On February 13, 1945, the Red Army completely liberated the Hungarian capital Budapest from the Nazis. This led Hungary out of an alliance with Hitler Germany, deprived the Reich of access to fuel supplies and opened the way for the Soviet troops to the borders of Czechoslovakia and Austria. The operation to free the Hungarian capital lasted 108 days.

On the occasion of the 75th anniversary of the liberation of the city by Soviet troops, the Russian Ministry of Defense declassified a number of archival documents: a resolution of the State Defense Committee, an information report, a combat report, evidence of the crimes of the Nazi troops, award documents of Soviet soldiers who performed feats during the liberation of the city, as well as photographs taken by the Red Army.

From union to disappointment

After the German attack on the USSR, official Budapest was in no hurry to enter the war. However, on June 26, 1941, unknown planes attacked the Slovak city of Kosice occupied by Hungary. Hitler blamed the incident on the Soviet Union. Historians suggest that the bombing was the work of German or Romanian aircraft. The day after the air strike, Budapest declared war on Moscow.

At the beginning of the war, the Hungarian units were actively used in Ukraine and near Voronezh. They participated in both military and punitive operations, destroying entire settlements in the occupied territory.

“Hungarian troops distinguished themselves on the territory of the USSR by great rigidity in relation to prisoners of war and civilians,” military historian Yuri Knutov told RT in an interview.

The materials declassified by the Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation contain evidence testifying to the atrocities that occurred on the territories of the USSR occupied by German troops.

“The big bus drove off for short distances and immediately came back. All openings in this bus were tightly closed. The exhaust gases did not go outside, as usual, but into the bus interior, so the people who were there were soon poisoned. The bus threw people in a secluded mine. Two such buses soon began to work, ”prisoner Breu Joseph told the Soviet law enforcement agencies about the Nazi crimes in the city of Stalin (modern Donetsk).

The document also contains a description of how SS fighters “as a gift to the Führer completely cleared the local ghetto with anti-aircraft artillery”.

In the Battle of Stalingrad in 1942-1943, about 200 thousand Hungarian troops took part. On the banks of the Volga, the 2nd Hungarian army was practically destroyed.

“Having assessed his losses and seeing in 1943 that the Nazis were retreating, the pragmatic Horthy (Miklos Horthy, admiral, former commander of the Austro-Hungarian fleet, led Hungary in 1920. - RT ) began to think about reconciliation with the Soviet Union. This was suspected in Berlin. In March 1944, units of the Wehrmacht and the SS were introduced into Hungary, and deportations from the country of Jews and Gypsies, who had previously been restricted in their rights but were not subjected to mass destruction, began, ”continued Yuri Knutov.

On October 15, the Nazis staged a coup in Hungary. The Nazis took the son of Horthy hostage and forced the dictator to renounce power. The new head of state was declared the leader of the pro-Nazi political force “Crossed Arrows” Ferenc Salashi. Under him, several hundred thousand Hungarian Jews were killed and repressions against dissidents were launched.

Budapest operation

In late September - early October 1944, Soviet troops entered the territory of Transcarpathia occupied by Hungary. On October 27, Uzhgorod was liberated from German and Hungarian troops. Also in October 1944, the troops of the 2nd Ukrainian Front carried out the Debrecen operation, defeating the Hitler Army Group “South” and creating convenient conditions for an attack in the direction of Budapest.

Despite the participation of Hungarian units in the war on the territory of the USSR, the Soviet leadership demanded a friendly attitude from the Red Army towards Hungary and its population.

“Not as a conqueror, but as a liberator of the Hungarian people from Nazi oppression, the Red Army entered Hungary, which has no other purpose than the goals of defeating enemy German armies and destroying the rule of Nazi Germany in the countries it enslaved,” the State Defense Committee said in a statement USSR of October 27, 1944.

  • Resolution of the State Defense Committee of the USSR of October 27, 1944
  • © Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation

The Soviet leadership ordered "to keep unchanged all the existing Hungarian authorities and the existing system of economic and political structure in Hungary."

On October 29, 1944, the Budapest strategic offensive operation of the Soviet troops began. Parts of the 2nd Ukrainian Front developed a successful offensive between the Tisza and Danube rivers. On November 2, Soviet troops were already 15 km from Budapest. Units of the 3rd Ukrainian Front, meanwhile, inflicted significant losses on several Hitler divisions and seized a bridgehead on the west bank of the Danube.

  • © Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation

“The Germans strengthened Budapest, transferred additional forces to it, created one of the largest concentrations of tank and mechanized units in the city during the war years. It was not possible to take the city right away, ”said Yuri Knutov.

According to him, Adolf Hitler considered Budapest almost equal in importance to Berlin.

“The loss of the capital of Hungary would automatically mean the withdrawal of one of Germany’s key allies from the war, the loss of Hungarian oil, and the Soviet troops opening the road to the borders of Austria and Czechoslovakia. For the Reich, this meant disaster, ”said the historian.

  • © Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation

On December 20, 1944, Soviet troops broke through the outer contour of the defense of Budapest in several places, and on December 26 they took the city into the ring.

The Soviet command categorically did not want to destroy the capital of Hungary, and therefore on December 29 sent two groups of parliamentarians with an ultimatum to the Nazi garrison, but the Nazis, contrary to international law, killed the negotiators.

