The Hungarian First Army was a field army of the

Royal Hungarian Army The Royal Hungarian Army ( hu, Magyar Királyi Honvédség, german: Königlich Ungarische Armee) was the name given to the land forces of the Kingdom of Hungary in the period from 1922 to 1945. Its name was inherited from the Royal Hungarian Hon ...

that saw action during

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the World War II by country, vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great power ...

Commanders

* Lieutenant-General Vilmos Nagy - March 1, 1940 – February 1, 1941 * Lieutenant-General István Schweitzer - February 1, 1941 – August 1, 1942 * Lieutenant-General István Náday - August 1, 1942 – April 1, 1944 * Lieutenant-General

Géza Lakatos Géza Lakatos de Csíkszentsimon (Hungarian title/name: "Vitéz lófő csíkszentsimoni Lakatos Géza"; in German: Geza Ritter Lakatos, Edler von Csikszentsimon) (30 April 1890 – 21 May 1967) was a colonel general in the Hungarian Army during ...

- April 1, 1944 – May 15, 1944 * Lieutenant-General

Károly Beregfy Károly Beregfy (12 February 1888 – 12 March 1946) was a Hungarian military officer and politician, who served as Minister of Defence in the 1944–45 Arrow Cross Party government. He was born as Károly Berger in Cservenka (Crvenka). He ...

- May 15, 1944 – August 1, 1944 * Lieutenant-General

Ferenc Farkas de Kisbarnak Ferenc Farkas de Kisbarnak ( Hungarian: vitéz kisbarnaki Farkas Ferenc; May 27, 1892 – April 14, 1980) was Chief Scout of the Hungarian Boy Scouts, commanding officer of the Royal Ludovica Military Academy, the country's officer training sc ...

- July 25, 1944 – August 1, 1944 (acting) * Lieutenant-General Béla Miklós von Dalnoki - August 1, 1944 – October 16, 1944 * Lieutenant-General Dezső László - October 16, 1944 – May 8, 1945

Background

Under Hungarian Regent, Admiral

Miklós Horthy Miklós Horthy de Nagybánya ( hu, Vitéz nagybányai Horthy Miklós; ; English: Nicholas Horthy; german: Nikolaus Horthy Ritter von Nagybánya; 18 June 1868 – 9 February 1957), was a Hungarian admiral and dictator who served as the regent ...

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the south, Cr ...

was an

Axis An axis (plural ''axes'') is an imaginary line around which an object rotates or is symmetrical. Axis may also refer to: Mathematics * Axis of rotation: see rotation around a fixed axis * Axis (mathematics), a designator for a Cartesian-coordinat ...

state at the beginning of the

Europe Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...

an conflict. On 1 March 1940, the

Hungarian Army The Hungarian Ground Forces ( hu, Magyar Szárazföldi Haderő) is the land branch of the Hungarian Defence Forces, and is responsible for ground activities and troops including artillery, tanks, APCs, IFVs and ground support. Hungary's ground ...

formed three field armies. All three Hungarian armies saw action on the Eastern Front against the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army (Russian language, Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist R ...

. Unlike the

Hungarian Third Army The Hungarian Third Army ( hu, 3. magyar hadsereg) was a field army in the Royal Hungarian Army that saw action during World War II. Commanders * Lieutenant General Elemér Gorondy-Novák from 1 March 1940 to 1 November 1941 * Lieutenant General ...

which took part in the

invasion of Yugoslavia The invasion of Yugoslavia, also known as the April War or Operation 25, or ''Projekt 25'' was a German-led attack on the Kingdom of Yugoslavia by the Axis powers which began on 6 April 1941 during World War II. The order for the invasion was ...

(1941) and the

Hungarian Second Army The Hungarian Second Army (''Második Magyar Hadsereg'') was one of three field armies (''hadsereg'') raised by the Kingdom of Hungary (''Magyar Királyság'') which saw action during World War II. All three armies were formed on March 1, 1940. ...

that fought at the

Battle of Stalingrad The Battle of Stalingrad (23 August 19422 February 1943) was a major battle on the Eastern Front of World War II where Nazi Germany and its allies unsuccessfully fought the Soviet Union for control of the city of Stalingrad (later r ...

