The Hungarian Third Army () was a field army in the

Royal Hungarian Army The Royal Hungarian Army (, ) was the name given to the land forces of the Kingdom of Hungary (1920–1946), Kingdom of Hungary in the period from 1922 to 1945. Its name was inherited from the Royal Hungarian Honvéd which went under the same Hu ...

that saw action during

World War II World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

Commanders

* Lieutenant General

Elemér Gorondy-Novák Elemér Gorondy-Novák (''Novák''; 23 February 1885 – 14 May 1954) was a Hungarian military officer, who served as commander of the Hungarian Third Army during the Second World War. Career After the First World War he served as chief of ...

from 1 March 1940 to 1 November 1941 * Lieutenant General

Zoltán Decleva Zoltán Decleva (30 July 188717 July 1950) was a Hungarian colonel-general, commander of the Third Army and privy councilor of Hungary. He was posthumously awarded the Order of Vitéz. He commanded the Hungarian I Corps during the Invasion ...

from 1 November 1941 to 1 December 1942 * Lieutenant General Lajos Csatay from 1 December 1942 to 12 June 1943 * 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 ...

from 12 June 1943 to 15 May 1944 * ''The Hungarian Third Army was disbanded May 1944 and reformed September 1944'' * Colonel General József Vitéz Heszlényi from 19 September 1944 to 8 May 1945

Order of Battle - Yugoslavia - April 1941

On 5 April 1941, the Hungarian Third Army was mobilized for the

invasion of Yugoslavia The invasion of Yugoslavia, also known as the April War or Operation 25, was a Nazi Germany, 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 put fo ...

. The invasion began with the bombing of Belgrade and the crossing of the border by the Germans on 6 April. The Third Army faced the Yugoslavian First Army. By the time the Hungarians crossed the border and finally attacked, the Germans had been attacking Yugoslavia for over a week. As a result, the Yugoslavs put up little resistance to the Hungarians. Units of the Hungarian Third Army advanced into a triangular shaped area known as the Baranya-triangle between the Danube River and the Drava River. The Hungarians suffered few casualties in this invasion. As a result of participating in the invasion of Yugoslavia, Hungary regained Bácska and Baranya. * Hungarian Third Army - Lieutenant General Elemér Gorondy-Novak ** Hungarian Mobile Infantry Corps (Gyorshadtest) ***Hungarian 1st Mobile Infantry Brigade ***Hungarian 2nd Mobile Infantry Brigade *** Hungarian 1st Cavalry Brigade ** Hungarian I Infantry Corps *** Hungarian 1st Infantry Brigade *** Hungarian 13th Infantry Brigade *** Hungarian 15th Infantry Brigade ** Hungarian IV Infantry Corps *** Hungarian 2nd Infantry Brigade *** Hungarian 10th Infantry Brigade *** Hungarian 12th Infantry Brigade ** Hungarian V Infantry Corps *** Hungarian 14th Infantry Brigade *** Hungarian 19th Infantry Brigade *** Hungarian 2nd Cavalry Brigade ** Hungarian 9th Infantry Brigade ** Hungarian 11th Infantry Brigade **Hungarian 1st Air Brigade **Hungarian 1st Airborne Battalion **Hungarian 16th Border Guards Infantry Battalion

Order Of Battle - Soviet Union - October 1944

From 25 March to 15 April 1944, the Hungarian VII Army Corps was involved in the Battle of Kamenets-Podolsky pocket. The Hungarian VII Army Corps was to become part of the Hungarian Third Army in August. On 30 August, the Hungarian Third Army was mobilized to defend Hungary against the relentless advances of the Soviet

2nd A second is the base unit of time in the International System of Units (SI). Second, Seconds, The Second, or (The) 2nd may also refer to: Mathematics * 2 (number), as an ordinal (also written as ''2nd'' or ''2d'') * Minute and second of arc, ...

and 4th Ukrainian Fronts. The Chief of Staff of the Hungarian Armed Forces, Colonel-General János Vörös, ordered this army of nine weak, undermanned, and under equipped reserve divisions to attack west of the Hungarian Second Army (which was mobilized at the same time). The Third Army was to then cross Arad and the Maros Valley and occupy the mountain passes of

Transylvania Transylvania ( or ; ; or ; Transylvanian Saxon dialect, Transylvanian Saxon: ''Siweberjen'') is a List of historical regions of Central Europe, historical and cultural region in Central Europe, encompassing central Romania. To the east and ...

. This attack failed. On 6 October, in the opening stages of the Battle of Debrecen, the Hungarian Third Army was badly mauled near Arad. Very quickly, the army was scattered near the town of

Kecskemét Kecskemét ( ) is a city with county rights in central Hungary. It is the List of cities and towns of Hungary, eighth-largest city in the country, and the county seat of Bács-Kiskun County, Bács-Kiskun. Kecskemét lies halfway between the ca ...

