the 23rd Hungarian Light Infantry Division Tibor Selepcini describes the events of January 16:

“...The intense Russian artillery and mortar shelling lasted for two hours. We are on the defensive. We detain the scuttlers and return them to their positions. At 12 o’clock strong barrage fire from “Stalin’s organs” and mortars fell on us, then our defenses were broken through. There are many wounded and some killed. The Russians are storming the heights. The weapon fails, unable to withstand Russian frosts. The jammed machine guns fell silent, as did the mortars. There is no artillery support. He led the ski company into a counterattack, we stormed the heights and consolidated our position. But the Russians are pressing, and more and more soldiers are rushing back. At 12:30 the Russians crush us. Again losses. Only 10–15 minutes had height. The Russians go to the rear of the neighboring company. Manages to carry out the wounded. But it was not possible to bear 10–15 dead. At 13 o'clock the Russians are pushing again... Our desperate assault is fruitless... There is no artillery fire support. Even my machine gun bursts into the crowd are not able to stop the flight..."

In just a few days, the 2nd Hungarian Army was completely defeated. Colonel General Gustav Jani, who commanded it, ordered "stand until the last man", but at the same time appealed to the German command with requests to allow withdrawal, pointing out that “commanders and soldiers hold out to the end, but without immediate and effective help, the divisions will be scattered and crushed one after another”.

Soldiers of the 2nd Hungarian Army and snowy Russian expanses

In reality, the retreat was already in full swing, rapidly turning into the flight of disorganized and demoralized people. The order to retreat was received from the Germans only on January 17, but by that time the front had collapsed. Hungarian Colonel General Lajos Veres Dalnoki wrote about these days:

“The horror we saw was even worse than Napoleonic retreat. Frozen corpses lay on the streets of the villages, sleighs and shot cars blocked the road. Among the shot German anti-tank guns, cars and trucks lay the corpses of horses; abandoned ammunition and the remains of human bodies indicated the path of retreat. The soldiers, deprived of clothes and shoes, looked reproachfully at the sky, and, in addition, hundreds of crows were circling in the whistling cold wind, awaiting a feast. This is the horror of the living. This is how the hungry and tired army pulled itself towards life. The food consisted mainly of pieces of meat cut from the legs of horse corpses, frozen cabbage, soup made from carrots, and they drank melted snow. If they ate it near a burning house, they felt happy.”

Colonel Hunyadvari reported in his report that the Soviet partisans, having captured and disarmed the retreating Hungarian soldiers, talked with them and released them, shaking hands in a friendly manner and saying: “We won’t touch you, go home to Hungary”. He further noted that, according to Moscow radio reports, as well as according to witnesses, the partisans supplied lard and bread to the exhausted and hungry Hungarians they detained. The report contrasted such humanism of the Soviet people "ruthless, brutal, violent behavior of German soldiers", What “played no small role in the difficulties of retreat”.

Before the front collapsed, the Hungarians had the opportunity to bury their soldiers with full honors. The photo was taken in the village of Alekseevka, Belgorod region. The inscription on the nearby crosses says that under them lie the unknown Hungarian Honveds who died on August 7, 1942

Indeed, during the retreat, the Germans pushed the Hungarians away from good roads, kicked them out of their houses where they went to warm up, took away their means of transportation, horses, warm clothes, and did not give them the opportunity to use German vehicles. Ruthlessly persecuted by their allies, the Hungarian soldiers, in the severe frosts that reigned in those days, were forced to move on foot, unable to find a roof over their heads. The mortality rate among the retreating Honvedians grew rapidly. Writer Ilya Ehrenburg wrote in his notes dated February 21, 1943:

“The units defeated at Voronezh and Kastorny frightened the Kursk garrison. The Germans shot Hungarians in front of the residents. Hungarian cavalrymen exchanged horses for a pound of bread. I saw the order of the commandant on the walls of Kursk: “Residents of the city are prohibited from letting Hungarian soldiers into their houses.”

The aforementioned Hungarian military historian Peter Szabó in his book “Bend of the Don: The History of the 2nd Hungarian Royal Army” notes:

“During the period of defensive battles in January and February 1943, the 2nd Hungarian Army received only a negative assessment from both the German and the Hungarian high command. They criticized the disorderly retreat of troops and the lack of serious resistance. Many early German war reports said: “Hungarian rabble.” This expression suggests that the retreating defeated Hungarian troops were perceived as a burden for the German defense.”

Data on the losses of the 2nd Hungarian Army in various sources are very different:
between 90,000 and 150,000 dead, wounded and missing. Estimates of the number of people captured range from 26,000 to 38,000. Peter Szabo estimates that the number of Hungarians killed, wounded and captured during the almost year-long stay of the 2nd Hungarian Army at the front is approximately 128,000 people, of whom about 50,000 died, the same number were wounded, and the rest were captured. captivity. According to Sabo, the losses of the 2nd Army's equipment amounted to 70%, while heavy weapons were completely lost.

