Budapest 44: The Battle For Hungary (October - December 1944) 

Rest of the world: So you're a monarchy Hungary? Hungary: Yes Rest of the world: Do you have a monarch? Hungary: No we have an admiral Rest of the world: so you have an admiral. Do you have a navy? Hungary: No we don't even have a coastline Rest of the world: Ok but do you have any claims? Hungary: Yes Rest of the world: Are they on Germany? Hungary: No Rest of the world: Are they on Yugoslavia? Hungary: No Rest of the world: Then who are they on? Hungary: Romania Rest of the world: Will you invade them? Hungary: Oh God no they're our allies!

Pls tell me you will do an in-depth video on the actual siege of Budapest.

Another small detail , according to the stories of my grandfather who was a medic in the Hungarian army, during ceasefire, the Hungarian army was throwing fresh bread over to the Soviet soldiers and they were throwing warm clothing and vodka back. Also, there were a lot of defections going on before the Soviets reached Budapest. The army encircling Budapest was already a mixed nationalities consisting of Russians, Ukrainians, Hungarians, Romanians. Basically the Axis forces were bleeding manpower and the Soviets were picking them up. History is never black and white, but thousands shades of grey. Also, it's new to me, that even the nazi Szalasi found Hitler's idea of holding Budapest at all costs as insane and futile, no wonder many people given up on the crazy man's orders.

Greetings from Hungary. The bullet holes on the walls are still visible in the older buildings throughout the city. This was very well put together. Hope you will cover the actual siege and breakout attempt ay well.

This is a pretty over looked part of World War 2, thanks for the video and as usual great work !

quite a decent job at hungarian names; much better than in the 1956 video! well done

You could have mentioned the Árpád line, the most effective fortification system of WW2. It was modeled after the French Maginot line and was located in the north-eastern Carpathean mountains. It was the only defensive line in the war that managed to withstand the onslaught of the Soviet Union. Despite severly under armed, only 50% of it being completed and being overwhelmingly outnumbered, the Árpád line was never pierced by the Red Army. After suffering tremendous losses, the Soviets managed to outflank the Carpathian Mountains when the Romanians switched sides. Despite it’s unprecedented success, the Árpád line is unfortunately forgotten by most historians.

The soviets just really loved sieging Budapest in 1944 that they had to have another go at it 12 years later!

Hello. My grandparents both fought in ww2, but for me it's a different situation because they fought in different armies. One in the Hungarian army left for the front in 1942, was taken prisoner in 1944 by the Russians until 1948, returned home, and the other grandfather in the Romanian army left for the front on 21.01.1942 and on 23.08.1942 he was seriously wounded in Stalingrad, then he recovers, leaves for the western campaign, he also returns home, the proof is their military booklets that are with me. At my parents' wedding, my grandparents met. This is, in short, my story about my grandparents

I love it when native english speakers speak Hungarian. Our language is an alien language. You were spot on so many of the words/names I'm actually impressed. There even was a group of Hungarians that were detremental to ending the war in Europe by creating weapons. They called them "The Martians". I forget who but there was a legendary quote by someone at that time, the person asked if aliens exist and they responded with "yes of course we have aliens living amongst us they are called Hungarians!" , because they were so smart at physics and the language was absolutely ridiculous for any non hungarian to understand. With me growing up in the hungarian culture, hearing stories from my grandparents about the war is truly heartbreaking. I would love to relocate some time in the future to my roots. Everytime I mention I want to live in Hungary she responds with; why? you wouldn't have been born if we didn't escape, and now you want to go back?

When I get a notification from Historigraph I automatically stop what i'm doing to watch

Nice video, quite good pronunciation of hungarian names. Thank you for the amazing 13 minutes it provided. We in Hungary have a quite funny (and also a bit depressing) story about the hungarian declaration of war on the USA. It is just a speculation and most likely never happened, but it looks like this: (Radio officer to the president) - Sir! Hungary just sent us their declaration of war. - Oh really? Where is Hungary? - It's a small kingdom in Central Europe. - If it's a kingdom, who is their king? - There is no monarch, a regent admiral runs the country. - Than they must have a reasonable navy, right? - No sir. They are landlocked. - Then why would they attack us? Do they have claims on us? - No sir, they have claims on their neighbours, Romania and Slovakia. - In that case, why don't they attack them? - Sir, they can't. Those are their allies...

