2016 №1(50) article 3

A.G. Mikhailik

The Soviet Army fighting for Budapest: the Pest offensive. P.21-35.

UDC 94(47)«1941/1945»

The battle of Budapest (October 1944 – April 1945) is one of the most important military operations of the Red Army aimed at freeing Hungary from German occupation. The battle of Budapest lasted two months. The Soviet troops of the second and the third Ukrainian fronts undertook three attacks to encircle Budapest defended by numerous Hungarian and German troops. On January 1–18 1945the troops of the second Ukrainian front fought for Pest, the east side of Budapest. The soviet troops were more numerous in number but they had fewer tanks and self-propelled guns. In street fights, Soviet infantry divisions undertook their attacks in teams including submachine gunners, machine gunners, artillerymen, and sappers. The enemy, who controlled the bridges across the Danube, could use the bridges to supply forces, military equipment, and ammunition from Buda to Pest. Soviet attempts to destroy the bridges through aviation and artillery offensives proved to be futile. However, Soviet troops managed to advance into Pest and within two weeks seized the east side of Budapest. 9.3 thousand German soldiers and officers as well as 5.35 thousand Hungarian soldiers and officers were imprisoned. The fall of Pest significantly weakened the defensive potential of the German and Hungarian troops and catalyzed the fall of Budapest and the liberation of Hungary.

aviation, artillery, Budapest, infantry. Soviet troops, tanks, offensive.

References:

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2. Russkij arhiv: Velikaja Otechestvennaja. Stavka VKG: Dokumenty i materialy 1944–1945. — T. 16 (5–4) [Russian Archives: The Great Patriotic War. Supreme Com-mand: Documents and Materials 1944–1945. T. 16 (5–4)]. — Moscow : TERRA Publ., 1999. — 368 p.
3. Central’nyj arhiv Ministerstva oborony Rossijskoj Federacii (CAMO) [Central Archive of the Russian Ministry of Defence]. — F. 240, 243, 327.