After the retreat took on the character of “save yourself who can,” the dead Honvéds more often remained on the sidelines

Particularly high losses were suffered by the labor battalions, whose personnel were already constantly subjected to discrimination by the Magyar soldiers - from physical punishment to execution. During the retreat, the Trudoviks found themselves in the worst conditions. Some of them were captured by the Soviets, causing surprise that the majority were Jews.

The scattered remnants of the 2nd Hungarian Army, having escaped death and captivity, reached the location of German units. There, Hungarians were interned and sent home during March-April, with the exception of those units that were reorganized and left in Ukraine as occupation troops. This marked the end of the battle path of the 2nd Hungarian Army on the Eastern Front.

Consequences of the defeat

The destruction of the 2nd Army shocked the whole country. The Hungarian army had never known such a defeat: in two weeks of fighting, the state actually lost half of its armed forces. Almost every Hungarian family mourned someone. News from the front leaked to the press. Colonel Sandor Nadzhilacki, speaking to editors of print publishing houses at a closed meeting, said literally the following:

“In the end, you all must understand that victory is achieved only at the cost of sacrifice and loss. Death awaits us all, and no one can argue with the fact that dying heroically on the battlefield is much more honorable than from atherosclerosis.”

The Hungarian press obediently tried to inflate patriotic sentiments, but this turned out to be little consolation for those who had a father or son, brother or nephew, husband or fiancé left in the vast Russian expanses. Ordinary Hungarians could either wait impatiently for news or mourn their loss.

A peasant from the village of Koltunovka, Belgorod region, stands near a cross erected by the Hungarians. The inscription in two languages reads: “Russian!!! The Hungarian army was here, which returned your cross, freedom and land!” There were only a few kilometers left to Ostrogozhsk and Rossoshi.
http://www.fortepan.hu

After such a defeat, the Hungarian leadership no longer had any desire to send new troops to the Eastern Front. Of all the Magyar units on Soviet territory, only the occupation Hungarian divisions remained - in Ukraine (7th Corps) and in Belarus (8th Corps). They carried out military operations against partisans, and also carried out punitive actions against civilians - until Soviet troops completely liberated the occupied territory.

Three quarters of a century later

In Hungary, after the collapse of the socialist camp, the unspoken veil of silence around the 2nd Army gradually fell away. Modern Hungarian historiography pays a lot of attention to an event that was tragic for many compatriots. Many articles and books dedicated to the lost army appeared. A common occurrence for them is an attempt to justify the actions of the ruling circles of Hungary before and during the Second World War, including the sending of Hungarian units to the Eastern Front.

Hungary's declaration of war on the USSR is presented as a necessity, the result of a forced choice in favor of the actions to which Hungary was pushed by Nazi Germany, with the risk of falling out of favor with Hitler if it refused. The suffering of the retreating Honvedians - hungry, exhausted and frostbitten - is described in a heroic spirit. At the same time, the topic of war crimes committed by them on Soviet soil is usually hushed up by most Hungarian historians.

The memorial cemetery of Hungarian soldiers in the village of Rudkino, Voronezh region, is equipped on a large scale

As an example, we can recall the anniversary conference held in Hungary in 2013, dedicated to the defeat of the 2nd Army on the Don. Professor Sandor Sokal, who spoke at this conference, stated that, contrary to popular belief, the 2nd Hungarian Army 70 years ago was not at all defeated and destroyed in the bend of the Don. He also said that “everything that could be done was done for the 2nd Army”. The Director General of the Research Center of the Hungarian Academy of Sciences, Pal Fodor, speaking, said:

“Sending the 2nd Hungarian Army to the Don Bend was not an irresponsible act. Today we know that the soldiers at the front received everything that the country could give them... The time has come for a realistic assessment of the military events in the bend of the Don: the conditions of the Treaty of Trianon could only be corrected with the help of Germany and Italy, so the Hungarian political leadership could not afford not to participate in the fight against the Soviet Union on the side of the Germans."

An expert from the Hungarian Ministry of Defense, Peter Illusfalvi, made a similar judgment, saying that “There is currently a lot of false information circulating around these events. It is important to see that in the current historical and political situation, the appearance of the 2nd Army on the Soviet front was inevitable.”.

Hungarians in Soviet captivity

Further more. Already on January 11, 2014, the Secretary of the Hungarian Ministry of Defense Tamas Varga, speaking in Budapest at an event dedicated to the 71st anniversary of the Don disaster of the 2nd Army, said: “Wearing unsuitable clothing, often with faulty weapons, and lacking ammunition and food, many tens of thousands of Hungarians became victims.”. He emphasized that Hungarian soldiers on distant Russian fields fought and met a heroic death for their country. The next day he repeated what he had said, speaking in Pakozda in the Donskoy Memorial chapel: “Finally, it can be said that the soldiers of the 2nd Hungarian Army did not only fight for the interests of others; they gave their lives for their country".

