The brutal battle for Pest
A crew of a Soviet ML-20 howitzer on Kalvariya Square in Budapest
Breakthrough "Attila Line"
A new Soviet offensive on the Pest bridgehead began on December 20, 1944 (Storming Budapest). Three rifle corps were thrown into the offensive. On December 25, Soviet-Romanian troops overcame the first and second lines of defense of the so-called "Attila Line", which ran between suburban villages and the outskirts of the city. German-Hungarian troops retreated to the more powerful third line of defense, which ran along the capital's suburbs.
On December 26, Soviet and Romanian troops penetrated the defenses of the 10th and 12th Hungarian divisions. The counterattack of the Vannay battalion somewhat improved the defenders' position. However, on December 27, Soviet troops managed to break through the enemy's third line of defense. The Hungarians retreated.
A battery of 122-mm howitzers of the 1938 model (M-30) of the 2nd Ukrainian Front fires on the approaches to Budapest. Lieutenant Omelchenko's guns shell enemy fortifications
The command of Army Group South and the command of the Budapest garrison believed that Pest had to be abandoned, since it was unrealistic to hold on to it. The retreat was supposed to stabilize the front, strengthen the Buda garrison, facilitating its defense or the possibility of breaking out of the "cauldron".
However, Lieutenant General Grolman, Chief of Staff of Army Group South, and the commander of the 6th Army, General Hermann Balck, argued about when and how to begin the planned retreat. The command of Army Group South proposed to withdraw troops immediately, the commander of the 6th Army - gradually. Garrison commander Pfeffer-Wildenbruch ordered preparations for a breakout from Budapest.
But the breakthrough did not take place. Hitler ordered not to abandon Budapest. The Fuhrer was also against abandoning the Pest bridgehead. The command of the 9th SS Mountain Corps continued to prepare the breakthrough independently, hoping that Hitler would change his mind. In the end, the hopes of the German generals were not justified. The Fuhrer stood his ground.
The Hungarian command in general did not have the right to vote when making such decisions. The Hungarian General Staff and the commander of the 1 of the Hungarian corps, Ivan Hindi, were planning a breakthrough from the capital from December 26. However, all requests from the Hungarian command Pfeffer-Wildenbruch gave one answer: no retreat!
A destroyed Hungarian Zrínyi II self-propelled gun, abandoned on Aprod Street in Budapest. On the right is an Italian artillery Breda TP32 tractor used by the Hungarian army. In the background on the left is the Palace Garden Kiosk. 1945.
Fierce fighting continued on the Pest bridgehead. The situation of the German-Hungarian troops was especially difficult in the northeastern section of the Pest bridgehead. Here, Soviet troops reached the city blocks. The German troops counterattacked several times, but all their attacks were stifled.
In these battles, the Budapest Security Battalion, which was part of the Hungarian 1st Army Corps, was almost completely destroyed. Part of this battalion went over to the Red Army. Meanwhile, Romanian troops captured the Cincot area on the night of December 29-30.
Death of parliamentarians
Soviet front commanders Malinovsky and Tolbukhin understood that the siege of the city and street fighting would take a long time. At the same time, the Soviet command was already planning an offensive on Bratislava and Vienna. A large European city with a million inhabitants had to be taken as soon as possible. Therefore, on December 29, in agreement with Stalin, the Soviet command proposed that the German-Hungarian garrison capitulate.
Those who surrendered were promised numerous concessions: the Germans were promised immediate return to their homeland after the end of the war, everyone was offered to keep their awards and uniforms, and officers were offered cold weapon. They promised normal food, medical care for the wounded and sick. It was an honorable capitulation.
The letter with the ultimatum was to be delivered to Buda by Ilya Afanasyevich Ostapenko, and to Pest by a Hungarian by origin, Captain Miklos Steinmetz. When Steinmetz's group with a white flag approached the enemy positions, the Germans opened fire with machine guns (according to another version, the car was shot at with a cannon). The Soviet car was shot up. Steinmetz and Junior Sergeant Filimonenko died on the spot, and the third member of the group, Lieutenant Kuznetsov, was seriously wounded.
