Meanwhile, German counter-attacks failed to retake Kiev but
did push the Soviets out of Zhitomir, where the 1 Ungarishe Jabostafel found a
new base and celebrated its 100th kill in December 1943. Through long months of
intense combat, it had suffered the loss of just 6 pilots (plus 2 missing) from
an original 37 airmen, as proof of their great skill and good luck. After New
Year’s 1944, they relocated yet again, this time to Khalinovka. During the
transfer, Lieutenant Lasl6 Molnar and his wingman, Corporal Erno Kiss, encountered
30 Shturmoviks covered by 10 Lavochkins. Laughing at the 20-to-1 odds against
them, the Hungarians dove amid the enemy bombers, shooting down four of them,
plus two Red fighters, before completing their flight to Khalinovka.
While battles such as these showcased the Hungarians’ superb
combat performance, they nonetheless demonstrated the awful numerical edge
overshadowing the Eastern Front in lengthening shades of doom. The sheer mass
of man power and materiel now at Stalin’s disposal was sufficient to usually
drown any technological superiority the Axis might have possessed, as evidenced
by the 2,600 warplanes he assembled for his conquest of Vinnitsa, the
Wehrmacht’s own headquarters in Russia, defended by 1,460 Luftwaffe aircraft.
The Soviets were nevertheless stymied for more than three months, during which
the entire Eastern Front was stabilized, and the Pumas were in the thick of the
fighting, scoring more than 50 “kills” in January and February alone.
On March 17,1944, the USAAF for the first time attacked
Budapest with 70 B-24s. The Liberators were undeterred by just four Hungarian flown
Messerschmitts, all of which were damaged and two shot down by the unescorted
heavy-bombers’ defensive fire. The encounter illustrated not only the pitifully
inadequate numbers of aircraft available for home defense but lack of proper
pilot training. The Americans returned on April 3 to bomb a hospital and other
civilian targets as punishment, it was generally believed, for the recent
establishment of a new government closer aligned with Germany. In any case, the
attack left 1,073 dead and 526 wounded.
During the 13-day interval between these raids, the 1/1 and
2/1 Fighter Squadrons had been reassigned to the capital, and its crews
provided a crash course in interception tactics. Even so, 170 P-38 Lightnings
and P-51 Mustangs prevented most of the two dozen Pumas from approaching their
targets. A few that penetrated the escorts’ protective ring destroyed 11
heavy-bombers at the cost of 1 Hungarian flyer. Six more Liberators were
brought down by Budapest flak. In another USAAF raid 10 days later, the
Mustangs were replaced by Republic P-47s, which failed to score against the
Messerschmitts. Instead, two Thunderbolts fell to ground fire, along with four
B-17 Flying Fortresses.
Meanwhile, the Hungarian pilots were getting the hang of
interception, suffering no casualties for downing eight B-24s and six
Lightnings. These losses combined with the mistaken American belief that
aircraft manufacturing throughout Hungary had been brought to a halt. In fact,
just a small Experimental Institute lost its hangars and workshops, and a
Messerschmitt factory was damaged, although soon after restored to full
production capacity. USAAF warplanes continued to appear in Hungarian skies
over the next two months, but only on their way to targets in Austria or
ferrying supplies to the Soviet Union. The Magyar Legierd took full advantage
of this lull in enemy raids to upgrade and re-train three, full-strength
fighter squadrons, while Budapest’s already formidable anti-aircraft defenses
were bolstered.
When the 101. Honi Legvedelmi Vadkszrepiild Osztkly, or
101st “Puma” Fighter Group, was formed on May 1, 1944, Cadet Dezsd
Szentgyorgyi transferred to the 101/2 Retek, “Radish” Fighter Squadron,
where he would soon become Flight Leader, then, on November 16, Ensign. These
rapid promotions were generated by his rapidly rising number of enemy
heavy-bombers shot down during the “American Season;’ as the period was
referred to by his fellow pilots. Placed in charge of the Home Defense Fighter
Wing was Major Aladar Heppes. At 40 years of age, he was the Magyar Legierd’s
eldest pilot, known as “the Old Puma;’ a seasoned Eastern Front veteran.