Every year in January, many different mourning and memorial events take place in Hungary in honor of the fallen Honvedians. The country regularly hosts exhibitions that display weapons, uniforms, equipment, various items from the everyday life of Hungarian soldiers, as well as documents and photographs. Many memorials dedicated to the “heroes of the Don” have been erected on the territory of Hungary. There are such memorials on Russian soil.

In the cemetery in Rudkino there was also a place for the memory of Jewish soldiers of the labor battalions of the 2nd Hungarian Army

Thus, on the territory of the Voronezh region in the villages of Boldyrevka and Rudkino there are two large cemeteries where the remains of almost 30,000 Honveds are collected. The maintenance of these cemeteries is carried out by the Russian Union for International War Memorial Cooperation on behalf of the Hungarian Army and the Hungarian Museum of Military History. The agreement is mutual, so the Hungarian side also takes care of similar facilities on its territory.

The cemetery in Rudkino is the largest burial site of Hungarian soldiers outside of Hungary. This is a whole memorial, and a very pompous one at that: three huge crosses on a hill, illuminated by powerful spotlights, are visible for many kilometers.
A gas pipeline has been laid to the memorial, and in memory of the fallen Honvedians, an eternal flame burns there all year round. Monuments to fallen Soviet soldiers in this area are often not in perfect condition - alas, these are today's realities.

Literature:

Abbasov A.M. Voronezh Front: chronicle of events. - Voronezh, 2010.
Grishina A. S. Ostrogozh-Rossoshan offensive operation: the 40th Army of the Voronezh Front against the 2nd Hungarian Royal Army. History lessons - Scientific bulletins of Belgorod State University, No. 7(62), 2009.
Filonenko N.V. History of the military operations of Soviet troops against the armed forces of Horthy Hungary on the territory of the USSR. Dissertation for the degree of Doctor of Historical Sciences. Voronezh, 2017.
Filonenko S.I. History of the Great Patriotic War. Operation on the Upper Don. “Voronezh Week”, No. 2, 01/10/2008.
http://istvan-kovacs.livejournal.com
http://don-kanyar.lap.hu.
http://www.honvedelem.hu.
http://donkanyar.gportal.hu.
http://mnl.gov.hu.
http://tortenelemportal.hu.
http://www.bocskaidandar.hu.
https://www.heol.hu.
http://www.origo.hu.
http://www.runivers.ru.

The Hungarian Army is subordinate to the Ministry of Defense. However , like the army of any other country. In 2016 The strength of the Hungarian army was 31,080 military personnel in active military service, while the operational reserve brings the total number of troops to fifty thousand. In 2018, Hungary's military spending amounted to 1.21 billion $, which is about 0.94% of the country's GDP, well below the NATO target of 2%. In 2012, the government passed a resolution committing Hungary to increase defense spending to 1.4% of GDP by 2022.

Military service, modernization and cybersecurity

Military service is voluntary, although conscription may occur in wartime. In a significant modernization move, Hungary decided in 2001 to buy 14 fighter jets from the Americans at a cost of about 800 million euros. The Hungarian National Cyber Security Center reorganized in 2016 to become more effective through cybersecurity.

Service outside the country

In 2016, the Hungarian armed forces had approximately 700 troops stationed abroad as part of international peacekeeping forces, including 100 troops serving with NATO-led peacekeepers in Afghanistan, 210 Hungarian soldiers in Kosovo and 160 troops in Bosnia and Herzegovina . Hungary sent 300 logistics units to Iraq to assist US troops with armed transport convoys, although ordinary citizens were against joining the war. During the operation, one Magyar soldier was killed by an Iraqi roadside bomb.

Short story

In the 18th and 19th centuries, the hussars brought international fame to this country and served as a model of light cavalry in all European states. In 1848-1849, the Hungarian army achieved incredible success against the well-trained and equipped Austrian forces, despite the latter's obvious superiority in numbers. Józef Böhm's Winter Campaign of 1848-1849 and Arthur Gerge's Spring Campaign are still taught to this day in prestigious military schools around the world, even at West Point Academy in the United States and Russian military academies.

In 1872, the Louis Military Academy officially began training cadets. By 1873, the Hungarian army already had more than 2,800 officers and 158,000 employees. During the Great (First World) War, out of the eight million people mobilized by the Austro-Hungarian Empire, more than a million died. In the 1930s and early 1940s, Hungary was preoccupied with recapturing the vast territories and vast numbers of population lost following the signing of the Treaty of Trianon at Versailles in 1920. Conscription was introduced on a national basis in 1939. The size of the Royal Hungarian Army grew to 80,000 men, organized into seven corps. During the Great Patriotic War, the Hungarian army took part in the Battle of Stalingrad on the side of the Germans and was almost completely destroyed. During the era of socialism and the Warsaw Pact (1947-1989), it was completely restored and reorganized, and thanks to the support of the USSR, it received full-fledged tank and missile forces.

