#Pages of Victory: how Soviet troops liberated Budapest

Soviet troops reached the border with Hungary in the fall of 1944. By the time the loss of the Hungarians in the campaigns of 1942-43. Budapest was already forced to reconsider its views on the alliance with Nazi Germany, therefore, in March 1944, the German occupation troops were brought into Hungary: rumors of secret negotiations with the Allies reached Hitler.

# GRU45 A radiogram from Berlin was intercepted by the commander of the defense of Budapest Pfeffer-Wildenbruch. Hitler does not give the garrison permission to escape from the environment, hoping to gain a few more days. In fact, the garrison of Budapest has already been sacrificed and written off. pic.twitter.com/qokBa2OAg9

Budapest almost managed to get out of the war. On October 15, Admiral Miklos Horthy, who ruled the country as regent, announced a ceasefire with the USSR in a radio appeal. In response, the Nazis seized the Horthy residence and took his son hostage. Horthy abdicated in favor of the leader of the pro-Nazi party "Crossed Arrows" Ferenc Salashi.

# 2Ukr45 Especially for the assault on the Hungarian capital, a Budapest group of troops was formed from the front (the 18th Guards, 30th rifle corps and the 7th Romanian army corps plus attached units). The head of the assault is the commander of the 18th Guards. shooter. Corps Gen. Major Ivan Afonin. pic.twitter.com/x8dkNJF36O

Hitler declared Budapest a walled city (Festung): this meant that the capital could not be surrendered under any pretext. On the outskirts and inside the city, in which more than one and a half million people lived before the start of World War II, the Nazis gathered considerable forces. The military historian, author of books on the Great Patriotic War, Alexei Isaev, noted that the Third Reich could not allow a quick defeat of the country:

“Hungary in the autumn of 1944 remained the only ally of Germany. Secondly, the last oil fields available for the Third Reich remained on the territory of Hungary ... In addition, through Hungary there was a road to Austria, which became the forge of weapons for the Reich. ”

The beginning of the siege

The Red Army - having barely completed operations in the Hungarian Transcarpathia and the Debrecen direction - launched a large-scale attack on Budapest on October 29, 1944, the troops of the 2nd Ukrainian Front and Romanian units successfully broke through the enemy’s defenses and reached the approaches to Budapest in early November. Hitler's command managed to organize three powerful lines of defense around the city. This, as well as a number of counterattacks, hindered the advance of the Soviet troops for two months. Only the crossing of the Danube south of Budapest by the 3rd Ukrainian Front allowed a sharp turnaround, and on December 27 the ring around Budapest finally closed.

# Malinovsky45 Heavy fighting continues in the interior of Budapest. Despite the continuous counterattacks of the German-Hungarian troops, we continue to win one position after another from them. The Hungarians lost a significant number of their self-propelled guns. We stormed the Josefstadt station. pic.twitter.com/wU3btRuE9y

Two days later, two groups of negotiators were sent to the surrounded garrison with an ultimatum signed by the commanders of both fronts: Marshals Rodion Malinovsky and Fedor Tolbukhin. The Soviet command categorically did not want to destroy the capital of Hungary.

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

Thus, Soviet parliamentarians, contrary to international law, were killed.

# SovInformBuro45 Hitler's team., Villainously killing Soviet parliamentarians, acts on the principle of “after us at least a flood”. The Germans want to drag the millionth population of Budapest into the abyss. What is the Hungarian capital with its sights and cultural values? pic.twitter.com/lWt9z69FlV

The head of the new Hungarian government, Ferenc Salashi, left the city on December 9th. Hitler troops and not too motivated Hungarians remained to restrain the siege. Estimation of the number of consolidated garrison varies greatly: from 55 thousand to 188 thousand people. Mobilization in the city went without much success.

The garrison was led by the commander of the 9th SS Mountain Rifle Corps, General of the SS Troops K. Pfeffer-Wildenbruch, who, however, depended entirely on the orders of his command and, in particular, the Führer. Food supplies should have been enough for 5-6 days of fighting, then it was planned to transfer supplies and ammunition by air.

