A Battle That Should Have Never Been Fought – The Siege of Budapest Tour (Part Nine)

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As the siege came to its final, tragic end, Budapest, the “pearl of the Danube” was largely in ruins. Famed Hungarian author Sandor Marai left this impression, “What I see is at first sight horrifying, but after every hundred meters becomes more and more grotesque and improbable. The mind boggles. It is as if the wanderer were passing not through city districts but through excavations. Here is a wall of a building where a friend used to live, there the remnants of a street, in Szell Kalman Square the wrecks of streetcars and then the devastation of Vermezo Meadow, Naphegy Hill and the Castle.” Marai’s words recapture a surreal, otherworldly moment seared into the city’s consciousness by the all-consuming flames of total war.

Memorial plaque in Buda at the site of Marai’s home from 1931-45 in District I – Krisztinavaros

The Great Forgetting
Ironically, the siege and ensuing battle for Budapest are hardly spoken of today. It suffers from a case of historical amnesia. It has been nearly forgotten by popular historians, but physical evidence in the form of bullet and shell holes is still readily apparent to the discerning eye.

So why is the siege relatively unknown? Well for one, there were more famous, but not greater battles to come. The battles for Vienna and Berlin were respectively six and fourteen days in length. Compared to the fifty-one day siege of Budapest those battles lasted for a short period of time. Consider also, that the fighting in Vienna and Berlin would not have concluded so quickly without the huge loss of German forces during the siege of Budapest. The Germans bought time for themselves with their futile defense of the city, but it came at so high a cost that later battles were over relatively quickly due to a lack of manpower and weaponry.

Another reason for the relative anonymity of the battle is that there were really no famous figures that met their fate here. There was no Hitler shooting himself in a bunker, only thousands of common soldiers slowly expiring beneath the streets of Buda. There was no General Zhukov creating a historical legacy on the rubble of the Reich, only men with such forgettable names as Malinovsky, men who history would soon forget, but who led the Soviets to victory in the most terrible war ever known to mankind.

A view of Buda Castle from the slopes of Gellert Hill in the siege’s aftermath

A Battle That Should Have Never Been Fought
And finally, there were really no heroes to proclaim. The siege of Budapest was a battle that should have never been fought. The Hungarians, whose capital had been sacrificed, did not want it. The common German soldier was not allowed to surrender, only sacrifice – first their Hungarian allies, but in the end, also themselves. And the Soviet’s would gladly have accepted a Hungarian armistice and bypassed the whole horrific affair. Their designs lay further west, Hungary was a land that had to be crossed, but ended up as a prolonged battle that never should have occurred.

The Soviet commander of the 2^nd Ukrainian front, Rodion Malinovsky, furious at the protracted fighting, is said to have told the German commander Karl Pfeffer-Wildenbruch following his surrender, “If I weren’t obliged to account for your head in Moscow, I’d have you hanged in the main square in Buda.” Many others were not as lucky. The Soviets took revenge on those who had slowed their drive westward. They also imposed their will on the Hungarian people over the months, years and decades to come.

Places to visit: Marai Memorial plaque on his former home at Miko utca in Buda, District 1, Krisztinavaros.

Sources: The Siege of Budapest: One Hundred Days in World War II, Kristian Ungvary, Yale University Press, 2006.
Specifically: Chapter Six, The Siege and the Population, pgs. 257 – 373   
                           Epilogue, pgs. 374 – 380.
Memoir of Hungary, Sandor Marai, Central European University Press, 2001.
Marai quote from A Walk in Buda, Budapest, Sandor Marai, December 1945.
Malinovsky quote from:  The Siege of Budapest: One Hundred Days in World War II, Kristian Ungvary, pg. 376.

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What Lies Beneath: The Labyrinth – Siege of Budapest Tour (Part Eight)

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Much of the fighting at the end of the siege took place on Castle Hill in Buda. Today bullet holes from the final stages of battle still pockmark the facade of the former Military Ministry building which stands equidistant between Buda Castle and the Matthias Church. Such battle scars have been left as a physical reminder of the ferocious fighting throughout this area just before the siege’s end. The building could now be easily repaired, unlike the damage that was done to the bodies and psyches of thousands left in the city as the siege neared its end. Many of those who stayed behind, spent their final days in the ground directly beneath the Castle District.