Ostapenko's group moved out later and knew about the tragedy of Steinmetz's group, but did not abandon its mission. Ostapenko's group was also fired upon as it approached enemy positions, but no one was hurt. The German guard escorted the envoys to the headquarters of the 8th SS Cavalry Division. Ostapenko handed the senior officer an ultimatum and spoke with Pfeffer-Wildenbruch (Ostapenko spoke fluent German). The Germans refused to surrender. The envoys were blindfolded and taken to the front line and released.
On the way back, the group came under mortar fire. Ostapenko was killed, two other members of the group, Orlov and Gorbatyuk, survived.
There is an opinion that in the conditions of constant firefight on the front line, Steinmetz's group was not destroyed on purpose, and Ostapenko's group was hit by an accidental shot (possibly even "friendly fire", common in all wars). But, be that as it may, the Soviet parliamentarians were killed, and the Germans rejected the ultimatum.
On December 31, Soviet radio reported the death of the parliamentarians. The Wehrmacht High Command ordered an investigation, since the parliamentarians were officially protected by international law. The shell fragments removed from Ostapenko's body by Soviet experts were of Hungarian origin.
The commander of the Budapest group, Pfeffer-Wildenbruch, denied his guilt. Moreover, he lied to such an extent that he even denied the arrival of Soviet officers, reporting on four German soldiers sent as parliamentarians, whom the Soviet soldiers themselves then shot. Despite many witnesses, the SS man misled his superiors. As a result, the German high command, deceived by Pfeffer-Wildenbruch, declared that the reports of the death of the Soviet parliamentarians were “a crude trick of Soviet propaganda».
Thus, the commandant of Budapest, Pfeffer-Wildenbruch, made the capitulation of the Hungarian capital impossible. And the German high command, using this case for propaganda purposes, categorically forbade the commandants of all the blockaded "fortresses" (Budapest, Königsberg, Breslau, Poznan, Glogau and Küstrin) and the garrisons defending them to enter into negotiations with Soviet representatives, since they allegedly "grossly violated" the norms of world law.
Statues of Ostapenko and Captain Steinmetz in Memento Park. Author: Kerenyi Jeno (Ostapenko). Year: 1951. The monument to Captain Ostapenko once stood on the highway to Lake Balaton. Memento Park is a museum in Budapest that opened in 1993. The main part of the park is occupied by a collection of sculptures from the socialist period. stories Hungary, with a total of 40 exhibits. Most of these sculptures were dismantled in 1989 and taken to the park, where an open-air museum was created.
The first stage of the assault on Pest
On December 30, 1944, a strong artillery and aviation preparation, it lasted for several days. For three days, Soviet artillery and aviation ironed out the enemy positions. The war turned one of the most beautiful cities in Europe into ruins. The civilian population had to pay for the political mistakes of the Hungarian leadership, who hid underground until the end of the battle.
The German-Hungarian command, which did not plan to defend the city for long, which only by Hitler's will became a "fortress", did not create serious reserves of ammunition, especially artillery. Therefore, the very numerous German-Hungarian artillery could not fully respond to the Soviet artillery. Ammunition had to be saved. And some heavy guns left without shells were even used to build barricades across the streets of Budapest. The supply of mines was almost exhausted by the end of December 1944.
Soviet tank crews on the armor of a evacuation vehicle based on a T-34 tank in Budapest
Almost simultaneously with the artillery and air preparation, taking advantage of the pauses in the attacks, the Soviet infantry went on the attack. Assault groups were formed. Also, each infantry regiment had to create an operational group, which included a company of machine gunners, a reconnaissance group, and a special technical group. In the event of a critical situation, this group had to react quickly.
With the onset of street fighting, artillery began to be used not to break through the usual defense line, when most guns fired from closed positions, but for direct fire. To protect the guns from enemy fire, stone walls and blockages were built in front of them, or the practice was to withdraw the gun behind the walls of buildings after firing. The tanks participating in the assault were divided into groups of 1-2 vehicles, subordinated to rifle battalions, which formed assault groups. The tanks now operated as part of the assault groups, shooting at enemy firing points.