According to the 2016 Global Peace Index, Hungary is one of the most peaceful countries, ranking 19th out of 163.

Hungarian Red Army

During the era of the Socialist Bloc and the Warsaw Pact (1947-1989), the army of this country was considered quite powerful. The period from 1949 to 1955 also saw a huge effort to build and arm the Hungarian army. By 1956, the huge costs of maintaining the military-industrial complex had practically ruined the country's economy.

Revolution

In the fall of 1956, armed uprisings against the government were suppressed, and the Soviets dismantled the entire Hungarian Air Force because a significant part of the army was fighting on the same side as the revolutionaries. Three years later, in 1959, the Soviets began helping rebuild the Hungarian People's Army and supply them with new weapons and equipment, as well as rebuilding the Hungarian Air Force.

After the revolution

Satisfied that Hungary was stable and loyal to the Warsaw Pact, the USSR withdrew its troops from the country. The new Hungarian leader asked Khrushchev to leave all 200,000 Soviet soldiers in the country as he had allowed the Hungarian People's Republic to neglect its own projected armed forces, which quickly led to the deterioration of the army. Large sums of money were saved in this way and were spent on quality social programs for the population, so Hungary was able to become the "happiest barracks" in the Soviet bloc. Since the mid-1970s, limited modernization has taken place to replace old military equipment stocks with new ones and allow the army to meet its Warsaw Pact obligations.

After the collapse of the Warsaw bloc

In 1997, Hungary spent about 123 billion forints (US$560 million) on defense. Since the late 90s, Hungary has been a full member of NATO, a military organization that unites most of the countries of Europe and America. Hungary provided air bases and support to the Alliance during its war against Serbia, and contributed several military units to serve in Kosovo as part of the NATO-led operation. Thus, Hungary repeated its actions at the beginning of World War II, when it, together with Italian-German troops, invaded the territory of what was then Yugoslavia. Just as Hungary's Black Army led by Matthias Corvinus struck fear into Slavic and Romanian rebels in the Middle Ages, modern Magyar troops participate in all NATO-led military campaigns, continuing to maintain their long-established image as the most ferocious soldiers in Eastern Europe.

FOREIGN MILITARY REVIEW No. 8/2002, pp. 18-21

GROUND TROOPS

Major S. KONONOV

The Hungarian Republic is an independent state. The area of the territory is 93 thousand km2. The country's population (as of February 1, 2001) is 10,197 thousand people. Hungary borders Slovakia, Ukraine, Romania, FRY, Croatia, Slovenia and Austria. .

The ground forces are the main branch of the country's armed forces. They are designed to conduct combat operations independently, in cooperation with the Air Force and Air Defense Forces as part of NATO Allied Forces groups, both on national territory and, in the case of fulfilling allied obligations, beyond its borders.

After Hungary joined the North Atlantic Alliance, taking into account the discrepancy between the level of combat capability and combat readiness of the national armed forces with modern NATO requirements, the country's leadership took measures to improve the military development of the state. To this end, in 2000 it developed a program for reforming the armed forces, including the ground forces. Its main provisions affecting the ground forces were aimed at improving military command and control bodies, changing the organizational structure of troops, relocating units and subunits, developing a communications and combat control system, etc. Great importance was also attached to increasing the level of combat training of troops, working out issues of practical interaction between the ground forces of Hungary and other NATO countries.

As a result of the reorganization carried out in 2001, on the basis of the main headquarters of the ground forces, an army command was formed (Szekesfehérvár, Fig. 1), subordinate directly to the chief of the general staff of the Hungarian Armed Forces. Institutions and units not intended for direct participation in hostilities were withdrawn from the ground forces and reassigned to two newly created commands: the mobilization and joint support and logistics command. As a result, the number of ground forces proper amounted to 13,000 military personnel (mobilization command - 7,000, joint support and logistics command - 3,600).

Currently, the ground forces include: five brigades - 5.25 and 62nd mechanized (MBR), 101st mixed artillery (SABR), 37th engineering (IBR);

three regiments - 1st mixed light (LSM), 5th anti-aircraft missile (ZRP) and 64th logistics support (PT); five separate battalions - 24th and 34th reconnaissance (RB, Fig. 2), 43rd communications (bns), 93rd chemical defense (bnkhz), 5th military police, as well as the 5th separate company electronic warfare (EW).

The main tactical formation of the ground forces is a mechanized brigade, the typical structure of which includes: headquarters, headquarters company, two mechanized and tank battalions, self-propelled artillery and anti-tank battalions, anti-aircraft missile battery, engineer battalion, logistics battalion, three companies (reconnaissance, communications and chemical protection) and a medical center. The brigade is capable of conducting combat operations both as part of an army corps and independently.

In accordance with the operational mission, formations and units of the ground forces were divided into reaction forces, main defensive forces and reinforcement forces.