(1942), the Hungarian First Army did not see much combat at the start of the war. The troops of the Hungarian First Army, like all Hungarian troops, were part of the one-million-plus non-German

Axis troops The Axis powers, ; it, Potenze dell'Asse ; ja, 枢軸国 ''Sūjikukoku'', group=nb originally called the Rome–Berlin Axis, was a military coalition that initiated World War II and fought against the Allies of World War II, Allies. Its p ...

on the Eastern Front. While the majority of these Axis troops were

Romanian Romanian may refer to: *anything of, from, or related to the country and nation of Romania ** Romanians, an ethnic group **Romanian language, a Romance language ***Romanian dialects, variants of the Romanian language **Romanian cuisine, traditiona ...

, there were also significant contingents of Hungarians, Finns, Lithuanians, Latvians, Estonians, Italians, Slovaks, Croatians, Frenchmen, Danes, Norwegians, Belgians, and Spaniards.

Occupation duties

The first commander of the Hungarian First Army was Lieutenant-General (or ''Altábornagy'' according to the Hungarian army rank) Vilmos Nagy. After 30 August 1940, under Nagy, the Hungarian First Army took part in Hungary's annexation and occupation of northern

Transylvania Transylvania ( ro, Ardeal or ; hu, Erdély; german: Siebenbürgen) is a historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and south its natural border is the Carpathian Mountains, and to the west the A ...

. This region of Romania was awarded to Hungary as a condition of the

Second Vienna Award The Second Vienna Award, also known as the Vienna Diktat, was the second of two territorial disputes that were arbitrated by Nazi Germany and Fascist Italy. On 30 August 1940, they assigned the territory of Northern Transylvania, including all o ...

. From 1940 to mid-1944, the Hungarian First Army saw little action other than occupation duties.

Action

By 30 April 1944, the Hungarian First Army was used to bolster Army Group South Ukraine. This army group was pushed back during the Battle of Târgul Frumos in May 1944. The Hungarians were placed in defensive positions north of the Romanian Fourth Army and south of Army Group North Ukraine. From 13 July to 29 July 1944, the Hungarian First Army fought against the Soviet Lvov-Sandomierz Offensive. At this time the Hungarians were attached to the German First Panzer Army commanded by Colonel-General (''

Generaloberst A ("colonel general") was the second-highest general officer rank in the German ''Reichswehr'' and ''Wehrmacht'', the Austro-Hungarian Common Army, the East German National People's Army and in their respective police services. The rank was ...

'')

Gotthard Heinrici Gotthard Fedor August Heinrici (25 December 1886 – 10 December 1971) was a German general during World War II. Heinrici is considered as the premier defensive expert of the ''Wehrmacht''. His final command was Army Group Vistula, formed from t ...

, which, in turn, was part of Army Group North Ukraine. Hungarian soldiers in the Carpathians

Later in 1944,

Soviet The Soviet Union,. officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics. (USSR),. was a List of former transcontinental countries#Since 1700, transcontinental country that spanned much of Eurasia from 1922 to 1991. A flagship communist state, ...

troops entered Romania, Bulgaria, and Hungary. The Romanians capitulated. The Bulgarians capitulated. The Hungarians tried to capitulate twice, but unsuccessfully. In the end, the Hungarian First Army continued its precarious existence. On 28 December, a newly formed Hungarian government, under acting Prime Minister Béla Miklós, officially declared war against

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

. But the Germans and the pro-German Hungarians in Hungary fought on against the Soviets. However, there are indications that some elements of the Hungarian First Army went over to the Soviets at about this time. Béla Miklós had been the commander of the Hungarian First Army from 1 August 1944 to 16 October 1944. Between 1 January and 16 February 1945, most of what remained of the Hungarian First Army was overrun, bypassed, or destroyed about 200 kilometers north of Budapest when the Soviet 40th Army advanced through the area. But, even after this, the Hungarian First Army did not cease to exist. The remnants fought on as an attachment to Heinrici's German First Panzer Army. Fighting as they went, they moved progressively westward into

Slovakia Slovakia (; sk, Slovensko ), officially the Slovak Republic ( sk, Slovenská republika, links=no ), is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the ...

. The army was not officially disbanded until 8 May 1945, the end of the war. That is when the last commander of the Hungarian First Army, Lieutenant-General László Dezső, surrendered.

References

* * *
{{DEFAULTSORT:First Army, Hungarian Military units and formations of Hungary in World War II First Army, Hungarian Hungarian Military history of Hungary Military units and formations established in 1940

Commanders

Background

Occupation duties

Action

See also

References