For practice, his airmen confronted several hundred USAAF heavy bombers and
their escorts droning toward Vienna on May 24. Although four Liberators, a
Flying Fortress and one Mustang were destroyed, Major Heppes lost one man
killed, and six Messerschmitts were damaged. But the Home Defense Fighter Wing
crews learned from their experience, and vowed to do better when the Yanks
returned in earnest.
Meanwhile, in preparation for imminent Soviet invasion of
their country, the “Coconut” Stuka crews were recalled from Eastern
Front duty to serve on Hungarian soil. Their 102/2nd dive-bomber squadron was
redesignated the 102/1st fighter-bomber squadron, indicating the transition
training they undertook to Focke-Wulf FW-190F-8s at Borgond airfield.
On the morning of June 14, 600 USAAF heavy-bombers and 200
escorts went after nitrogen plants and oil refineries outside Budapest, while
P-38 Lightnings made low-level strafing runs on a Luftwaffe squadron of
Messerschmitt Me.323 Gigant transports at Kecskemet airfield. The defenders
were joined by a quartet of German fighters, which made two “kills:’ Eight
more were claimed by the 32 Hungarian pilots, who lost one of their own. The
city’s anti-aircraft defenses once again proved their worth, shooting down 11
enemy intruders.
Only 28 Home Defense interceptors were serviceable 48 hours
later to oppose 650 heavy-bombers ringed by 290 Lightnings and Mustangs that
filled the skies over Lake Balaton. Despite the excessive odds confronting
them, the Pumas broke through the thick ranks of protective American fighters,
claiming a dozen of them to destroy four Liberators. A remarkable set of
“kills” was accomplished by Corporal Matyas Lorincz during this, his
first operational flight. Hot in pursuit of four P-38s, he was unable to
prevent them from shooting down Lieutenant Kohalmy. A moment later, Lorincz was
in firing range, and the two Lightnings he set afire collided with and brought
down a third. Lieutenant Lajos Toth, Hungary’s third highest-ranking ace with
26 “kills, was forced to take to his parachute, landing not far from the
U.S. pilot he had himself shot down a few minutes before. Aviation engineer
Gyorgy Punka, recorded how “they chatted until the American was picked up
by a Hungarian Army patrol”‘
Relations between opponents were not invariably cordial,
however, “with the American pilots deliberately firing on Hungarian airmen
who had saved themselves by parachute, or strafing crash-landed aircraft;’
according to Neulen. “One of the victims was Senior Lieutenant Jozef
Bognar, who was killed by an American pilot while hanging helplessly beneath
his parachute”‘
The June 16 air battle had cost the Home Defense Fighter
Wing the lives of five pilots, including two more wounded. Six Gustav
Messerschmitts were destroyed, and seven damaged. These losses were immediately
made good by fresh recruits and replacement planes, as the struggle against the
bombers began to reach a crescendo on the 30th. This time, the Pumas were aided
by 12 Messerschmitt Me-110 Destroyers and Me-410 Hornets, plus 5 Gustavs from
the Luftwaffe’s 8th Jagddivision. The Germans and Hungarians claimed 11
“kills” between them, while the ferocity of their interception forced
a formation of 27 bombers to turn back short of the capital; the remaining 412
diverted into the northwest.
The next USAAF attempt to strike Budapest’s area oil
refineries on July 2 was similarly spoiled by just 18 Pumas, together with a
like number of Luftwaffe Messerschmitts. As their colleagues in Germany had
already learned, it was not necessary to destroy an entire flight of enemy bombers
to make them miss their target. Among the most successful interceptions
undertaken by the Magyar Legier6 fighters was carried out against 800 U.S.
warplanes on July 7. A mere 10 Messerschmitts led by Major Heppes, the Old Puma
himself, accounted for as many Liberators falling in flames from the sky,
together with another 15 brought down by flak. One Gustav was lost, its pilot
parachuting safely to earth.