Rice. 2. Military personnel of the reconnaissance battalion during exercises

The response force is intended to be primarily deployed in the interests of resolving crisis situations, ensuring the mobilization and operational deployment of the main defensive forces, as well as acting as part of the NATO response force. In addition, in peacetime, response forces can be used to eliminate the consequences of natural and man-made disasters. They are divided into immediate reaction forces (IRF) and rapid deployment forces (RDF). The response forces are staffed according to wartime staffing exclusively by regular military personnel and contract military personnel.

The basis of the SNR is the 1st Mixed Light Regiment (formed in 2000 on the basis of the 88th Rapid Reaction Battalion) with attached combat and logistics support units. They consist of one mechanized battalion from a mechanized brigade, as well as combat and logistics support units.

The main defensive forces include formations, units and subunits of ground forces that are in a lower combat readiness than the reaction forces and are deployed in wartime. Their main task is to participate (independently or jointly with Allied forces) in the first and subsequent defensive or offensive operations.

Reinforcement forces (reserve forces) are intended to make up for the losses of the active army and create an operational reserve. They will be based on the 15th reserve mechanized brigade (Szombathely), formed before or during the war on the basis of the training centers of the mobilization command. The reserve forces will also include institutions and logistics units under central command.

Rice. 3. BTR D-944, in service with the Hungarian Army

According to Hungarian military experts, in the event of a threat of a large-scale armed conflict, the number of ground forces personnel while maintaining the existing amount of weapons and military equipment (military and military equipment) can be increased three times. To ensure their full mobilization deployment, the necessary reserves of military equipment, military equipment, food, etc. were created in advance. The largest storage sites and warehouses include the following: a storage base for weapons and military equipment (Kalocha), armored vehicle warehouses ( Budapest), artillery weapons (Tapiosece), missile weapons (Nyirtelek), communications equipment (Nyiregyháza), chemical equipment (Budapest), as well as a storage base for ammunition (Pustavács) and materiel (Budapest).

Currently, according to foreign press data, the Hungarian Army is armed with 753 tanks (515 T-55 and 238 T-72), 490 BMP-1, more than 1,000 armored personnel carriers BTR-80 and D-944 (Fig. 3), about 300 towed howitzers (BG) D-20 of 152 mm caliber, 151 122-mm self-propelled howitzer "Gvozdika", 230 122-mm BG M-30, 56 MLRS BM-21, about 100 mortars of 120 mm caliber, more than 370 ATGMs, 45 Mistral air defense missile system.

The main part of the weapons and military equipment is outdated, but the command of the Hungarian army plans to begin modernizing it and replacing it with modern models only after 2006. This is due to insufficient funding for the armed forces and the limited capabilities of the Hungarian military industry, which, within the framework of the international division of labor existing in the Warsaw Treaty Organization, had a narrow specialization in the production of only radio-electronic equipment, some types of artillery weapons, ammunition, as well as components for armored vehicles.

The Hungarian military industry mainly includes assembly plants in the artillery, small arms, electronics and ammunition industries. The armored industry is represented by the Kurrus enterprise (Gedelle), which modernizes and repairs armored vehicles and small arms. At the same time, the country’s government has developed a long-term program that provides for a complete renewal of the army’s fleet of off-road trucks (it is planned to purchase for the armed forces more than 13,000 vehicles created by Hungarian designers of the Raba plant (Gyor).

The ground forces are recruited on a mixed principle with conscripts called up for compulsory military service, career military personnel and those serving on a contract basis. The period of active military service upon conscription is currently six months. Recruits initially enter one of three training centers (in the cities of Szabadsallas, Szombathely, Tapolca) of the mobilization command, where they undergo single military training for two months, and then are sent for further service directly to combat units.

Training of candidates for non-commissioned officers is carried out at the central military school of non-commissioned officers (Szentendre). It accepts civilian youth and persons who have completed compulsory military service, aged 18 to 30 years.

The main military educational institution in Hungary that trains career officers for the ground forces is the M. Zriny University of National Defense (Budapest), which has three main faculties (military science, military management and military technology) and three additional faculties (combined arms , aviation and air defense, military engineering).

Graduates of the main faculties of the National Defense University (UND) receive higher general and military education, a master's degree and an officer rank (primary or secondary). Before being assigned to the appropriate positions in the troops according to the profile of the training received, they undergo an internship (lasting from six to 12 months), after which the officer is considered to have the necessary knowledge. The period of subsequent service must be at least five years.

Graduates of additional faculties of the UNO receive higher general education with a bachelor's degree, secondary military education and primary officer rank. Before being appointed to a position, they also undergo an internship, and their period of service in the military must, as a rule, be at least three years. Having such professional training, officers can subsequently receive a master's degree by completing a two-year course of study at one of the main faculties of the UNO or at a foreign military educational institution. These diplomas are now recognized on an equal basis with diplomas from educational institutions in Western European countries.

