Magyar News, 1992. szeptember-1993. augusztus (3. évfolyam, 1-12. szám)
1993-03-01 / 7. szám
IN MEMORY OF 200,000 HUNGARIAN SOLDIERS by Michael B. Ehik January 12,1993 marked the 50th anniversary of the defeat of the Second Hungarian Army. Many Hungarian soldiers were put in an impossible situation and received no assistance from the Axis forces. This summary of the Don River Massacre is written as a tribute to the Hungarian soldiers who should not be forgotten. During World War II Hungary, under the leadership of Regent Admiral Horthy, was allied to Germany in the fight against the Communist Soviets on the Eastern Front Hungary declared war on the Soviet Union on June 27th, 1941, six days after the Germans had invaded the Soviet Union and were engaged in Operation Barbarosa. In the early months of the Barbarosa Campaign, Horthy ordered only a small Hungarian force to be sent out to fight in Russia. Horthy also increased the buildup of the Frontier Forces inside Hungary because he feared an attack from their arch enemies, the Rumanians, more than from the Soviets. Hungarian-German relations were good at this time because many senior officers were either Volksdeutch (people of German descent) or German speaking veterans. Although there wasn’t a strong friendship between Regent Horthy and Hitler, Hitler had once praised the Hungarians as, “A nation of daring cavalrymen.” However, Hitler was concerned by the Hungarian’s hatred for the Rumanians; the Rumanians were also allies of Germany. Horthy as well as many other Hungarians were appalled by the German ’ s deportation and massacre of Jews, and other groups, and tried to stop them when he could. In the Spring of 1942 Germany’s need for more manpower on the Eastern Front became apparent This led to Hitler’s request for additional manpower from his allies. The Hungarian government formed the 2nd Hungarian Army. The Second Hungarian Army was a hastily assembled expeditionary force of 200,000 men. General Gustáv Jány was put in charge of the 2nd Hungarian Army. The army consisted of three corps of infantry divisions and three armored mobile and calvary divisions. Each division had an artillery regiment and medical service unit. The Second Hungarian Army reached Kiev in May, 1942. Here the Hungarian 8th Corps joined up with the Second Hungarian Army. In June, 1942, the Army reached Kursk and later that month advanced with the Second and Fourth German Armies in a joint operation on Voronezh, Russia. The attack lasted on and off for most of the summer due to a heavy defense of the city. The city capitulated in late August to the Axis forces. The German Second Army held the city and a defensive line north of the city along the Don River; the Second Hungarian Army held the defensive line south along the Don River. During the fall and beginning of winter of 1942 the Second Hungarian Army held their Don River positions. As the weather changed and the snows fell, morale among the men went down, especially when the replacements never arrived. There were shortages of food, ammunition, and winter clothing as well. The artillery pressure increased. The Hungarians were also constantly holding back the assaulting Soviet infantry from crossing the river. The Soviet forces were becoming stronger and the Hungarian forces became weaker. On January 12, 1943 the Soviet Red Army launched a massive offensive across the Don River. This came as a complete surprise to all of the Hungarian soldiers and senior officers at the Hungarian General Headquarters. German Intelligence had reported that there were only small pockets of Soviet troops on the eastern banks. General Jány called for assistance from the German armored support, but it came too late to halt the Red Armies offensive. The Hungarian soldiers tried to hold their defensive positions against the Soviet forces on the Don River. The Soviet soldiers, however, came across over to the western banks of the river. They came across on anything that would float; some even swam in the ice cold river. There were so many Russians crossing that the rifles of the Hungarian infantry and the machine guns either jammed or overheated. The artillery ran out of ammunition. The Soviet soldiers were intoxicated, drunk, not being able to make rational judgment on the massacred they were pushed into. It was a massacre; many Hungarians in the frontline trenches and in positions around the Don River were killed by the Soviet bombing raids, artillery, or by the approaching Soviet Red Army. The Soviets attacked the Hungarians all across the frontline of the Don River. Panic, fear, and terror raced through the minds of the Hungarian soldiers as they ran for their lives. The Hungarian soldiers had to retreat and the order to retreat was late. Once the Soviets crossed the river, they took over the abandoned trench positions of the Hungarians and began to fire on the retreating soldiers as they ran. The Soviets concentrated on encircling the entire Second Hungarian Army and came close to almost succeeding. That day countless Hungarian and Soviet soldiers lay dead all around the Don River. The Second Hungarian Army became known as the Dead Army. Out of the original two hundred thousand soldiers sent out to fight in the Soviet Union, one hun-HUNGARIAN ICARUS The legend talks about Icarus and his son Daedalus, both of them attached wings and dared the sun and the water to challenge them in their effort to fly. Well the Hungarians have their legend about flying, but this legend turned out to be true. In the early years of the 1700’s the bishop of Nyitrá, in northern Hungary settled some monks in his territory. These monks strengthened their souls by giving up talking totally. Among them was a layman who seemed to be their physician and many other things as well. He was a craftsman of many trades, a gardener, a carpenter, an alchemist and the list could go on and on. His name was Ciprian. Since nobody said a bad word - or any word - about his comings and goings, Ciprian spent as much time with whatever he wanted to. So it happened that Ciprian spent several years building and improving a set of wings for himself. He included some levers and gears to make the gadget more efficient. One night, convinced that everything was OK, and maybe affected by the full moon, Friar Ciprian climbed up on the top of the stone wall which surrounded the Monastery, and leanedagainst the wind. He glided smoothly for a long time and landed safely on the top of the Crown-hill. It might be hard to be-Page 4 lieve it but there is a document signed by B ishop Mattyasovski. When the bishop was informed about the great event he didn't show much appreciation but got hold of Friar Ciprian and threw him out of the monastery without the wings. This time the Friar didn’t have a soft landing. And nobody knew what happened to him from then on. What we know is that the bishop summoned the people of Szepesbéla to the marketplace, condemned the wings as the gadgets of the devil and with a very emotional outburst put the wings into the fire to perish. It was a rare treat for the town people, and they expressed their gratitude with screaming and yelling. Some probably asked for an encore. Almost a hundred years later in 1794 in Dömösd another Hungarian showed up with wings. They were quite sophisticated according to the “Magyar Merkurius” - the newspaper of the time. The man took his wings to the meadow, and leaped from one haystack to the other keeping a very accurate rhythm. There was no need for a bishop in this case because people made fun of the man who in exchange broke the wings into bits and pieces.