# Malinovsky45 Shelling of enemy positions in Budapest alternates with continuous air raids. The bridges across the Danube are partially destroyed, the movement on them is almost paralyzed. The garrison of Budapest can no longer quickly deploy reinforcements and ammunition from Buda to Pest. pic.twitter.com/6rRGQmKX0I

The garrison retreats to Buda

At the beginning of January, several debilitating strikes were inflicted on the Soviet troops, but without tangible results. January 18, Soviet troops occupied the entire eastern part of the city, Pest. The remaining German military forces were evacuated to Buda. Hungarian soldiers and officers were not too willing to take part in this maneuver: many deliberately lagged behind their units, took refuge in basements and even dumped gasoline from cars.

# SovInformBuro45 IN BUDAPEST troops # 2Ukr45 completed the cleansing of the enemy from the eastern half of the city (PEST) and went here to the Danube River, occupying about 5,000 city blocks. Thus, only a small part of the western half of the city (BUDA) remains in the hands of the enemy. pic.twitter.com/JEXdKE40r9

The quartermaster of the 1st Hungarian Armored Division, Lt. Col. A. Wajda, recalled this evacuation, which took place under heavy fire from Soviet artillery:

“From everywhere came rude Hungarian and German curses. An absolute panic, which intensified especially after we had to walk past burning buildings along a narrow street. We no longer figured out where we were. The crowd simply carried us along, and there was no way to escape. Unbearable heat emanated from the burning buildings, a hail of flaming window bars and other wooden debris fell upon passing cars. Between vehicles, several infantry units marched on foot. The German motorcycle couriers tried to restore at least some semblance of order, but without much success ...

# SovInformBuro45 According to preliminary data, during the fighting to eliminate the enemy groupings encircled in Budapest from 12.28.1944 to 01.18.1945, troops # 2Ukr45 captured 59 390 German and Hungarian soldiers and officers, of which more than 20 000 were captured January. pic.twitter.com/mEPwzgxpII

The wounded groaned and screamed in pain. By some miracle, we still managed to get to the square on the outskirts of Pest under the hinged Chain Bridge. There we saw a picture of a real conflagration. It was light in the middle of the night, almost like in the afternoon. Through the huge gaping holes in the bridge, water was visible. The back of a German military passenger car, which managed to get into one of these holes, climbed into the sky. Her front end, which had failed deeply, was not visible. Passengers and driver are likely to have died. In another place there was a burning truck that received a direct hit, which we barely managed to go around. Dead bodies were scattered everywhere. Judging by some, cars have already passed through them many times. ”

After evacuation to Buda, the last bridges across the Danube were blown up, including the famous Chain Bridge, opened in 1849.

# 2Ukr45 Early in the morning in the dark mute. sappers blew up the last two bridges across the Danube to our assault. the groups could not break into Buda on the shoulders of the retreating. At the time of the explosions, there were still evacuating Hungarian units on the bridges; for thousands of others, the path to retreat is cut off. pic.twitter.com/Ug4mF6a1ss

Liberation of the Budapest Ghetto

On January 18, 1945, the Budapest ghetto was liberated: 2 thousand houses marked with yellow stars and separated by a fence in the eastern part of the city. Although the oppression of Jews in Hungary began even before the war, the ghetto was created only after the introduction of Hitler's occupying forces. Within a few months of “a complete solution of the Jewish question”, the country's Jewish population decreased fourfold - to about 200 thousand people, most of whom lived in Budapest. The persecution intensified especially with the advent of the Salashists, who began to use the Danube embankment for executions. A monument to the Hungarian sculptor Gyula Power, “Shoes on the Danube Embankment”, is dedicated to these events.

About 70 thousand people were saved from the ghetto. Division engineer V.L. Baranovsky recalled: “I remember we entered the house. The rooms are filled with 20-30 people ... But by then our soldiers already knew where we got and what was happening here. They entered the apartments, pointed to the red stars of their earflaps, as best they could, explained to people that they were free. Then, field kitchens appeared on the streets of the ghetto. It smelled of food. "

It should be noted that a number of diplomats and even the papal nuncio, who issued thousands of fake documents to Jewish families, were engaged in the salvation of Jews in Budapest.