The training program for special qualifications provides training at various courses at the faculties of the UNO of both career officers of the ground forces who have received professional military training, as well as specialists drafted into the Hungarian army or hired by the Ministry of Defense with a civilian education. It is carried out in stages, as a rule, before the appointment of officers to higher positions. Between stages there should be periods of military service lasting two to three years.

In recent years, the number of Hungarian officers studying in military educational institutions of NATO countries, primarily the USA, Canada, Germany, Great Britain, and France, has increased significantly.

The military-political leadership of Hungary pays considerable attention to increasing the level of professionalization of the army by increasing the number of junior officers, non-commissioned officers and persons serving on a contract basis. At the same time, the number of contract servicemen is planned to increase by 1.7 times by 2004.

According to the command of the Hungarian army, the new structure of the ground forces and the system of training military personnel meet modern requirements and allow them to fulfill the tasks set by the military-political leadership of the country and the North Atlantic Alliance.

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The armed forces of these three countries are unable not only to attack, but also to defend; but they don’t expect to fight with anyone

Hasek's famous book about the good soldier Schweik is most interesting not for its humor, which by the end of the book becomes slightly intrusive and somewhat tiring, but for showing how the Austrians, Hungarians and Slavs, who at that moment were considered compatriots in the country called Austria, treated each other. Hungary.

“And in the middle of the street, the old sapper Vodicka fought like a lion with several Honvedians and Honvedian hussars, who stood up for their fellow countryman. He expertly swung the bayonet on his belt like a flail. Vodichka was not alone. Several Czech soldiers from various regiments fought shoulder to shoulder with him - the soldiers were just passing by.”

Honvedians are Hungarians. The case took place on Hungarian territory, through which a train with Czech soldiers was passing. And a few days after this massacre, Colonel Schroeder (an Austrian) showed Lieutenant Lukas, who commanded the Czechs, Hungarian newspapers in which the Czech “compatriots” were literally depicted as fiends of hell. And he said, in particular, the following: “We Austrians, be they Germans or Czechs, are still great against the Hungarians... I’ll tell you frankly: I like a Czech soldier more than this Hungarian rabble.”

That is, everyone hated the Hungarians, while the Germans and Czechs also, to put it mildly, did not like each other. Therefore, the Slavs did not feel the slightest desire to fight for this country.

Czech Army

After gaining independence in 1918, Czechoslovakia had very powerful armed forces (AF) and military-industrial complex. However, the inhabitants of the country did not have the desire to fight. The Czechoslovak army did not offer any resistance either to the Germans in 1938 or to the Warsaw Pact troops 30 years later. At the same time, at the beginning of the 90s, the country formally possessed very powerful armed forces - 3315 tanks, 4593 infantry fighting vehicles and armored personnel carriers, 3485 artillery systems, 446 combat aircraft, 56 attack helicopters.

After the collapse of the Warsaw Pact, and then Czechoslovakia, both parts of it began to bring their armed forces to a natural state, which, however, completely coincided with pan-European trends. In relation to the Czech Republic, this was further aggravated by the fact that the country is now located in the depths of NATO and does not feel any external threat at all, which is quite fair.

Most of the weapons and equipment were produced in the Czech Republic itself, either under Soviet licenses or based on Soviet designs; there also remains quite a lot of equipment of Soviet production itself.

The Czech Ground Forces today include seven brigades: 4th rapid response, 7th mechanized, 13th artillery, 14th logistics, 15th engineering, 31st RCBZ, 53rd electronic warfare.

The tank fleet consists of 123 T-72 (including 30 T-72M4CZ modernized in the Czech Republic, considered the most advanced version of this many-sided tank). There are 137 BRMs and armored vehicles (30 BRDM-2РХ, 84 Italian Iveco LMV, 23 German Dingo), 387 infantry fighting vehicles (168 BVP-1 (BMP-1), 185 BVP-2 (BMP-2), 34 BPzV (reconnaissance variant of the BMP-1)), 129 armored personnel carriers (five own OT-64 and 17 OT-90, 107 Austrian Pandurs).

The artillery of the Czech army includes 89 wheeled Dana self-propelled guns (152 mm) and 93 mortars.

The Czech Air Force consists of four air bases and one brigade. Combat aviation formally numbers 37 aircraft, but in fact it simply does not exist. The fact is that 14 JAS-39 fighters (12 C, 2 D) belong to the Swedish Air Force and are leased in the Czech Republic. 23 own-produced L-159 attack aircraft (19 A, 4 T1; another 41 A and two T1 are in storage and intended for sale abroad) can only be conditionally considered combat aircraft due to low performance characteristics. These vehicles were created on the basis of old training L-39s (the Czech Air Force now has 18 of them - eight C, ten ZA), so they are completely unsuitable for modern warfare.

Transport aviation includes four Spanish C-295s, 2 Yak-40s (two more in storage), two European A-319CJs, one Canadian CL-601, 10 L-410s (two more in storage); four An-26s are in storage.