The American aerial offensive pressed on throughout the
summer and into fall of 1944 on an almost daily basis and in growing numbers.
The Home Defense Fighter Wing continued to score “kills” and deflect
bomber missions, until its men and machines were withdrawn from around Budapest
in mid-October on more immediately pressing business: the invasion of their
country. The previous six months of stiff Axis resistance had slowed, but could
not halt the Red Army juggernaut, which now reached the foot of the Carpathian
Mountains at the Hungarian frontier.
In the midst of this crisis, Admiral Horthy lost his nerve
and attempted to capitulate to the Soviets. But the Germans learned of it in
time, and placed him in protective custody for the rest of the war. News of his
dethronement was met with a mix of indifference and acclaim, because the
Hungarian people, who remembered all too well the Communist tyranny and terror
they experienced during the 1920s, preferred resistance to submission. The Red
Army was stopped at the Eastern Carpathian Mountains by German-Hungarian
forces, but they could not simultaneously contain a veritable deluge of Red
Army troops that overran Transylvania.
Their attack on Budapest began in early December, although
the capital was not easily taken. Russian losses over the previous
three-anda-half years were becoming apparent in the declining quality of
personnel on the ground and in the air. When, for example, a formation of
Heinkel He.111 medium-bombers escorted by Hungarian pilots of the 101/2 Fighter
Squadron was about to sortie against Soviet troops crossing the Danube on
December 21, an out-numbering group of Lavochkins scattered and fled without a
fight. Clearly, Stalin was relying on the dead weight of numbers more than ever
before to achieve his objectives.
On January 2,1945, a joint German-Hungarian effort known as
Operation Konrad I was launched to break the siege of Budapest. Although
significant gains were made early and the Pumas wracked up more “kills;’
high winds kept flying to a frustrating minimum and destroyed more of their
aircraft than Soviet pilots. After three days, the attempt to liberate the
capital bogged down. Undaunted, reserves pushed onward with Operation Konrad
II. During a rare stretch of clear weather on the 8th, Hungarian crews of the
102 Fast Bomber Group celebrated their 2,000th sortie by pummeling Red Army
positions. The return of dense fog grounded further flights, however, and
Operation Konrad II was abandoned the next day, mostly for lack of air support.
A third and final Operation Konrad appeared to succeed where
its predecessors had failed. The Vlth German Army kicked it off on January 18,
and 35 miles of territory were recaptured in the first 48 hours of the attack.
The mighty Soviet 17th Air Army stumbled backward across the Danube, which
advancing Axis troops reached on the 20th. Two days later, the Russians
evacuated Szakesfehervar. These successes on the ground were importantly aided
by airmen such as Ensign Dezso Szentgyorgyi, the Magyar Legier’s leading ace,
who scored 14 victories alone in the fighting for Budapest. His and the rest of
the Pumas’s chief targets were Shturmovik ground-attack planes, together with
enemy armored vehicles and troops.
A few survivors of the 102/2 Dive-bomber “Coconut”
Squadron most of its Ju-87Ds had been destroyed on the ground at Bdrgond the
previous October 12 by low-flying P-51s of the American 15th Air Force-pounded
Red Army positions and knocked out T-34 tanks. Their vital sorties were
abruptly curtailed from January 23 by heavy snowfall, just when Soviet reserves
began entering the battle area, and more than 300 German tanks were destroyed.
Three days later, Operation Konrad III had to be canceled. During these
repeated, all-out efforts to liberate Budapest, the three participating Magyar
Legiero squadrons had flown some 150 combined missions to win 69 aerial
victories for the loss of 6 pilots during 20 days of flight allowed by the
weather. The “Coconut” Squadron was finished, having flown 1,500
sorties, dropped 750 tons of bombs, for the loss of half of their commissioned
officer pilots and 40 percent of noncommissioned pilots.
