Hello friends! Today we will talk about how long the German army held out in Hungary at the end of World War II. Soviet troops occupied Budapest on February 13, 1945. Now, let's find out.
On Christmas Eve 1944, Soviet troops surrounded Budapest. The city remained largely intact throughout World War II. Except in the summer of 1944, the U.S. military carried out a few brief bombings, but the targets were also industrial areas and railroads. On the night of February 11, 1945, about 28,000 German and Hungarian troops began to break through from the last stronghold on Buda Castle Hill to the northwest. But the rocket artillery of the Soviet troops, surrounded their escape routes. Most of the fugitives were killed, wounded, or captured by Soviet troops. The remaining German defenders finally surrendered to the Soviet Union on February 13, 1945.
In these last breakout battles, the German and Hungarian armies suffered heavy losses, and the entire combined division suffered heavy losses. Nearly 150,000 German and Hungarian soldiers were killed. The number of Soviet troops was between 100,000 and 160,000. More than 500,000 Hungarians, including 170,000 German-Hungarians, were sent to labor camps in the Soviet Union, most of whom died as a result of intense labor or abuse. The Soviet siege of the Hungarian capital completely exhausted the entire German army. For the Soviet troops, the siege was the last rehearsal before the Battle of Berlin. This also included allowing the Soviet Union to break through the Austrian border during the Vienna Offensive on March 30, 1945.
Indeed, on April 13, 1945, two months after the surrender of Budapest, the Austrian capital fell. Three weeks later, the Soviet Red Army raised its flag atop the Brandenburg Gate in the center of Berlin.
In fact, in the battle in the city of Budapest, due to the siege of the Soviet army, the shortage of food became more and more serious, and the German soldiers had to rely on themselves to find food**, and some even ate all the horses. In addition, the extreme temperature at that time also seriously affected the combat effectiveness of the German and Hungarian armies. At the same time, the Soviet army soon found itself in the same situation as the Germans at Stalingrad, relying on snipers and sappers to move forward. And at that time, even under Soviet fire, the German military factories in Hungary were still producing anti-tank ** iron fists and shells.
On January 17, 1945, the 4th SS Panzer Division, which had been transferred northeast of Lake Balaton in Hungary, was again engaged in battle, known as Operation Conrad III, and two days later, German tanks reached the Danube, tearing the Soviet TransDanube front to shreds. By January 26, German tanks had reached a position 25 kilometers from the capital, Budapest. Stalin ordered his troops to hold their positions at all costs, and then the two Soviet corps, which were besieging Budapest, hastily moved to the south of the city to prevent the Germans from coming to the rescue.
By the time the 4th SS Panzer Division arrived at this position, it was already difficult to maintain the momentum of its advance due to fatigue and supply problems. At this time, the German defenders of Budapest asked for permission to leave the city and sought to escape from the encirclement. Hitler refused. Thus, by February, the Germans could no longer hold their ground, and the fate of the defenders of Budapest was doomed to this. However, during the siege, the Jews who were trapped in the city of Budapest suffered the most. During the siege, the Hungarian far-right nationalist Arrow Cross Party began mass executions of Jews, killing 15,000 people in a matter of days.
In total, the Germans held out in Budapest for almost two months. During this time, they put up stubborn resistance, but in the end they could not defeat the offensive of the Soviet troops.
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