Czech soldiers during military exercises in the village of Slatina, Kosovo. Photo: Visar Kryeziu/AP

There are 15 combat helicopters (ten Mi-35, five Mi-24V; another five Mi-24D and ten Mi-24V in storage) and 48 transport and multi-purpose helicopters (ten Polish W-3 Sokol, three Mi-8, 27 Mi-17, eight European ES135T; another six Mi-8 and one Mi-17 are in storage).

Ground-based air defense includes only 47 Swedish RBS-70 MANPADS.

In general, the combat potential of the Czech Armed Forces is negligible, morale is even lower than it was before. Which, however, has no significance either for the country itself or for NATO.

Slovak Army

After the artificial division of Czechoslovakia, carried out without taking into account the opinion of the country's population, Slovakia received 40% of the equipment of the armed forces of the disintegrated country and approximately the same share of the very powerful Czechoslovak military-industrial complex. Over the past 20 years, the country has lost most of its military and military-industrial potential; joining NATO in 2004 only accelerated this process. As before, the Armed Forces are armed only with Soviet and their own equipment, with the exception of seven armored vehicles from South Africa.

Ground forces include the 1st and 2nd mechanized brigades.

In service there are 30 T-72M tanks, 71 BPsV armored personnel carriers (based on the BMP-1), 253 infantry fighting vehicles (91 BVP-2, 162 BVP-1), 77 armored personnel carriers and armored vehicles (56 OT-90 (another 22 in storage), 14 Tatrapan, seven South African RG-32M), 16 Zuzana self-propelled guns (155 mm), 26 D-30 howitzers (122 mm), six M-1982 mortars (120 mm), 26 RM-70 MLRS (40x122 mm ), 425 “Malyutka” and “Sturm” anti-tank systems, 48 “Strela-10” air defense systems, 315 “Strela-2” and “Igla” MANPADS.

The country's air force is armed with 12 MiG-29 fighters (including two MiG-29UB combat trainers); four more (including one UB) are in storage.

There are 11 transport aircraft (nine L-410 (two more in storage), two An-26), ten L-39C training aircraft (11 more in storage).

All 11 Mi-24 combat helicopters (five D, six V) are in storage, as are all nine multi-purpose Mi-8. There are 18 multi-purpose Mi-17 helicopters in service (including four rescue helicopters) and two Mi-2 (ten more in storage).

Ground-based air defense includes one division of the S-300PS air defense system and four batteries of the Kvadrat air defense system.

Hungarian Army

Another part of the late empire, Hungary, traditionally caused problems for everyone. First, Austria, with which it formed this very “dual monarchy,” that is, Austria-Hungary. Then, during the era of the Warsaw Pact - the USSR. Today, Hungary, having become a member of NATO and the EU, is creating problems for them, since its current leadership is taking steps in domestic politics that are very far from the norms of democracy. However, Brussels in both of its incarnations can only admonish Budapest; it has no other measures of influence on the eternal rebel.

Mi-8 helicopter during a Hungarian military exercise. Photo: Bela Szandelszky / AP

At the same time, Hungary is in very difficult relations with neighboring countries where there are significant Hungarian minorities - Serbia, Romania, Ukraine, Slovakia. It is interesting that Romania and Slovakia are, as it were, allies of Hungary in the same NATO and EU.

As part of the Warsaw Pact, the Hungarian Armed Forces were the weakest. At the beginning of the 90s, it had 1,345 tanks, 1,720 infantry fighting vehicles and armored personnel carriers, 1,047 artillery systems, 110 combat aircraft, 39 combat helicopters. Naturally, all this was Soviet-made. The country has been a member of NATO since 1999. At the same time, it still has all the same Soviet equipment in its arsenal (except for Swedish fighters and French MANPADS), only it has become much smaller.

The ground forces include the 5th and 25th infantry brigades, two regiments (43rd communications and control support, 64th logistics), three battalions (34th special operations, 37th engineering, 93rd RCBZ).

In service - 156 T-72 tanks (most of them in storage), 602 BTR-80, 31 D-20 howitzers, 50 37M (82 mm) mortars.

The Air Force includes the 59th Air Base (which includes all aircraft), the 86th Air Base (all helicopters), the 12th Anti-Aircraft Missile Regiment (all ground-based air defense systems), and the 54th Radio Engineering Regiment.

The Air Force has only 14 combat aircraft - Swedish JAS-39 "Grippen" (12 C, 2 D), and, as in the Czech case, they formally belong to Sweden, and are leased in Hungary. In addition, 25 MiG-29 (of which six are UB), eight Su-22, 53 MiG-21 are in storage. The MiG-29s are up for sale, the rest are awaiting disposal.

There are also five An-26 transport aircraft, ten Yak-52 training aircraft (16 L-39ZO in storage), 12 Mi-8 multi-purpose helicopters (another 14 in storage) and seven Mi-17. There are 43 Mi-24 combat helicopters (31 D, eight V, four P) in storage.