An even-more ambitious attempt than Operation Konrad to
regain the initiative got underway on March 6 with Operation Fruhlingserwachsen
(“Spring Awakening”) in the Lake Balaton area of Transdanubia. Forces
included the German 6th SS Panzer Army, the 1.SS Division Leibstandarte Adolf
Hitler, German 2nd Panzer Army, Army Group Balck, elements of German Army Group
E, and the Hungarian Third Army. Objectives included saving the last oil
reserves still available to the Axis and routing the Red Army long enough to
recapture Budapest. Combined Luftwaffe and Magyar Legiero forces amounted to
850 aircraft opposed by 965 Soviet warplanes.
Odds against the Axis on the ground were far more loaded in
their opponents’ favor, with seven infantry armies and a tank army. The
combined 101/1 and 101/3 Fighter Squadrons strove to stave off massed flights
of Bostons and Shturmoviks savaging Axis armored units and troop
concentrations. High numbers of either type were shot down, together with
several Yak-9s, on March 9, when the Pumas completed 56 sorties, to gain
temporary air superiority above the German 6th SS Panzer Army, enabling it to
advance. Despite early, impressive gains such as these, Germany’s last
offensive could not prevail against the enemy’s overwhelming numerical
advantage, and Axis troops were compelled to fall back to their prepared
positions in Hungary, where they were soon overrun.
When the Soviets began their drive across the Austrian
border, Magyar Legiero-flown Gustavs shot up infantry columns, cavalry corps,
truck convoys, and horse-drawn wagons clogging the roads to Vienna in low-level
runs throughout April 3. Fierce ground fire claimed 8 Pumas and destroyed 10 of
their aircraft. Replacements of both men and machines arrived almost
immediately, but their operations were restricted by a serious fuel shortage.
In spite of this crisis, they continued to shoot down both Soviet Lavochkins
and American Mustangs, although their primary focus was strafing and bombing
the endless torrent of Soviet troops and equipment flooding into Austria. A
Yak-9 Lieutenant Kiss, already an ace with five “kills;’ shot down on
April 17, 1945, was the Hungarians’ final aerial victory. They went on to fly
throughout the month, blasting Soviet vehicles, troops, and supplies.
On May 4, as American soldiers approached the airfield at
Raffelding, remaining warplanes of the Magyar Legier6, sabotaged by their own
crews, exploded into flames. Their self-immolation represented the undefeated
Pumas’s ultimate act of defiance.
Long before these climactic events, in early 1938, the first
Hungarian airborne unit had been formed at Szent Endre, an island in the Danube
River, near the capital city of Budapest. The Ejtoernyos (paratroopers)
attracted many volunteers, although their equipment was at first entirely
foreign made. The cadets jumped with Italian Salvadore, German Schrodor, and
American Irving parachutes from Italian Caproni 101 transport aircraft. Powered
by three Alfa Romeo, license-built Armstrong Siddeley Lynx engines rated at 200
hp apiece, the reliable, sturdy, high-wing monoplanes could accommodate eight
paratroopers each.
By the following year, the Hungarian Army had developed its
own, locally manufactured airborne equipment, including knee and elbow pads,
jump smock, and H-39M parachute. The doughty Caproni veterans of the Ethiopian
War were replaced by the much-larger SavoiaMarchetti SM-75. The huge
Marsupiale, “Marsupial;’ with its 1,276.14 square feet of wing area, was
capable of carrying 25 paratroopers. After relocating to the Papa Airport, the
Ejtoernyos consisted of 30 officers, 120 NCOs, and 250 enlisted men in one
battalion of three companies.
