Troop 483: Fill & Download for Free

Hungary started World War II with a huge handicap. In World War I, the Kingdom of Hungary, as one of the two constituent states of Austria-Hungary, was a member of the Central Powers, thus ended the war on the losing side. The Treaty of Trianon, the peace agreement of 1920 that officially ended World War I between the Entente Powers and the Kingdom of Hungary, limited Hungary's army to 35,000 officers and men, and abolished conscription. Hungary was prohibited from the arms trade, limits were imposed on the type and quantity of weapons and prohibited from the manufacture or stockpile of firearms, armoured cars, tanks, heavy artillery, and military aircraft (tanks and air force were totally prohibited). The neighbouring countries (Czechoslovakia, Romania, Yugoslavia) formed an alliance called Little Entente with the purpose of common defense against Hungarian revanchism. In the 1930s, the political mood of Hungary gradually shifted towards the right. Hungary established close ties with Nazi Germany, and sought the support of Hitler for revision of the territorial obligations of the Treaty of Trianon. The Bled agreement of 1938, pushed by Nazi Germany, revoked some of the restrictions placed on Hungary by said treaty. The members of the Little Entente announced a joint renunciation of the use of force in their mutual relations, and recognised Hungary as having an equal right to armaments.The Kingdom of Hungary raised three field armies during World War II. Initially, Hungarian troops partitioned only in minor / local military campaigns such as the invasion of Carpatho-Ukraine, and the Slovak–Hungarian War (“Little War”). Both campaigns were successful, but they proved that the Hungarian Army was not yet ready for a “real” war. The handicaps imposed by the Trianon Treaty were clearly visible, but the morale and nationalist spirit of the soldiers and the civilian populations were high, which was also important in building a strong national army. Hungary also participated in the invasion of Yugoslavia, and annexed Vojvodina from Serbia, but the defences of the Royal Yugoslav Army had collapsed by the beginning of the Hungarian invasion, thus the Hungarian Army did not encounter much resistence.On 26 June 1941, a still unidentified aircraft conducted an airstrike on the city of Kassa / Kosice, then a part of the Kingdom of Hungary (today part of Slovakia), killing 28 and wounding more than 280 people. The local military investigators at the time believed that the attackers were Russian, and this attack became the pretext for the Kingdom of Hungary to declare war on the Soviet Union the next day, 27 June. On 1 July 1941, under German instruction, the Hungarian "Carpathian Group" (Karpat Group), a 40,000-man-strong elite "Rapid Corps" of two infantry brigades and mechanized corps, attacked the 12th Soviet Army. The group was to drive the Soviet troops from the Carpathian Mountains and pursue them to the Dniester River. On 7 July, the group reached the Dniester River, and by 9 July, elements of the group had pushed the stoutly-resisting Soviet forces back and penetrated Russian territory to a depth of 60–70 miles. Advancing on foot, the two infantry brigades (mountain and border guards) were unable to keep up with the mechanized corps. The Hungarian Chief of Staff decided to use the infantry brigades for policing and administrative duties of the occupied territory in Ukraine; and placed the mechanized corps at the disposal of the German Army Group South. The mechanized corps advanced with the German 17th Army, later the 1st Panzer Group, against the Soviet Southwestern Front. They were a key participant in the Battle of Uman during which the Axis troops annihilated the Soviet 6th and 12th armies.Hungarian troops in the Soviet Union (1941):After the Battle of Kiev, Field Marshal von Rundstedt ordered the Hungarian mechanized corps to break through elements of the Soviet 18th Army directly in his troops’ way. Instead, the Hungarians planned and performed a maneuver that led to the encirclement of the Soviet forces. As a result, a superior Soviet force was neutralized and the road was opened up for the continuation of the German advance. However, these victories were too costly. By the end of 1941, there were over 200 officers and more than 2,500 rank and file dead. In November 1941, the "Rapid Corps" returned to Budapest. After the withdrawal of the mechanized corps, Horthy visited Hitler in Germany to negotiate further Hungarian participation in the invasion of the USSR. Hitler demanded a maximum effort from the Hungarians and soon the 209,000-man-strong Hungarian Second Army was dispatched. It was assigned to the German Army Group South, and was involved in the Battle of Voronezh (1942). The Second Army lacked adequate motorized transport and especially anti-armor weapons. Germany had promised