Flamethrowers played a major role in the assault. With a small number of tanks, the troops storming Budapest had a fairly large number of flamethrowers. Thus, by January 6, the 30th Rifle Corps was supported by an army battalion of knapsack flamethrowers and the 173rd separate company of Roxists (they were armed with ROKS knapsack flamethrowers), which in total numbered about one and a half hundred flamethrowers.
German self-propelled guns "Hetzer" and "Hummel", destroyed and abandoned during the battle for Budapest
The 18th Guards Rifle Corps was reinforced by the 39th separate Roxist battalion. After the sappers broke through the walls of the buildings that were enemy strongholds, the flamethrowers set fire to the building, including the basements, smoking out the enemy.
On the very first day, the positions of the enemy's 12 reserve division were broken through. Soviet troops advancing on the southern and eastern outskirts of Pest, captured large areas. By evening, part of the Hungarian troops, retreating to the church in Rakoszentmichai, was completely destroyed. German 13-I tank division tried to counterattack, but suffered heavy losses.
December 31 German-Hungarian troops again counterattacked. In particular, on the southern outskirts of Pest, the 22 th Cavalry SS division launched a counterattack. However, almost all attacks failed. Only in some areas the Germans and Hungarians have slightly advanced. At the same time, the Soviet troops continued the offensive and continued to push the defenders of the Hungarian capital.
On January 1, 1945, the fighting continued with the same ferocity. The troops of the Hungarian 10th Infantry and 12th Reserve Divisions were under threat of encirclement. Soviet troops broke through the defense line, which ran along the railway embankment, in several places.
Aerial photography of the bombing of the Lagimanosi railway bridge connecting the Buda and Pest districts of Budapest
On January 2-3, Soviet infantry, supported by tanks, continued their offensive. During the first days of the assault, Soviet tanks rushed forward, losing contact with the riflemen. As a result, during these days, a small tank group of the assault forces (tank battalion of the 3rd tank brigade) lost 7 combat vehicles burned and 5 damaged. Therefore, in the future, tank crews organized closer interaction with infantry and artillery, began to fight in the ranks of assault groups, which determined their greater effectiveness. Thus, on January 4, the tank battalion lost only one vehicle.
At the same time, the Hungarian troops, despite fierce resistance, continued to retreat and suffered heavy losses in killed and captured. During the battle on January 3, the number of fighters in the battalions of the 12th reserve division was reduced to 10-20 people. The weakest in spirit surrendered en masse. After a few more days of fighting, the total number of the 10th infantry and 12th reserve divisions was reduced to 507 people. However, our troops also suffered serious losses. Thus, the 2nd Romanian division was bled dry and withdrawn to the rear. To strengthen the advancing forces, the 36th Guards Rifle Division was brought into battle.
Soviet soldiers escorting Hungarian prisoners. Behind the column stands a Panzer IV/70 (V) tank destroyer from the Feldherrnhalle panzergrenadier division, destroyed by artillerymen from Major Menshikov's unit. Budapest, Debozy Street, January 1945
On January 3, the 18th Rifle Corps came close to the Budapest Hippodrome, which the Germans used as an improvised airfield. By the end of January 3, our troops reached the Rakosszentmihaly station. On the night of January 4, with the help of tanks, the trains standing at the station were uncoupled and pulled apart, freeing up space for an infantry attack.
The German command, trying to strengthen the Hungarian troops and prevent desertion, began to "dilute" the German companies with Hungarian soldiers. As a result, almost the entire city came under German command. The defense of Pest was reinforced by German troops. Units of the 271st People's Grenadier Division were transferred to Pest. The defense of Pest was entrusted to the commander of the 13th Panzer Division, Gerhard Schmidhuber.
Until January 5, our troops in Pest, gnawing through the enemy's fortifications, slowly advanced forward along the entire front. After that, the front stabilized somewhat, and a certain calm set in. The commander of the 2nd UF Rodion Malinovsky decided to change the strategy and redistribute efforts along the defense perimeter. The enemy was putting up strong resistance, and it was decided to stop the practice of applying pressure along the entire front. It was necessary to concentrate efforts on key areas and break up the enemy's defending group.
