Siege of Budapest
On the 19th of March 1944, German forces launched Operation Margarethe to enter Hungary. This preemptive strike occurred as political pressure mounted within the Hungarian government to exit World War II. The nation had already suffered nearly 200,000 deaths fighting the Soviet Union over three years. By early 1944, front lines approached Hungarian cities directly. Regent Miklós Horthy attempted to negotiate a separate peace with Allied powers in October 1944. Hitler responded by launching Operation Panzerfaust to keep Hungary on the Axis side. He forced Horthy to abdicate from his position of power. A far-right National Socialist Arrow Cross Party took control under Ferenc Szálasi. This ultra-nationalist government prepared defenses for the capital alongside German allies. IX SS Mountain Corps arrived in Budapest with two Waffen-SS divisions to strengthen city defenses.
The Red Army began its offensive against Budapest on the 29th of October 1944. More than one million men advanced in two operating maneuver groups. Their plan was to isolate Budapest from remaining German and Hungarian forces. On the 7th of November 1944, Soviet and Romanian troops entered eastern suburbs twenty kilometers from the old town. After a pause in operations, the Red Army resumed its offensive on the 19th of December. A road linking Budapest to Vienna was seized by Soviet troops on the 26th of December. This action completed the encirclement of the city. Nearly thirty-three thousand German soldiers and thirty-seven thousand Hungarian soldiers became trapped inside. Over eight hundred thousand civilians also found themselves trapped within the city walls. Adolf Hitler declared Budapest a fortress city called Festung Budapest. He ordered it defended to the last man. Waffen SS General Karl Pfeffer-Wildenbruch commanded the city's defenses. Joseph Stalin wanted to display full strength before the Yalta Conference. He ordered Rodion Malinovsky to seize the city without delay.
Street fighting in Budapest increased in intensity as winter set in. The loss of Ferihegy airport on the 27th of December 1944 made supply a decisive factor. Until the 9th of January 1945, German troops used main avenues and park areas near Buda Castle for aircraft landings. Before the Danube froze, barges delivered supplies under cover of darkness and fog. Food shortages became common among both sides. Soldiers resorted to eating their horses when other food sources disappeared. Extreme temperatures affected German and Hungarian troops severely. Fighting broke out in the sewers as both sides used them for troop movements. Six Soviet marines reached Castle Hill through underground tunnels and captured a German officer. They returned safely to their own lines while still underground. Ambushes in the sewers were set up by Axis troops using local inhabitants as guides. In mid-January, Csepel Island was taken along with its military factories producing Panzerfausts and shells. On the 18th of January, German troops destroyed all five bridges spanning the Danube despite protests from Hungarian officers. One bridge was the famous Chain Bridge dating from 1849.
In January 1945, Germans launched Operation Konrad I on the 1st of January. The IV SS Panzer Corps attacked from Tata through hilly terrain northwest of Budapest. Soviet command sent four more divisions to meet this threat on the 3rd of January. Romanian divisions were recalled on the 15th of January due to inefficiency. This Soviet action stopped the offensive near Bicske less than twenty kilometers west of Budapest. Germans withdrew on the 12th of January before launching Operation Konrad II on the 7th of January. The IV SS Panzer Corps attacked from Esztergom toward Budapest Airport to capture it. This offensive was halted near the airport. On the 18th of January 1945, Operation Konrad III began when IV SS Panzer Corps entered battle again. In two days, German tanks reached the Danube at Dunapentele. By the 26th of January, the offensive had reached roughly twenty-five kilometers from the capital ring. Stalin ordered his troops to hold ground at all costs. Two Army Corps dispatched to assault Budapest moved south to counter the German offensive. German troops got within twenty kilometers but could not maintain their advance due to fatigue and supply problems. They withdrew on the 28th of January 1945.