I m a simple man I see Hungary I click... 🇵🇱❤️🇭🇺

What an interesting, and tragic, situation in history. I can't imagine the Hungarian perspective of being stuck between not wanting to fight 'for' Germany, but facing what you know is an inevitable (red) tide.

This is masterpiece work, numbers, graphics, corps-division size explained, troop movements. 10/10. Subscribed. Greets from Croatia.

I met a man last year. He is over 95 years old by now i suppose. He was about 14 i think when he was drafted to defend Hungary from the oncoming Soviets. Him and two of his friends ended up escaping the later stages of the siege. He told me how, if you were there, you couldn’t really tell apart day from night due to heavy bombings from Russians. Because they used “Stalins Torches” they called them. The grenades that would light up the sky. I will hopefully visit him once again when this corona deal is over.

A kingdom without a king? An admiral without a navy? Sounds like a child’s curriculum vitae for McDonalds

I still can't believe how can be 15125215918 videos on youtube about D-day and the Western front,when there is so much stuff on the Eastern front/The Pacific to talk about... The assassination of Admiral Isoroku Yamamoto/Siege of Leningrad/The Sino-Japanese War/Resistance fights in South-East Asia/Soviet-Japanese war in Mongolia-Manchuko/WW2 era of the Balkan/Siege of Odessa...etc I live near Ercsi(Martonvásár) and it is absolutely true: The fighting around this part of Hungary was insanely brutal,villages/towns were changing "owners" like someone changing their underpants especially during "Operation Spring Awakening", around my hometown particularly the front was nonstop shifting. both this and the documentary about the 1956 revolution is fucking fantastic my dude! Can't wait fo the second part!

I am a simple Pole...I see something about Hungary - I must watch it!!! Love from Poland! ❤🔥💛

Please do one on Operation Bagration. I feel like this needs a spotlight to help people balance their over-bias on D-Day.

Just read the Battle for Budapest by Krisztián Ungváry - so any videos about this topic always interest me. Keep up the good work man. Ah just saw in the sources that, that book was a main source for you in making this... One other thing i thought was a little bit morbidly hilarious from that book was the Hero of The Soviet Union Medal - in an effort to legitimize the importance of the crossing at Ercsi the commander there awarded 115 men the Hero of the Soviet Union Medal which accounted for 43% of the total number of those specific medals given out in the entire war.

Its crazy to see how little men the Hungarians and Germans actually had left during the final years of the war. Its amazing they were even able to win some of these battles, and its insane how they were still able to inclict over twice the casulities

Love the content as always. One quick suggestion, is it possible to add small date indicator in a corner of the map? I think it might improve the videos :)

These videos are very high quality!!! Good job and I really liked the actual troop numbers for the divisions so you understand how under strength they really were

Always have had a favorable view of Hungary! Greetings from Kentucky!

Please do a video on Austria Hungary and its navy or war effort

You put more effort and explanation into this than most more expensive larger production studios,,thank you.

Thank you for this video. So interesting to seeing how these events unfolded. All i know of these battles is what my grandfather told me. My grandfather was 14 and lived in a small town North-East of Budapest, called Csömör. The Germans forced the villagers to dig trenches. My great-grandfather was injured, my grandpa's older brother was ill and his younger brothers were too young to dig, so my grandpa had to dig. Every person had to dig 10 meters of trench every day. My grandfather couldn't always meet to quota since he was still a kid, so the neighbours helped him after they finished. Once the Soviets finally arrived, they parked their artillery on the Hill of the village. The German troops retreated out of the village, leaving the villagers. My great-grandfather hid my great-grandmother and her daughters under haystacks in the barn, as they heard how the Soviets pillaged and raped.