“The German command received an order to open fire on Russian parliamentarians if they appeared,” reads the testimony of Hungarian Major General Mikloi Fridyash declassified by the Russian Ministry of Defense.

  • Fridyash's statement on the execution of Russian parliamentarians
  • © Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation

For their courage and self-control, the Red Army parliamentarians - captains Ilya Ostapenko and Nikolai (Mikolosh) Steinments were posthumously awarded the Order of the Patriotic War of the 1st degree.

Liberation of Budapest

“In 1944, Hitler ordered all major cities in the occupied territories to be turned into fortresses. Budapest was no exception. Therefore, at the beginning of 1945 there was a real assault on the fortress, a battle for every square meter of land, ”said Yuri Knutov.

In January 1945, active hostilities were already taking place in the city limits of Budapest. January 18, Soviet troops captured the left-bank part of the city - Pest. In Buda, heavy fighting lasted another four weeks. To preserve the historic buildings and infrastructure of the city, the Soviet command tried to minimize the use of artillery and aircraft.

  • © Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation

During the battles, Soviet soldiers showed great personal courage and excellent tactical skills. So, the foreman Pavel Voronin, the tank commander of the 18th Guards Tank Regiment of the 1st Guards Mechanized Brigade, on January 21, 1945, in an battle near Budapest in the Velenz region, ambushed fascist tanks.

“Comrade Voronin with his tank destroyed 10 German tanks and self-propelled guns, a large number of vehicles with food and ammunition, and up to 300 German soldiers and officers. Currently, the tank is combat ready. He is worthy of the highest government award for conferring the title Hero of the Soviet Union, ”says his award documents.

The platoon commander of the 12th battery of the 4th division of the 109th howitzer artillery brigade, Lieutenant Ivan Nikulnikov, organized the defense of the positions of his unit on the night of February 11-12, 1945.

  • © Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation

“Throughout the night, Comrade Nikulnikov repulsed four enemy attacks, in addition, twice raised his 10 fighters in a counterattack. As a result, 185 German soldiers and officers were killed and captured, while the lieutenant personally killed 35 enemy soldiers, ”the actions of the officer described in the documents.

For his feat, Ivan Nikulnikov was also introduced to the title of Hero of the Soviet Union.

The Nazis inflicted three powerful blows on the Soviet troops, trying to release the garrison of Budapest. On January 20, the Nazis even managed to cut through the grouping of the 3rd Ukrainian Front and reach the Danube. However, the Wehrmacht forces could not connect with the parts of the Wehrmacht in Budapest. After the failure of the last attempt to break through, the garrison of the Hungarian capital lost hope of success.

“As a result of many days of fierce street fighting, storming each building and quarter, by 10 o’clock on February 13 of this year (1945. - RT ) they defeated the enemy’s encircled group,” the Extraordinary Combat Report of the 2nd Ukrainian Front reported.

  • © Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation

The document also contains statistics on hostilities: “During the period of fighting for the city of Budapest, frontal forces from the encircled group destroyed: 49982 soldiers and officers, 203 tanks and self-propelled guns, 367 guns of various calibers, 253 armored vehicles and armored personnel carriers, mortars - 490, machine guns - 1591, aircraft —189. Captured: captured soldiers and officers - 127202, tanks and SU - 269, guns of various calibers - 1257, armored vehicles and armored personnel carriers - 83, mortars - 476, machine guns - 1431, rifles and machine guns - 41000, aircraft - 15, etc. ” .

The Act of Atrocities promulgated by the Ministry of Defense in the city of Budapest contains evidence of crimes committed by the Nazis directly in the capital of Hungary.

  • © Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation

“Found in five rooms of the basement, in two rooms on the ground floor of more than five hundred corpses of civilians of different sex and age, including many babies. All the corpses are numbered, the last numbers are four thousandth, ”the Nazi crimes are described in the document.

According to Yuri Knutov, the Nazi command planned to hold the Hungarian capital longer and therefore did not manage to completely destroy the inhabitants of the Budapest ghetto. The Red Army saved about 70 thousand of his prisoners.

Despite all the attempts of the Soviet command to save the capital of Hungary, during the fighting the city was severely destroyed and was plundered by the Nazi invaders. The leadership of the USSR did everything possible to help local residents and save them from hunger. Food was sent to Budapest.

  • © Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation

“The city mayor was given: 3,000 tons of grain, 1,000 tons of sugar, 960 tons of salt and 250 trucks,” the statement on the implementation of the GKO resolution says.

Before the approach of the Soviet troops, the Nazi occupiers completely mined Budapest. Explosive devices posed a huge danger to the civilian population of the capital of Hungary. Therefore, the Red Army carried out colossal work to mine the city.

  • Budapest Mine Clearance
  • © Ministry of Defense of the Russian Federation

Among the archival documents declassified by the Ministry of Defense, there is also the order of the Supreme Commander-in-Chief No. 277 of February 13, 1945:

“To commemorate the victory, the formations and units most distinguished in the battles for the seizure of the city of Budapest should be submitted for the appropriation of the name“ Budapest ”and for awarding orders. Today, February 13, at 9 p.m., the capital of our Motherland, Moscow, on behalf of the Motherland, salutes the valiant troops of the 2nd and 3rd Ukrainian fronts, which seized the capital of Hungary, the city of Budapest - with twenty-four artillery salvoes of three hundred twenty-four guns. ”