On the night of the 11th of February, approximately twenty-eight thousand German and Hungarian troops began streaming north-west away from Castle Hill. They moved in three waves with thousands of civilians accompanying each group. Entire families pushed prams through snow and ice during this desperate escape attempt. Soviets awaited them in prepared positions around Széll Kálmán tér area. Troops used heavy fog to their advantage for the first wave. Their sheer numbers allowed many to escape initially. The second and third waves faced deadly Soviet artillery and rocket batteries. Five to ten thousand people managed to reach wooded hills northwest of Budapest toward Vienna. Only six hundred to seven hundred German and Hungarian soldiers reached main German lines from Budapest. Most escapees were killed, wounded, or captured by Soviet troops. Pfeffer-Wildenbruch and Hindy emerged from a tunnel running from the Castle District where they were captured. The remaining defenders finally surrendered on the 13th of February 1945.
According to historian Krisztián Ungváry, thirty-eight thousand civilians died during the siege. About thirteen thousand deaths resulted from military action while twenty-five thousand came from starvation, disease, and other causes. Fifteen thousand Jews were killed in mass executions by the far-right Hungarian nationalist Arrow Cross Party. After hostilities ended, Soviet staff prohibited ill-treatment of prisoners and civilians almost every unit received such orders. However, Budapest was flooded by Soviet deserters who carried out looting and mass rape. Estimates vary from five thousand to two hundred thousand women and girls raped during this period. Norman Naimark argues that Hungarian girls were kidnapped and taken to Red Army quarters where they were imprisoned and repeatedly raped. Some were murdered after being held captive. In January 1945, thirty-two thousand ethnic Germans from Hungary were arrested and transported to the Soviet Union as forced laborers. Many died there due to hardship and ill-treatment. Overall, more than five hundred thousand Hungarians were transported to the Soviet Union including between one hundred thousand and one hundred seventy thousand Hungarian ethnic Germans.
Charles Farkas born in 1926 included his experience during the siege in his memoir Vanished by the Danube: Peace, War, Revolution, and Flight to the West. László Dezső lived at 32 Mészáros Street with his family when he was fifteen years old in 1944. This area was heavily attacked because of its proximity to Southern Railway Station. Dezső kept a diary throughout the entire siege period. The memoirs of András Németh describe the siege and bombing of empty school buildings used as observation posts. Heinz Landau's Goodbye Transylvania presents a German soldier's view of the battle. Pinball Games: Arts of Survival in Nazi and Communist Eras written by George F. Eber was published posthumously in 2010. It chronicles clever survival strategies employed by a twenty-year-old Hungarian and his family trapped but unwilling to capitulate. Ervin Y. Galantay was fourteen years old when he served as dispatch runner for Vannay Volunteer Battalion. His diary describes day-to-day life and survival of both civilians and soldiers. Joseph Szentkiralyi hid on upper floors of buildings during bombing raids to avoid capture. He risked leaving bomb shelters at night to butcher frozen horse carcasses found in streets. Daily rations eventually consisted of melted snow, horse meat, and one hundred fifty grams of bread.
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Common questions
When did the Siege of Budapest begin and end?
The Red Army began its offensive against Budapest on the 29th of October 1944. The remaining defenders finally surrendered on the 13th of February 1945.
Who commanded German forces during the Siege of Budapest?
Waffen SS General Karl Pfeffer-Wildenbruch commanded the city's defenses. Adolf Hitler declared Budapest a fortress city called Festung Budapest and ordered it defended to the last man.
How many civilians died during the Siege of Budapest?
According to historian Krisztián Ungváry, thirty-eight thousand civilians died during the siege. About thirteen thousand deaths resulted from military action while twenty-five thousand came from starvation, disease, and other causes.
What happened to Hungarian Jews during the Siege of Budapest?
Fifteen thousand Jews were killed in mass executions by the far-right Hungarian nationalist Arrow Cross Party. Soviet staff prohibited ill-treatment of prisoners and civilians almost every unit received such orders after hostilities ended.
Why was Operation Konrad launched during the Siege of Budapest?
Germans launched Operation Konrad I on the 1st of January 1945 to relieve the encircled city. The IV SS Panzer Corps attacked from Tata through hilly terrain northwest of Budapest to break the Soviet ring around the capital.