Destroyed Delhi railway station and wrecked cars during the battle for Budapest
The second stage
On January 7, 1945, Malinovsky decided to concentrate his troops' efforts in two directions in order to cut through the enemy group defending Pest. The commander of the 7th Guards Army was to organize an attack with three divisions in the general direction of Hantshar Street, Liist Avenue, and reach the Danube River no later than the 11th. The commander of the 18th Guards Rifle Corps was to deliver the main attack with at least one and a half divisions in the general direction of Valery and further to the railway bridge in order to reach the Danube River no later than March 11.
At this time, to the west of the Hungarian capital, a stubborn battle was underway between the troops of the 3rd UV and the 4th SS Panzer Corps trying to unblock Budapest, so Buda was relatively calm. This allowed the German command to maneuver reserves and strengthen the Pest garrison at the expense of troops from Buda.
Therefore, Malinovsky ordered the destruction of the remaining bridges across the Danube River, connecting Buda and Pest. To solve this problem, aviation and 203-mm and 152-mm howitzers were used. However, it was not easy to destroy the bridges. The main type of attack aircraft of the 5th Air Army was the Il-2 attack aircraft, and they were capable of lifting bombs up to 250 kg, which could not cause serious damage to the strong stone and iron structures of the bridges. Therefore, the first air strikes were ineffective, causing minor damage. Soviet artillery fire at a long distance also did not initially produce the desired result.
At the Pest bridgehead, the line of defense was noticeably narrowing with each passing day. Soviet troops had penetrated deep into the enemy's defenses. Hungarian troops suffered enormous losses. During the day, their uncollected corpses were illuminated by the sun, and at night, by the fires.
A crew of a Soviet 76mm ZiS-3 gun fires on a street in Budapest
On January 6, Soviet troops captured the territory of the Hoffherr-Schranz machine-building plant, which was an important strategic facility for Hungary. It was the last enterprise that produced components for Hungarian armored vehicles and could repair damaged German and Hungarian tanks.
Soviet artillery also gained the ability to shell the territory of Chepel Island. On January 7, as a result of massive shelling, the airfield located there was put out of action.
At night, a German-Hungarian strike group, supported by 10 self-propelled guns, attempted to push our troops away from the hippodrome, where an improvised landing strip had been created. After some initial success, the enemy was pushed back. The Germans and Hungarians suffered significant losses from the hurricane artillery fire and were not even able to hold their old positions.
On January 7, Soviet-Romanian troops were able to take the Rhone Street in Zugle. German troops from the 22nd SS Cavalry Division launched 9 unsuccessful counterattacks. However, by evening the division was defeated and left the area. During these battles, the 22nd SS Volunteer Cavalry Division "Maria Theresia" was almost completely destroyed.
German ZSU on the chassis of a VOMAG 7 OR 660 truck, abandoned on Aranhal Street in Budapest
A crew of a 75mm PaK 40 anti-tank gun fights Soviet troops in Budapest. The soldiers, judging by their uniforms, are from the SS. January 1945.
By January 8, the Soviet troops were only about 4 km away from the Danube. The length of the Pest bridgehead from south to north had decreased to 15 km. The German-Hungarian command, realizing where things were heading, that Malinovsky intended to divide and then destroy the northern and southern sections of the Pest bridgehead, organized a series of desperate counterattacks. The Hungarian troops, supported by shock groups of the Feldherrnhalle motorized division, persistently attacked and even managed to achieve local successes, recapturing a number of positions. But this was a momentary success; soon the Soviet troops pushed back the enemy and continued to bite into his defenses.
On January 9, the 30th Soviet Army Corps began a general assault on the Rakosrendeso station. At first, things were difficult. The German garrison defending the station had a large number of machine guns, flamethrowers and was supported by tanks. But soon the station was taken.
To avoid fragmentation and subsequent encirclement, the German command ordered part of the troops to be pulled back to the north. The problem of ammunition further aggravated the situation of the German-Hungarian troops. The air route for supplying the troops was lost. Speedboats began to be sent along the Danube, which mainly removed ammunition from the barge that had run aground.
A salvo of BM-13 Katyusha rocket launchers on American Stedebaker truck chassis in Budapest. The vehicles are from the 2nd Division (commander – Guards Captain Nikolai Tikhonovich Burtsev) of the 48th Guards Mortar Regiment of the 2nd Ukrainian Front. January 1945.
