Kaján Imre (szerk.): Zalai Múzeum 21. Emlékkötet Mindszenty József tiszteletére. Muzeológiai tanulmányok Zala megyéről (Zalaegerszeg, 2013)
Muzeológiai tanulmányok - Bekő Tamás: Zalatárnokiak a Donnál, 1942–1943
Zalatárnokiak a Donnál, 1942-1943 189 Soldiers from Zalatárnok near the Don River, 1942-1943 During the setting up of the Hungarian 2nd Army in the spring ofl942, the mobilized III Corps-and within them primarily the units of the 9th Light Divison - called to arms most of the ex-servicemen from Zalatárnok and Szentkozmadombja. Most of the people called to war were enlisted in the military units stationed in Zala County’s main towns: 1st Battalion (Nagykanizsa) and 3rd Battalion (Zalaegerszeg) of the 17th Infantry Regiment, 9th Field Artillery Regiment (Nagykanizsa), the transport, military supply and other units of the 3rd Horse Artillery Train (Keszthely). However, exact data about the mobilized men from both villages are not available to us, but according to current knowledge, their number was close to 90-100. The units of the 9th Light Divison started to off-load in the sector of Kursk from 5"1 May, where the troops were being deployed into battle. It was not before long that the first honvéd (Hungarian soldier) from Zalatárnok was also injured. On 28th June 1942 - around the town of Tim - the III Corps also started its offensive operation to reach the Don. The brunt of the attack pressed on the soldiers of the 9th Light Divison. The soldiers from Zalatárnok and Szentkozmadombja serving in the 1st and 3rd Battalions of the 17th Infantry Regiment took their part heroically in the five-day battle with a serious loss against the Soviet, who tenaciously protected their well-established positions. Fortunately, the village did not have heroic dead, although the first honvéd from Zalatárnok was injured seriously there. József Gombos, who served with the telephone section of the III/l 7th Battalion, was injured in the battle of Gniloye on 30th June, where he suffered a splintery facture of his left arm by a Soviet dumdum bullet. After having success in the battles, the units of the 2nd Army from 7th July gradually reached the Don River after several weeks of gruelling march. They immediately received an order to establish stable defensive positions there. The Hungarian honvéds defended the Don River over a long stretch of 200-kilometer. The 9'h Light Divison of the III Corps had to defend the northernmost part of this front line - the line of Gremyach’e, Rudkino and Aleksandrovka south from Voronyezh - over about a 20-25 kilometer long stretch. From July 1942 the Soviet troops retreating behind the Don launched strong attacks shortly against the Hungarian army in order to establish bridgeheads on the right bank of the river. The intensity of the battles around the bridgeheads was remarkably fierce and both sides suffered great losses. The main blow fell at the Don bend at Uriv and its environs, but the enemy also occupied a larger bridgehead in the frontline of the 9th Light Divison at Kostenki and a smaller one north from Gremyach’e. On 15th August the assault troops of the enemy broke through the defence line of the 111/17th Battalion at Gremyach’e, where during the fights Lance Corporal József Kása from Zalatárnok suffered a serious head-injury. The soldier desperately wounded with a brain wreck was transported to the 105th field hospital of Stary Osko, where despite all the medical effort he died after a week of suffering. The first dead hero of Zalatárnok in the eastern theatre of war was laid to rest in the military cemetery of the town’s park. Thereafter the honvéds of Zalatárnok did not have significant losses until the breakthrough by Don River. On 12th January 1943 the offensive corps of the Red Army broke through the Don’s front line at Uriv after thorough, well-prepared and careful preparation and then they began advancing. The defence of the war- wearied and poorly equipped Hungarian Army was destroyed in a short time by the brutal cold weather and the terrible superiority of the enemy. Just a few IV Corps honvéds from Zalatárnok experienced the horrors of the breakthrough directly. The rest of the honvéds from the village was defending the northern frontline at the same time and just on 26th and 27th January started to retreat. The III/l7th Battalion of the 9th Light Divison was the rearguard of the III Corps, which - with numerous honvéds from Zalatárnok among the soldiers-last left the bridgeheads along the Don. Speaking of how horrible the retreat was and what suffering the honvéds of both villages went through, only the records of the casualty lists are revealed. 27 of the 29 heroic dead lost their life during the retirement. The memories of the Don’s heroes and the victims of the Second World War are preserved worthily