to provide the necessary equipment, but failed to deliver any meaningful quantities. The army suffered severe casualties in manpower as without adequate air and armor support all assaults were carried out by infantry units only. Lack of transportation was so severe that there were examples of divisions marching over 1,000 km on foot from their disembarkation points to the first contact with the enemy. Also, a significant part of the army was made up by reservists (receiving only 8 weeks of training), who were promised a "quick victory" and became demoralized as their prospects for getting home soon were worsening.Prior to the Battle of Stalingrad, the Hungarian Second Army was given the task of protecting the 8th Italian Army's northern flank. With the worsening German situation around Stalingrad, the demoralized Hungarians had to defend even longer and longer stretches of the frontline as more and more German units were sent to Stalingrad. The Hungarian Second Army, as most other Axis armies in the Army Group B, was annihilated by the Soviets between December 1942 and February 1943. During the Ostrogozhsk–Rossosh Offensive the Soviets rapidly destroyed the Italian Eight Army and the Hungarian Second Army. The remaining Hungarian troops were annihilated in the Second Battle of Voronezh. Of an initial force of 209,000 Hungarian soldiers and 50,000 Jewish forced-laborers, about 100,000 were dead, 35,000 wounded, and 60,000 taken prisoners of war. Only about 40,000 men returned to Hungary in May 1943.Soon all of Hungary was to become a battlefield. The Soviet Red Army had reached the Carpathian Mountains by August 1944, and a former Axis member, Romania, declared war on Germany and Hungary in the same month. The Hungarians had built a line of fortifications, called the Árpád Line, in the Carpathian Mountains to protect the country from the east. After the Battle of Kursk, only the Árpád Line was able to detain the Soviet Red Army for more than three weeks. Despite their more than tenfold numerical superiority, Soviet forces were completely unable to occupy a single fort. In several cases, the company-scaled defensive groups (comprising 250 border guards) successfully faced greater-than-division-sized Soviet forces (comprising 10000-15000 soldiers). Every fallen Hungarian border guard on the Arpad Line demanded 483 killed Soviets. In October, the Hungarian forces retreated from the Árpád Line, because Transylvania fell from the previously protected southern border after a decisive Soviet-Romanian victory in the Battle of Turda.Hungarian soldiers in the Carpathian Mountains (1944):In October, Soviet and Romanian forces crossed the Trianon borders of Hungary. The main Axis forces clashed with the Allied forces at Debrecen. The battle itself took place from 6 to 29 October 1944, and the Axis units were forced to retreat some 160 kilometers. The Allied forces were allowed to enter Hungary as a result of their victory in the Battle of Debrecen, and began the assault on Budapest on 25 December. The battle for the city turned into the Siege of Budapest, one of the longest and bloodiest sieges of World War II. On February 11, a massive breakout attempt saw tens of thousands of German and Hungarian soldiers try to rush past the Soviet lines, with the vast majority of them almost immediately killed. The remaining German and Hungarian units within Budapest surrendered on 13 February 1945. All three Hungarian armies had been destroyed by the end of March. Officially, Soviet operations in Hungary ended on 4 April 1945 (Nagykanizsa–Körmend Offensive). A few pro-German Hungarian units fought on until the end of the war. Units like the Saint Ladislaus Infantry Division ended the war in Austria. Two Waffen-SS divisions (Hunyadi and Hungaria) consisted of Hungarian soldiers. In the town of Landsberg in Bavaria, a Hungarian garrison stood in parade formation to surrender as the Americans advanced through the area on 8 May.The 101st Home Air Defence Fighter Wing, nicknamed the Puma, was the most successful Hungarian fighter unit in World War II. The unit flew mainly German planes such as Messerschmitt Bf 109. On the Eastern Front, the Pumas were officially credited with the destruction of 70 Soviet aircraft, to which they added further 218 destroyed and credited during the Home Defence combats in 1944-45. Also, they were credited with the destruction of 64 American four-engined bombers, and 47 fighters of the USAAF Fifteenth Air Force in 1944-45. Many of the highest scoring Hungarian fighter pilots served in the unit, including the top scoring Hungarian ace of World War II, Dezső Szentgyörgyi, who scored more than 30 victories in only 2 years. After the Soviet occupation of Hungary, the unit retreated into Austria and continued to fight against the Allies. The Puma was the last Hungarian military unit to engage in combat during World War II.

