Here is a little information to start off with. http://www.vorosmeteor.hu/szakirodalom/03/krog.pdf Badge. World War 2 Photos - Hungarian Forces shows Paratroops marching. Regards Tom
As Owen had remarked in another thread there were actions involving Hungarian Paratroops and the Soviets during the Battle for Budapest. It seems that a battalion of the paras were incorporated into the St. Laslo Division during the battle. Whilst looking for this I happened upon a discussion on another forum about this unit: Hungary & World War II - Hungarian Parachute Units? They used Savioia Marchettis as transport and some photos of the planes are included in the attached link. Actaully its a fairly interesting read, even if there is no detailed posts about their involvement in the Battle of Budapest.
A couple of maps from Krisztian Ungvary's book Battle For Budapest showing locations of Hungarian para battalions on the outskirts of Budapest late 1944.
Owen, I have ben after a copy of Battle for Budapest do you recommend it? and if so is it worth the £25 -£40 price mark I have seen it at regards, Jason
Owen, I have ben after a copy of Battle for Budapest do you recommend it? and if so is it worth the £25 -£40 price mark I have seen it at regards, Jason It's alot cheaper than that , mate. ungvary - battle for budapest - AbeBooks http://www.play.com/Books/Books/4-/209084/Battle-for-Budapest/Product.html Yes buy it. I'll add some quotes from it tomorrow regards actions involving the Hungarian Paras
It's alot cheaper than that , mate. ungvary - battle for budapest - AbeBooks http://www.play.com/Books/Books/4-/209084/Battle-for-Budapest/Product.html Yes buy it. Thanks Owen, thats a better price or 4 and the one shown for £48 is one of the expensive ones I refer to, I saw in in the shop listed in Tintern, and have always wondered why it was so dear its a first edition granted but not an old book or unavalible so why the price hike. I posted briefly on Hungarian Paras over at WW2F so would be keen to learn more cheers, Jason
It seems that a battalion of the paras were incorporated into the St. Laslo Division during the battle. Well, before the battle begun, the batalion was transformed into the St. László division, which was (should have been) at the time the elite of the Hungarian Army. The plan of the high command was to transform the whole div. into a para div., but in the lack of time, training facilities, equipment, etc, the plan wasn't realised. Insted, after breaking out of the so-called "Budapest pocket" the div. was often used for covering the back of the retreating Germans, as human flesh does stop bullets with a greater efficiency than sandbags (and they are also more mobile than sandbags...). Despite being usually outnumbered and not too well equiped, the div. earned the respect of the Germans. The div. surrendered to the Brits on the 11th of march 1945, in order to avoid Soviet captivity. The Brits handed every member of the div. to the Soviets.
Found great russian book called Battle for Budapest and looked thruout it to find mentions of hungarian paras but no luck. EDIT: you can download this book here Shturm_Budapeshta.rar — RGhost — файлообменник (press "Скачать" button) Text is Russian but all pics captioned in English and Russian EDIT2: unpacked pdf: Budapest Sturm.pdf — RGhost — файлообменник
Major Edomer Tassonyi commanded I/I Para Bn, he was awarded 1st & 2nd Class Iron Crosses. Anyone know more about him?
Map then. This is where I/I Para Bn were until 15th Nov '44. The other location is hard to find as the text on the map is so small, from where they were from 15th to 23 rd Nov.(see top map in post #5) Image now.
New book coming out in April that maybe of interest. ENTRAPMENT. SOVIET OPERATIONS TO CAPTURE BUDAPEST, DECEMBER 1944 --- Helion & Company Limited Entrapment deals with the enormous offensive efforts of the Soviet 2nd and 3rd Ukrainian Fronts to capture the capital of Hungary before the end of 1944 and thus to clear their way to Vienna. It also describes the desperate efforts of Hitler to retain his last significant European ally and thus to prevent the Red Army from reaching Vienna and seizing the vital oilfields in Southwestern Hungary. The Soviet offensive against Budapest began at the end of October 1944; with the impending Yalta conference Stalin wished to capture the city as rapidly as possible. Fierce fighting ensued, with the suburbs penetrated by early November. By 26 December the city was encircled, but despite massive Soviet efforts it remained in Axis hands at the end of 1944. This book is an informative read with a fresh view of the events in question. The author has utilised a large quantity of previously unpublished Soviet and German documents discovered in the archives of Germany, Russia and the USA. This allows the story to be told from the perspective of both sides of the conflict. The text is supported by a number of photographs, maps, references, tables and detailed appendices, including orders