Excellent video mate! The quality of your vids only keeps improving.

Boy i've never clicked a video so fast. Very informative video wonderful work here!

Love this, just subscribed to the channel. The eastern front will always be fascinating to me, more details on the forgotten battles, the better. Thank you!

Love this channel so much, the untold campaigns of wars!

One of the best and most engaging yet, keep up the good work

Awesome examination with superb graphics. Well done...Respectfully...

Liked before i watched it, awsome as always.

Wow! I just caught up on your videos, they get better and better! Congratulations!

“1st University Assault Battallion” what a sad name for a unit. A name like that just encourages the attackers! What are the sub units like? “Liberal Arts Company”, “Math major platoon”

Totally excellent video I want to compliment you on it! Went into details and was very very well done thank you for making it.

Very informative series of videos.I am half Austrian , my sister lives near Wien and my grandfather fought on the eastern front on the german side.Also have just returned from holiday in Budapest which was interesting ,especially the language!

Great video! Although it was horrific to watch, to recall all the horrible stories my grandparents told about these months and especially about the following siege from December to February. My maternal grandmother's family lived in the city centre, suffered by both the German Nazis, Hungarian Arrow Cross militants and then the arriving Soviet troops. My grandma's sister is still living, she is 88yo, she is the last living eyewitness from our family of these events. She was 12yo back then, but sometimes she tells the stories, and I can see in her eyes the horrid, remembering those days...

This video is fantastic. Thanks for all the great information

The Hungarians fought well in ww2 against all odds love and respect from Italy!!!!

Amazing video, thanks for keeping up the good work!

Really great maps and animations you have! Man I love this channel, it's one of my favorites.

Thanks for this, I hadn't heard of this collosal battle at all.

Woah you did well spelling the Hungarian town and city names great job! :)

Took you long enough. With this, Project Pannonia is complete! Anyway, great video!😉

I am really glad about this, this is an often overlooked front of the war :). Interestingly, meanwhile paratroopers were regarded as elite infantry usually in most armies, hussarz, a cavalry division were also regarded as very prestigous units therefore they were often among if not the best hungarian divisions, with lack of weaponry replaced with fighting spirit and training. Your elite units being cavalry-well, you could see some cavalry charges in the war: found an interesting example of one, in 1941 august, where sabre in hand, a hussar regiment routed a soviet infantry regiment, and as late as 1944 company sized charges were noted (often to break out of encirclements) buuut hand grenades became a fan-favourite as sabres -may- not be as efficient in ww2

U r natural at it mate! Keep it coming!

Amazing video! I am Hungarian and my family had served in the Hungarian military at this time, in the 2nd and 3rd Armies. Info on this topic is hard to find so I love to see how well you have done this.

Another excellent video. Keep it up!

I really like the ww1 and ww2 history vids on your channel already watched all of them and now an new one :)

I was recently thinking about how late war eastern front battles played out and this comes up. Awesome.

Hey Brothers! Look what happened yesterday in Poland :) Yesterday, the Sejm adopted a resolution reminding of the help provided to Poles by Hungarians during World War II. - The Seym of the Republic of Poland on the 80th anniversary of the outbreak of World War II would like to express its gratitude for the help of Hungarians in the tragic period of German-Soviet aggression and occupation for our nation. In 1939, despite the suggestion of Adolf Hitler, the Kingdom of Hungary did not participate in the attack on Poland. We would like to recall the words of Prime Minister Pál Teleki, who said: I would sooner blow up our railway lines than take part in the invasion of Poland. From Hungary, it is a matter of national honor not to participate in any military action against Poland - we read in the document. - The Polish nation will never forget that in Hungary, under the regent Miklos Horthy, over one hundred thousand Polish civilian and military refugees, including many children, found safe shelter. We thank you for the fact that during the terror of Nazi Germany in Europe, Polish diplomatic missions, the Polish Institute, Polish schools and organizations could freely operate in Hungary. Thank you also for helping to protect evacuated cultural goods. We remember that the conduct of our nephews allowed us to maintain communication between the Polish authorities in exile and the country thanks to the friendly tolerance of military and civilian institutions in Budapest, in which our homeland served, among others, the patron of Polish-Hungarian cooperation, Wacław Felczak. We cannot ignore the attitude of Hungarian soldiers who saved Poles during the Volhynian Slaughter and refused to take part in its suppression during the Warsaw Uprising, and even supported the insurgents. The position of the Kingdom of Hungary towards Poles in 1939, as well as Poles towards Hungarians in 1956, is a strong and lasting basis for further friendly development of cooperation between the two great nations of Central Europe, which are Poles and Hungarians - says the resolution.