Their baptism of fire was a limited invasion of Yugoslavia
to reclaim territories severed from Hungary after World War I by Allied framers
of the Versailles Treaty. The Ejtoernyos made their first combat jump on April
12, 1941, over the northern Yugoslavian district of Delidek. From there, they
marched more than 18 miles under cover of darkness to surprise the defenders of
several bridges, which were swiftly taken after brief fighting. That same day,
the paratroopers suffered a grievous loss in an accident that took the lives of
22 comrades and their first commander, Major Arpad Bertalan, when the
overloaded Marsupiale in which they were flying crashed at Veszprem airfield.
Thereafter, the unit was known as the “Bertalan Battalion;’ led by Colonel
Zoltan Szugyi.
The Ejtoernyos participated in numerous actions on the
Eastern Front, most notably in the relief of Hungarian troops during the
struggle for Stalingrad. During March 1944, the paratroopers were part of Axis
efforts to shore up the southeastern flank in danger of collapse caused by
Romania’s defection to Stalin. Colonel Szugyi and his men established a strong
defensive perimeter in the Carpathian Mountains, the last natural emplacement
of its kind in the East. Warriors of the hard-pressed Bertalan Battalion held
their positions against 10-to-1 odds, suffering many casualties, but repeatedly
frustrated the combined Russian-Romanian offensive long enough for regular
German and Hungarian troops to withdraw with their weapons and equipment in
good order.
Ejtoernyos survivors re-grouped on October 20 with two other
light infantry battalions in the understrength St. Laszlo Division, named after
the victorious medieval king, Saint Ladislas I. It was commanded by Zoltan
Szugyi, who had been promoted to General for his exemplary defense of the
Carpathian Mountains. In November, the St. Laszlo Division transferred to the
Lake Balaton area, where, after fruitlessly trying to stem the Red Army tide
for 10 days, the paratroopers and their comrades pulled back to defend the
Hungarian capital. By December 1, they were surrounded in Budapest by the
Soviets, but broke through enemy lines before the city capitulated on February
12, 1945.
Ejtoernyos remnants still fought cohesively as a unit,
retreating into Austria, until the last day of the war, when General Szugyi
surrendered with a handful of survivors to the British Army on May 10 to escape
capture by the Russians. Instead, they were all placed under arrest and
transported to the East. Lieutenant-General Szombathelyi, Commander in Chief of
the Hungarian Army during 1941, had been similarly turned over to Communist
authorities in Belgrade, where, after a well-publicized show trial, was
executed by impalement. General Sziigyi’s death sentence was commuted to life
imprisonment only after he had been sufficiently tortured into a fulsome
confession. Meanwhile, his paratroopers disappeared behind the Iron Curtain
that fell over Hungary for the next 43 years.
On April 16, 1945, two weeks before the close of
hostilities, Dezsd Szentgyorgyi destroyed the last of his 32 confirmed
victims-an Ilyushin 11-4 bomber-making him Hungary’s leading ace. Such skills were
not only reflected in his aerial victories: during the course of more than 220
sorties, he was never shot down, nor ever crashed under any circumstances.
After the war, he flew as a commercial pilot for MASZOVLET, Hungarian-Soviet
Airlines, from 1946 until 1949, but was arrested the following year for his
past association with the criminalized Magyar Legiero.
His death sentence was commuted to life imprisonment, but he
was freed during the Budapest Uprising of 1956. Following its blood-stained
suppression, the new Soviet authorities, not wishing to further antagonize
their restive subjects, dismissed all charges against Szentgyorgyi and allowed
him to resume his aviation career with the renamed Malev Hungarian Airlines.
Over the next 15 years, he logged 12,334 flight hours over more than three
million miles, dying on August 28, 1971, in his one and only crash near
Copenhagen, less than three weeks short of his retirement. The aircraft in
which he died had been built by the same company that made his final victim of
World War II-Ilyushin.
Today, the Hungarian armed forces at Kecskemet operate the
59th “Szentgyorgyi Dezso” Air Base.