The British Empire forces did not march into central China.Rather they captured key cities and facilities close to the sea or major rivers. In this mode of combat, they held considerable advantages that offset the Qing strengths of being on the defensive, fighting at home and weight of numbers.The Opium War was astonishingly one sided. The Qing managed to sink not a single British warship and inflict only about 70 fatal casualties [1] in a war which lasted nearly three years.The Qing did vastly outnumber the British Empire forces- in theory.However, a more detailed examination shows that the forces were often more evenly matched at the point of contact.The Qing had advantages in numbers, short supply lines, local knowledge and the ability to have prepared defences. However, nearly all the other advantages lay with the British.The phrase from the British crime thriller Get Carter comes to mind. Tough guy Carter bursts into the house of a former gangster, who stands up to fight the intruder: Carter says“Your a big man but you are in bad shape. For me its a full time job. Now behave yourself” Get Carter (1971) - IMDbThe big man doesn't “behave” throws a punch but gets smacked down.In the words of Chinese historian Professor Mao Haijian, the British commanders were “past masters at military adventures in Asia”, the Qing had never faced a modern combined armed force.Here is an insightful quote from Chinese General Yang Fang in Canton, early 1841:The Chinese naval forces have been completely destroyed and no further operations are possible until a new fleet has been builtThe great mobility of the attackers owing to their complete command of the waterways, makes defence of the shore batteries almost impossible,The local troops are unreliable, they have been discouraged by recent reverses and their morale is lowered by infiltrations by collaborators.[2]Below are the reasons in detail taken from a previous answer.Reason 1: Concentration of ForcesFirstly, the Qing forces were seldom able to concentrate their forces- the British Empire forces did. The British Empire forces had to abandon cities they had captured (sometimes having to capture them a second time!) because they were so short of numbers.Although on paper the Qing may have had 50 times as many soldiers as the British, in actual battles the numbers were often fairly even if you include the sailors as Mao does in his book [3]. Mao is, in my view being a little disingenuous here as many of the sailors aren’t doing much fighting and the Qing are at home and in defensive positions which should give them a three to one advantage in effectiveness.It is hard for many modern people to realise how bad transport was in 1840. Britain had a reasonable local rail network at this time, however, in most of the world it was trudging about on poor roads. Reinforcements could reach the British from India as fast as the Qing could move their forces because sea transport was better than land transport prior to railways.In the final battle, at Zhenjiang , the British troops outnumbered the Qing (in this case Manchu Bannermen) forces who fought. The Green Standard (non-Manchu) forces who would have enabled the Qing to outnumber the British took a spectator role. [4].During the Opium War, there are few examples of the kind of pitch battles where numbers could really tell, even had they been available. One example was the Battle of Chapu, 6 May 1842, where there was manoeuvre warfare, which was a choice made by the Qing forces who opted not to simply hold their fortified positions but rather meet the British in open battle. It was a poor choice. The British forces flanked the Qing forces. The British sustained about 70 casualties, the Qing 1200–1500, including a group of Bannermen who made a determined, if futile resistance in a set of buildings.Reason 2. Inferior EquipmentThis may be less significant than you think, see: Ian Holloway's answer to What percentage of the Chinese Army had firearms at the First Opium War and how did their firearms compare to western firearms?(1) Ian Holloway's answer to What tactics did the Chinese use against the British during the Opium Wars, and how effective were they? - QuoraReason 3: Naval BattlesSome of the battles were naval engagements. In the words of Commissioner Lin Zexu “at sea we cannot be guaranteed of success” which may be translated as “at sea, one of the Foreign Barbarian ships can blast a fleet of our junks out of the water and there is nothing we can do about it!” Sometimes brave Qing commanders faced down the Royal Navy and were buried with honours by the victorious “barbarians”.The Qing Navy was basically a coastguard, able to resist smugglers. It wasn’t even able to deal with pirates all that well and was outclasses against even the fairly small Royal Navy fleet sent against them.Reason 4: Tactical InferiorityThe British Commanders were seasoned veterans: British land commander from the second part of the war, General Hugh Gough had fought through the French Revolutionary and Napeolonic Wars, then served in India [5]. The British commanders make few bad mistakes, and are normally able to outmanoeuvre the Qing defences after quick and accurate reconnaissance.In contrast, the Qing generals have no clue as to how to deal with an enemy like the British. Their knowledge of