Hunger in Budapest

During the siege throughout the city: in Buda and in Pest - about 800 thousand civilians remained. Efforts to evacuate the population were minimal, in addition, many decided not to leave, hoping for an early outcome. SS General Pfeffer-Wildenbruch admitted in his diary that the inhabitants were left to their own devices: "People practically do not receive food, large blocks of the city are left without water, lighting ... dissatisfaction is growing."

# GRU45 Information was received that papal nuncio Angelo Rotta suggested Budapest’s defense commander Pfeffer-Wildenbruch to stop resistance in order to save the civilian population of the Hungarian capital from suffering. Hungarian unit commanders also support surrender pic.twitter.com/dNF55GzrVC

In the morning, huge queues gathered at grocery stores, bakeries, and water sources. The front line moved around the city, shelling was carried out, and it was unsafe to stand in them. Deputy Head of the Main Political Administration of the Red Army I.V. Shikin wrote in a report:

“The population has eaten all the horses killed during the fighting. The lack of food in hospitals is especially acute ... There are deaths due to hunger. The begging by locals of bread from our fighters and officers became a mass phenomenon. ”

# 2Ukr45 Defenders of Buda are pushed to Castle Hill. Sella Kalman Square was taken; German defense in the Varoshmayor area collapsed. Our tanks broke into the Seine Square and crushed the positions of the artillery battalion of the 12th Hungarian Reserve. divisions. The Hungarians on Pink Hill surrendered. pic.twitter.com/P8cogQLbQB

Despite the participation of Hungarian units in the war on the territory of the USSR and the cruelty of Hungarian punitive detachments that destroyed entire settlements, the Soviet leadership demanded that the Red Army soldiers have a friendly attitude towards the civilian population of Hungary.

To breakthrough

During the siege, famine was not only among civilians, but also in the garrison. Soviet artillery shot down most of the aircraft and cargo, trying to deliver supplies over the "air bridge".

# 2Ukr45 This morning, German gliders made another attempt to land on the Bloody Meadow in Buda. Almost all of them were shot down or collapsed on buildings. The air bridge, at least somehow supplying the garrison of Budapest, can be considered more inactive. pic.twitter.com/PjCsZmQcf2

The command inside the city more and more clearly saw the futility of resistance, especially taking into account the next failed operation to break the blockade from the outside - Conrad III. Although the offensive from Lake Balaton was more successful than the previous two operations, it was still stopped 25 km from the besieged capital.

# GRU45 A radiogram from Berlin was intercepted by the commander of the defense of Budapest Pfeffer-Wildenbruch. Hitler does not give the garrison permission to escape from the environment, hoping to gain a few more days. In fact, the garrison of Budapest has already been sacrificed and written off. pic.twitter.com/qokBa2OAg9

Hitler again forbade the besieged to leave the city: with or without battle. New weeks of fighting ensued. Unlike the fairly flat Pest, Buda stands on the hills, which gave the artillery and garrison marksmen some advantages, but also made many streets the targets of constant shelling of the Soviet side.

By February 10, after bloody battles for the southern station, the Red Army approached Castle Hill, effectively cutting off the southern part of the defending garrison from the northern.

# GRU45 At 17:50 a radiogram from Budapest was intercepted. The city’s defense commander Obergruppenführer Pfeffer-Wildenbruch informs the headquarters of Army Group South that he decided to make a breakthrough with the remaining troops. After the message, the radio station disappeared from the air. pic.twitter.com/Pq6HHOmPBe

The following evening, about 28,000 German and Hungarian soldiers made a desperate attempt to get out of the encirclement. Pfeffer-Wildenbruch radiated to his command that he was making a breakthrough, and immediately went off the air so that they would not have time to pass the ban on him. The Germans and Hungarians managed to break through the barrier in the city, literally passing through the mountains of their own corpses.

# Malinowski45 From Budapest they report that our units preferred to let the masses of the distraught enemy pass, with animal stubbornness rushing out of the city, despite the enormous losses in the night battle. The human stream tends away from Buda, seized by chaos and panic.