Another great video as always.

Finally, Project Panonia is completed! Edit: Or is it? Looks like we might have a follow-up video coming. Not that I'm complaining. After all, it means more awesome Hungary-related content. :)

Great video and thanks a lot for effort!

Ah I've been waiting for one of these

That’s a great job! Keep up the good work. But I’m thinking when will you make a video about the Yugoslav partisans

Can you please upload more often I really enjoy watching you’re videos 😂

Great job on the video and with the Hungarian names and cities!

Great story telling. Thanks!

Thanks for the vid!

Keep up the good work Addaway!

Great video! Can´t wait for next video :D

when that intro music plays it just feels right

A video on the actual siege itself would be very well appreciated!!

Eastern European countries were screwed in WWII. They had three options, join Hitler, join Stalin, or get invaded by both. None of those were good options

While I do feel very sorry for you having to learn all those cities names, I applaud you for having really good pronounciation on most. As a hungarian you don't learn much about the actual offensive and no one ever talks about (recent) military history, people aren't really interested. Thanks for covering the topic, I've actually learned a lot. (If any of you ever visit Budapest, be sure to check out the Military History Museum near the castle. Shit's amazing and there's lots of artifacts from WW2, tickets are also like £2.)

Great video!

This is an awesome video. It would be great if you could cover the Soviet invasion of Manchuria as well.

Here to give thanks for covering Hungarian history, shared this with my non-Magyar friends

Great video dude 👍

its all about the oil!

I couldnt imagine the horror knowing you're encircled by the Soviet Army of WW2... being fucked and knowing it without being able to do anything about it but hide.

Great work!

Done subscribed. Very great video

Can’t wait for more!

Budapest, 15 sieges? Damn

Great video

15th? Poor Budapest........

You can really see and hear the desperation in the Axis, attempting to hold back the red wave. It's hard to look at the "other side" with a political mindset, but with a human mindset I can only mourn for all of the young men lost in this war. Hard fighting, all for an attempt in a delusion of grander prospered out of a leader who thought he was doing the "Greater Good." War is hell, war is torture, and I suppose it still stands; Only the dead are freed from war.

Excellent work! Will you be covering Operations Konrad I, II, III and Spring Awakening?

love your videos

Nice video!

I really hope you will make a part 2 for this

When will you get us a new video mate? I love your work!

Fantastic vid! Will we get a video about the "Konrad" Operations in the future?

I swear I clicked this 0.0000001 milliseconds after the notification came Edit: Never had this many likes

this video was very good !

Interesting video well done

I don’t think there is much to say. Simply put it was just weight of numbers…flesh, metal, and resources. Nothing strategic about the Soviet advance except avoiding some mountains to save some gas like any army does. Great video. Love the content and detail you put into it. Keep it up.

Excellent!!!! Can you please make a video of the eventual outcome of the Budapest campaign

Nice to.finally learn aboutt the foghting in Hungary, kind regards from.Poland Ps. No link for already war rhunder players?

finally a new video!

If you visit Budapest, visit the Hospital in the Rock

Long live Hungary!

I am from Romania I feel really sorry for Hungary

Hello Historigraph, i love your videos, can you do one on on fighting on soil of Independent State of Croatia? From Srijemski Front to Odžak.

Do you have Hungarian ties or something? You make a lot of videos about Hungary compared to the total amount of videos you make. (They are good too and I appreciate them!!) Either way, keep up the good work!