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The general view of the fighting on the Eastern Front is that Germany’s allies were generally ineffective, leaving the bulk of the hard fighting to be done by the Germans. Their allies get the blame for many of the defeats, most notably at Stalingrad.
Hungary found herself involved in the invasion of the Soviet Union because she had allied herself with Germany in an attempt to regain territory lost after the First World War. In the short term this approach was a success, but it also dragged the country into the bitter war in the Soviet Union (although their involvement began a few days after the German invasion).
The two parts of the opposing sides section feel rather different. The Soviet side is all fairly familiar material, while the Hungarian side is more novel. This covers everything from the structure of the army to its equipment – Hungary produced many of her own guns and tanks.
Once the Hungarians entered the fighting the Germans had already won some significant victories and advanced some way, so at first the Hungarians were faced with rear-guards.
The first fight we cover was a battle to seize a bridge over the Dnestr, which saw the bridge blown but the Hungarians still manage to get across the river, followed by a light tank action which ended with heavy Hungarian tank losses and a retreat.
The second fight was part of a wider battle against Soviet forces attempting to escape from the Uman area and was a clash between a small force of Hungarian armoured cars and the advancing Soviets.
The third actually saw the Soviets counterattack, in a fight to control the island of Khortytsia in the Dnepr, although this was a delaying action to win time for the evacuation of industrial facilities behind the river. This was the last major Hungarian battle of 1941, as their forces were soon withdrawn, with the main combat units returning to Hungary while new units took on a security role in Ukraine.
We finish with a section on the lessons learnt. Once again the Soviet ones are the fimilar ones of 1941, but the Hungarian ones are more interesting – their army was restructured, new equipment ordered, and a debate began about the wisdom of any further involvement.
This is an interesting look at a relatively small but almost entire unknown part of the fighting on the Eastern Front, mainly of interest because of the information on the Hungarian army.
Chapters
Introduction
The Opposing Sides
Opening Battles, 4-13 July 1941
Golovanevsk, 6 August 1941
Khortytsia, 1-6 September 1941
Analysis
Aftermath
Author: Peter Mujzer
Edition: Paperback
Pages: 80
Publisher: Osprey
Year: 2021