their opponents is extremely poor and they vastly underestimate the capabilities of the forces ranged against them.So Commissioner Lin Zexu smugly believes his upgraded defences outside Canton have sent the British fleet homeward to think again on 21st June 1840. When the British return, they capture the Qing defences for the loss of only 5 men! The defences are strong if attacked frontally, but are fatally flawed when faced by a flank attack. [6].Sometimes the Qing launch tactically inept attacks in an attempt to recapture lost cities, only to be repulsed in disarray with heavy losses (e.g. Ningpo and Chinhae).The Qing fail to defend landing spots, there is not a single record of a boatload of British troops drowning after their launch is destroyed by Qing artillery.Reason 5. Failure to Learn LessonsThe Opium War is confusing to study because the battles seem to be the same! Sometimes Qing ships are blown out of the water by British ships, sometimes Qing fortifications are easily captured by the British. The Qing DO upgrade their defences -sometimes- but not their tactics. They often fall to the same “We have a really well armed fort, those foreign barbarians won’t get past that-oh bugger- they have landed behind us and we had better run away before we are caught like rats in a trap!” trick.This failure is partly to do with the false reporting of battles. Why should generals learn new tactics whilst the only problem facing Chinese troops is the smoke from burning British ships getting in their eyes- when no British ships were lost at all!Reason 6. Ethnic & Social TensionsQing China was not like the PRC. From the Korean War onwards, the Chinese forces have been shown to be united and courageous in defence of their country and values. My father and uncle both fought them and broadly respected them.In Qing China, however, the ruling Manchus (were they a race- that is disputed see Ref 7] were not seen as fellows with the locals. In fact, they were often seen as a ruling elite, sponging off the populace by “squeeze”, lording over them and making them have funny hair-dos. The Foreign Barbarians may have been strange and uncouth, but at least they paid for what they took (yes, when they captured towns they did plenty of looting then selling the stuff back to the populace) [8] but the Manchu forces sent to reinforce defences were said to be worse. Some commentators have described the general Chinese populace as quislings and collaborators with the British- but can they be blamed? To support my case- just examine how the British supplied their troops with fresh meat- they purchased it locally!Reason 7. Finances and CorruptionArmies need to be paid. The Qing Empire was facing a series of economic and social crisis so spending money on an army to deal with a bunch of foreign bandits with ideas above their station did not appear a good idea- see below on why the Qing could not see what was happening. When monies were dispatched, they were sometimes spent on wine, women and song rather than guns, soldiers and fortifications. [9]Reason 8: Lack of Strategic GraspThe Qing had a very poor grasp of what was going on in the Opium War. Despite the war dragging on for over two years, the Daoguang Emperor (道光) thought this was some trade dispute with a bunch of pirates who could be kicked out or paid off. This can be seen by his cashiering of Qishan for giving the (then) little fishing island to the British- the British Foreign Secretary sacked Captain Elliot for the same deal because he should have bargained for far more, because the British had given the Qing forces such a drubbing [10].The Emperor had, of course, been fed a total pack of lies by his obsequious and self-serving local commanders. For example:At Zhoushan - General Yuqian, reported his 5000 strong army had been defeated by 20,000 British, “killing thousands of foreign bandits and damaging many ships” - British accounts say forces were 2000 and losses were 2 dead 27 wounded, damage to ships was slight.·Admiral Zheng Tingchen claimed a naval victory on 13 April 1842, sinking a ship of the line and 23 smaller vessels- a battle that simply never took place [11].For a full discussion see my answer to:Had the Qing Empire purchased modern weapons from a European power, could they have defeated the British Empire in the Opium War in the 1840s?FootnotesThe London Gazette 1841–43Ya-p’ien Chan-cheng Tzu-liao Ts’ung-k’an III 483 (Translated by A Whaley)Mao Haijan (1996) The Qing Empire and the Opium War CambridgeIbid p 391Simner M (2019) The Lion and the Dragon, Britain’s Opium War’s with China Fonthill p 80–81Ibid p 68–71Rowe W T (2009) China’s Last Empire, The Great Qing Harvard p 11–13Waley A. (1958) The Opium War Through Chinese EyesMao 388-91Lovell J (2011) The Opium War PicadorMao page 407

The operation was rapid in nature — within 20 days the Soviet troops moved at a distance up to 30 km per day. During this time, they overcame 7 fortified lines of the enemy and 2 large water obstacles. “In a little over two weeks, the Red Army had advanced 300 miles (483 km) from the Vistula to the Oder, only 43 miles (69 km) from Berlin, which was undefended. But Zhukov called a halt, owing to continued German resistance on his northern flank (Pomerania), and the advance on Berlin had to be delayed until April.” (wiki)