Fall Pest
On January 11, the battles were already taking place in the inner districts of the city. The Germans and Hungarians constantly counterattacked, but suffering heavy losses, they continued to retreat, losing one position after another. In these battles, the Hungarians lost a significant number of self-propelled guns. Soviet troops took the Josefstadt railway station.
On January 12, the soldiers of the Feldherrnhalle Division retreated north again. Troops of the 13th Panzer Division counterattacked, but without much success. Units of the 7th Romanian Army Corps took the cavalry barracks building.
By January 13, the battle for Pest had reached its climax. The endless attacks and counterattacks were accompanied by constant artillery and air strikes. The air raids practically paralyzed traffic on the Danube bridges. The bridges themselves were partially destroyed. Any transfer of reserves became impossible.
The Feldherrnhalle Division soldiers essentially controlled only the 13th city district. Units of the Hungarian 10th Infantry Division were partially surrounded and were trying to break through to their own. The units of the 10th Division that had broken through were leaving Pest and heading for Buda. The commander of the Soviet Budapest Group, Lieutenant General Afonin, concentrated his forces on the 6th and 7th city districts.
The Chain Bridge across the Danube in Budapest, blown up by Wehrmacht units. In the background is the destroyed Buda Castle
On January 14, the fighting continued with unabated intensity. Soviet aviation dealt heavy blows to enemy positions. The 7th Romanian Corps advanced more slowly than its neighbors, and when their flanks closed on January 15, the Romanians found themselves in the rear. Therefore, by order of the front commander, the Romanian Corps was withdrawn from the city. The two advancing Soviet corps stubbornly continued to break through the enemy's defenses.
On the eve of their encirclement, the remnants of the German-Hungarian group retreated from Rákos Street to the Great Ring during the night. German sappers blew up the Miklós Horthy Bridge. At the Ring, German troops, supported by Hungarian assault guns, had difficulty holding back the advance of the Soviet troops.
On January 16, Franz Joseph Bridge was destroyed under continuous air strikes. Individual enemy combat groups were surrounded. Ferenc Joseph Bridge was destroyed at night. According to German data, the bridge was destroyed by a direct hit from a shell, while the Hungarians believed that it was the work of a sabotage group.
View of the Erzsébet Bridge, which connected Buda and Pest, blown up by German troops
On the evening of January 17, the commander of the Budapest garrison, Pfeffer-Wildenbruch, received permission to evacuate Pest. At that time, only two bridges remained intact: the suspension bridge on chains and the Erzsébety (Elizabeth) Bridge. The retreat to the bridges over the Danube turned into a real apocalypse. Under constant shelling, the Germans somehow managed to withdraw almost all of their remaining armored vehicles over the damaged bridges.
By the morning of January 18, the Germans blew up the remaining crossings so that they would not fall into the hands of the Soviet troops. At the same time, there were still Hungarians on the bridges, and the evacuation of Hungarian troops was not yet complete. It is worth mentioning that some Hungarian troops themselves sabotaged the evacuation. The Hungarian soldiers were tired of the war, were angry with the tyranny of the Germans and wanted to surrender.
On the afternoon of January 18, the 18th Guards and 30th Rifle Corps finally joined up in the center of Pest, on the banks of the Danube. Part of the Hungarian troops found themselves surrounded. Having taken up defensive positions along the eastern bank of the Danube with part of their forces, the two rifle corps began to destroy the encircled enemy. During the day, organized resistance was broken.
A battery of Soviet 122mm M-30 howitzers fires at the enemy in Budapest
Soviet sappers use dogs to search for mines on a railway track in Budapest. 1945.
After the destruction of the last bridges, the fighting in Pest continued for two more days. Soviet troops finished off the remnants of the scattered encircled enemy groups, disarmed and captured the remaining Hungarian units. On January 18 alone, more than 18,5 thousand people were captured, including 320 officers and 1 general. After that, a long-awaited calm set in in Pest.
In the battles for Pest, over 35 thousand enemy soldiers and officers were killed and 62 thousand were taken prisoner.
Soviet troops began preparations for the assault on Buda, which began on January 22.
A column of captured Hungarian soldiers moves along a road near Budapest. 1945.
To be continued ...
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