Ground-based air defense consists of 16 Kub air defense systems (apparently no longer combat-ready) and 94 MANPADS - 49 Igla, 45 Mistral.

Thus, the combat potential of the Hungarian Armed Forces is negligible, not ensuring not only external ambitions in the territories of its neighbors, but also its own defense capability. However, this situation fully fits into modern European trends.

There are no foreign troops on the territory of all three countries described, and their total military potential is less than, for example, that of Azerbaijan alone. But since they will never fight with anyone anyway, this fact does not matter. Moreover, there is no doubt that in the near future the Czech, Slovak and Hungarian armies will be reduced even further.

Armed forces of the Warsaw Pact countries. Hungarian People's Army. September 25th, 2017

Hello dears.
We continue our conversation with you about the armies of the Warsaw Pact. And I hope you find it interesting :-))
Let me remind you that last time we recalled the armed forces of Czechoslovakia. If anyone missed it, you can watch it here: . Well, or by the tag Army.
Today we’ll talk a little about the armed forces of the Hungarian People’s Republic. And I’ll be honest, for me they had a strange army.
Hungarians have always loved (and what is important, they knew how to fight). Apparently genetic memory. I believe that, apart from the Japanese, it was the Hungarians who were the most powerful and combat-ready ally of the 3rd Reich in World War II. And after the war, they simply could not forget how to fight. But despite the fact that the Hungarian People’s Republic was the most “Western” of the people’s democracies - a sort of showcase of the achievements of socialism with its blackjack and whores, bright shops and even Formula 1, under the gentle management of Janos Kadar, flourished (they even coined the term “goulash communism”) - they were never fully trusted.

J. Kadar

Perhaps it all comes back to 1956, when a powerful anti-government uprising took place in Hungary. There they removed Rakosi, who had been the “ruler,” and the regime was softened greatly, but there was no trust.

This also applied to the army, although the Hungarian armed forces, together with the SA troops, suppressed this uprising. But nevertheless....until 1990 there were more Soviet troops on the territory of the Hungarian People's Republic than Hungarian ones.

So, the armed forces of the Hungarian People's Republic were called the Hungarian People's Army (Magyar Néphadsereg).

They were in the second echelon of the Warsaw Pact Organization forces. In a possible military conflict, Hungary was supposed to act against Austria with the support of Soviet troops.

The Hungarian People's Army was divided into 2 types of troops:
Ground troops
Air Force and Air Defense.
The border guards belonged to the Ministry of Internal Affairs.
The army was headed by the Minister of Defense. One of the most famous, perhaps, was Army General Istvan Olah.

There were several military educational institutions in the country, the main and most important of which was the Miklós Zrinyi National Defense University.

Service life (since 1976) - 2 years.

The Ground Forces included tank crews, signalmen, artillery, chemists, good landing units and even small units of sailors. The ground forces in the 80s were divided into 2 armies.
The 5th Army (headquarters in Szehesfehérvár) consisted of:
7th Motorized Rifle Division (headquarters in Kiskunfelegyháza)
8th Motorized Rifle Division (headquarters in Zalaegerszeg)
9th Motorized Rifle Division (headquarters in Kaposvár)
11th Panzer Division (staff in Tata)

The 3rd Army (headquarters in Cegled) consisted of
4 motorized rifle divisions (headquarters in Gyöngyös)
15th Motorized Rifle Division (headquarters in Nyiregyháza)

The headquarters of the Air Force and Air Defense Forces was located in Veszprém and consisted of an air defense brigade (headquarters in Budapest) and 2 aviation divisions (headquarters in Veszprém and Miskolc).

The total strength of the Hungarian People's Army was about 103,000. The troops had 113 combat aircraft, 96 combat helicopters, 1,300 tanks, 2,200 armored personnel carriers, 27 artillery installations, 1,750 machine guns, etc. But you have to understand that the majority of their fleet was made up of old cars. Only 100 were new T-72s, and the rest were T-54A and T-55, plus a huge number of T-34-85s either mothballed or formally in active service.
Well, we already talked about the Hungarian copy of the AK here:

Until the military reform of the late 50s, Hungarian troops followed the uniforms and insignia of the Soviet Army. The only difference is that the red star was thinner and was located in a white circle on weapons and uniforms. Then a new uniform in green and brown was adopted, and the basic element of the twentieth century Hungarian military uniform, the horned field cap, returned. Soldiers and officers switched from long overcoats to quilted jackets with a fur collar.

It's funny that a private in Hungary was always called Honved, that is, defender, warrior. It was also the name of the famous football club, home to the great Puskas, Grosic, Kocsis and co :-))

Hungarian troops participated in almost all ATS exercises and also participated in the suppression of the Prague Spring of 1968.
And finally, as always, some interesting photos :-)

To be continued...
Have a nice time of day