Captain Helmut Friedrich wrote about this watch:

“For commanders of combined arms units, this was a depressing attempt to escape, an animal impulse to save their lives, an act of despair. At that time, soldiers obeyed only the instinct of self-preservation. No one paid attention to what was happening on the sidelines ... Everyone roars “forward”! Right and left, people are also obsessed with the desire to break through the environment ring as soon as possible. They behave like cattle, pushing with their elbows, striding over corpses, kicking the wounded. ”

# 2Ukr45 All enemy armored vehicles participating in the breakthrough from Buda are hit and burned by our fire. To destroy large masses of the enemy, guarded rocket mortars and artillery of all calibers, located in the area of ​​the breakthrough at the moment, are used. pic.twitter.com/z25Hqk3EP6

# 2Ukr45 Hungarian volunteers are of great help in cleaning Buda: it was they who cleaned up the building of the Royal Palace. There are still a lot of enemy troops in the city, but they practically do not offer resistance: many are wounded, the rest rob food depots. pic.twitter.com/znWSkigpx7

External troops reached no more than 800 people. The rest were killed or captured by Soviet units, which took positions on the approaches to Budapest. Pfeffer-Wildenbruch was also captured, trying to leave the city via underground utilities.

# Malinovsky45 The former Budapest defense commander Pfeffer von Wildenbruch was brought to me. I told him directly that for the senseless massacre that he had organized in the city, I would immediately hang him on the square in Buda, but I do not have such authority and am responsible for his head. pic.twitter.com/mAmGo4FDzH

On February 13, the last defending units in Budapest surrendered. A red flag was hoisted over the city. Finally, the city was cleared by February 17.

# Malinovsky45 During the battles for the city of Budapest, troops # 2Ukr45 from the encircled group destroyed 49,982 soldiers and officers, 203 tanks and self-propelled guns, 367 guns of various calibers, 253 armored vehicles and armored personnel carriers, 409 mortars, 1591 machine guns, 189 aircraft. pic.twitter.com/7alqwTZgsM

# Vasilevsky45 Troops # 2Ukr45 and # 3Ukr45 completed the Budapest operation. In 108 days, 56 enemy divisions and brigades were defeated. The German command was forced to transfer to Hungary from the center. section of the Eastern Front of 37 divisions, facilitating the advance of our troops to the west. pic.twitter.com/bmQpbkboYl

Of the European capitals taken by the Red Army, the Budapest Fortress took first place in the duration of street battles. The destruction of the Hungarian capital was significant even though the tanks were minimally involved in the operation, and the bet was on artillery and assault groups. As the historian Dmitry Khazanov notes: “The elevations of Buda were particularly affected;in the area of ​​the Castle, the streets were only guessed, because everything lay in pieces of bricks, pieces of wood or cement dust. Often, residents preferred to move along the roofs of ruined houses ... "

Hungarian historian Christian Ungvari also writes that 38,000 civilians died during the siege: 13 thousand from the hostilities and 25 thousand from starvation and disease.

LIGHTNING # SovInformBuro45 Troops # 2Ukr45 with the assistance of troops # 3Ukr45 after a month and a half siege and stubborn battles in the difficult conditions of a big city 02/13 COMPLETED THE POSITION of the encircled enemy group in BUDAPEST and thereby completely captured the capital of HUNGARY # Pages

The loss of Soviet troops, according to official figures, amounted to about 80,000 people for all 108 days of the Budapest operation, including the offensive, siege, efforts to repel Conrad I, II and III operations, etc. The experience of storming city blocks was transferred to other operations - along with the capture of Poznan, Budapest became a kind of rehearsal of the battle for Berlin. But first, Soviet troops rushed to Vienna.

More interesting shots and facts from the history of the Great Patriotic War are in the #Pobedy Victory project, launched by RT in honor of the upcoming 75th anniversary of the Victory. Join us on Instagram, YouTube, Facebook, VKontakte and follow the hourly chronicle of the last months of the war on Twitter.