Rodion Malinovsky Rodion Yakovlevich Malinovsky (; ; – 31 March 1967) was a Soviet military commander and Marshal of the Soviet Union. He served as Minister of Defence of the Soviet Union from 1957 to 1967, during which he oversaw the strengthening of the Sov ...

's 2nd Ukrainian Front attempted a pincer maneuver to encircle Army Group Fretter-Pico. The

2nd Ukrainian Front The 2nd Ukrainian Front () was a front of the Red Army during the Second World War. History On October 20, 1943, the Steppe Front was renamed the 2nd Ukrainian Front. In mid-May 1944 Malinovsky took over the 2nd Ukrainian Front. During t ...

's southern pincer sliced easily through the Hungarian Third Army. This southern pincer was spearheaded by Soviet General Issa Pliyev's Mobile Group Pliyev. Later, in the same battle, Mobile Group Pliyev was encircled and badly mauled by Army Group Fretter-Pico (''Armeegruppe Fretter-Pico''). The northern pincer was stalled and turned back by veteran German ''panzer'' forces. The Hungarian Second Army was an integral part of the German-Hungarian ''Armeegruppe Fretter-Pico''. The Order Of Battle in October 1944 was as follows: *Hungarian Third Army - Lieutenant-General József Heszlényi (awarded German

Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross The Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross (), or simply the Knight's Cross (), and its variants, were the highest awards in the military and paramilitary forces of Nazi Germany during World War II. While it was order of precedence, lower in preceden ...

on 28 October 1944) **Hungarian VIII Army Corps ***Hungarian 1st Cavalry Division ***Hungarian 20th Infantry Division ***Hungarian 5th Replacement Division ***Hungarian 8th Replacement Division **Hungarian VII Army Corps ***Hungarian 10th Infantry Division ***Hungarian 23rd Reserve Division ***Hungarian Battle Group Szücs **German LVII Panzer Corps ***German 23rd Panzer Division ***German

24th Panzer Division The 24th Panzer Division was formed in late 1941 from the 1st Cavalry Division (Wehrmacht), 1st Cavalry Division based at Königsberg. The division fought on the Eastern Front (World War II), Eastern Front from June 1942 to January 1943, when it ...

***Hungarian 1st Armoured Division The Hungarian Second Army was disbanded on 1 December 1944, after the Battle of Debrecen, and its remaining units were transferred to the Third Army.

Fall of Budapest and the End

From 29 December 1944, the Hungarian capital city, Budapest was under siege. In the

Battle of Budapest The siege of Budapest or battle of Budapest was the 50-day-long encirclement by Soviet and Romanian forces of the Hungarian capital of Budapest, near the end of World War II. Part of the broader Budapest Offensive, the siege began when Budapes ...

every available Hungarian unit was employed in the defense of the capital. After great loss, the city was unconditionally surrendered on 13 February 1945.

Order of Battle - Hungary - March 1945

For Operation Spring Awakening the Third Hungarian Army, under the command of the German Sixth Army, had the following order of battle: * Hungarian VIII Army Corps ** Hungarian 1st Hussar Division ** Hungarian 23rd Infantry Division ** German 6th Panzer Division ** German 96th Infantry Division ** German 711th Infantry Division Between 16 March and 25 March 1945, most of what was left of the Hungarian Third Army was surrounded and destroyed about forty kilometers to the west of Budapest. The army was destroyed by the Soviet 46th Army as it advanced towards

Vienna Vienna ( ; ; ) is the capital city, capital, List of largest cities in Austria, most populous city, and one of Federal states of Austria, nine federal states of Austria. It is Austria's primate city, with just over two million inhabitants. ...

.''Page 199, The Decline and Fall of Nazi Germany and Imperial Japan'', Hans Dollinger, Library of Congress Catalogue Card Number 67-27047 But, even after this, the Hungarian Third Army did not totally cease to exist. Some remnants remained and they fought on. Fighting as they went, they moved progressively westward to southern

Austria Austria, formally the Republic of Austria, is a landlocked country in Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine Federal states of Austria, states, of which the capital Vienna is the List of largest cities in Aust ...

. The army was not officially disbanded until 8 May 1945, the end of the war, when the last commander of the Hungarian Third Army, Lieutenant General

József Heszlényi József Vitéz Heszlényi (''Heyszl''; 24 July 1890 – 2 June 1945) was a Hungarians, Hungarian General during World War II and commander of the Third Army (Hungary), 3rd Hungarian Army. He graduated from the Imperial and Royal Technical Milit ...

, surrendered.

Notes

;Footnotes ;Citations

References

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Third Army, Hungarian Military units and formations of Hungary in World War II Third Army, Hungarian Hungarian Military units and formations established in 1940 Military units and formations disestablished in 1945 Budapest offensive