What Lies Beneath
The Buda Castle district contains over six miles of underground passageways, known as the Labyrinth. During the war these were used by approximately 20,000 German and Hungarian soldiers as shelter from the constant bombardment of the Soviet Air Force and artillery. As the circle around the defenders continued to close, this area became as much a tomb as it was a shelter. The Castle complex was one of the last areas to surrender.

Corridor of the Hospital in the Rock as it looks today

Following the failed breakout attempt on February 11^th, those left behind included about 5,000 Hungarian soldiers. Many of them lay among the thousands of badly wounded, unable to leave makeshift, underground field hospitals. The Hospital in the Rock – which can be visited today – was one of several subterranean areas beneath the hills of Buda, that held the wounded, infirm and those brought to the very edge of sanity by the siege.

Even the magisterial grandeur of Buda Castle, had become a house of horrors. In its cellars lay a couple of thousand wounded. These included many who had been wounded in the failed break out attempt only a day earlier. One medical officer, Werner Hubner, described the scene as where “sheer madness ruled. The weeks of encirclement had driven everybody to the brink of insanity….Pistols were going off in every corner of the huge underground infirmary: nobody wanted to be captured by the Russians in a wounded state.”

Unfathomable Scenes
Soon the infirm and starving were roused and consequently enraged by the discovery of large amounts of food that had been withheld from them by their commanders in the underground chambers. One non-commissioned officer happened upon the now vacant bunker of the German commander Karl Pfeffer-Wildenbruch, found his uniform and decided to wear it. He was soon shot dead by a furious soldier who had mistaken him for the commander. And where was Pfeffer-Wildenbruch? This “leader” who had neither the courage to disobey Hitler’s futile orders to holdout or the bravery to lead the breakout, was busy on the morning of February 13th surrendering himself to the comparative safety of the Russians. As a commander he would be held as a prize of war, his soldiers would not be so lucky.

Meanwhile, the situation in the cellars continued to devolve into a morass of suicide, death and despair. By the time of the surrender, it was too late for many. For days afterward, those left intact in body or mind witnessed scenes that are even now hard to fathom.  Medics were reduced to doing surgeries in an underground hospital that contained a large store of ammunition. A shootout took place among two combatants who made their way into the makeshift hospital. The discharges from their firearms set the place ablaze. The fire spread rapidly, as shells and grenades began exploding. Flames engulfed everything in the hospital, including the patient’s straw beds. This tragic incident was one of many that were all too common in the final days of the siege.

Places to visit: Castle District, Hospital In the Rock

Sources: The Siege of Budapest: One Hundred Days in World War II, Kristian Ungvary, Yale University Press, 2006. Specifically Chapter Five, The Break-Out, pgs. 201 – 256.

Hubner quote from:  The Siege of Budapest: One Hundred Days in World War II, Kristian Ungvary, pg. 242.
Pfeffer-Wildenbruch’s uniform story from The Siege of Budapest: One Hundred Days in World War II, Kristian Ungvary, pg. 243.
Shootout in underground hospital from The Siege of Budapest: One Hundred Days in World War II, Kristian Ungvary, pg. 244.

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Descent Into Darkness: The Attempted Breakout – The Siege of Budapest Tour (Part Seven)

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As the fighting moved over to Buda, the cause of the defenders appeared increasingly hopeless. At this point surrender seemed to be their best option. It was only a matter of time before the weight of Russian numbers and supplies would exact a heavy toll. So why did the Germans and Hungarians continue to fight on?

Fighting Out Of Fear
One reason was fear. The possibility of captivity under the Soviets was extremely daunting. German soldiers risked being shot on the spot, especially those who were members of the SS.  The same was true for Arrow Cross members. Even regular enlistees were at the mercy of the Soviet soldier. They were known to be capricious, cruel and erratic. A senseless unpredictability seemed to be the defining trait of the common Soviet soldier.

Even if a Hungarian or German survived first contact with their captors, those held for any length of time would be required to do forced labor service. Often they were marched off to the east, where they would be either worked to death or suffer years of hard labor. If this was what resulted from surrender, than death in battle might be an appealing option. For this reason, no German garrison ever surrendered to the Soviets during the war while they still had a chance of breaking out.

The Royal Palace – hardly recognizable following the siege

Sacrificed For the Reich
There was also the slim possibility that German commanders in Budapest might receive word from the Reich that they could attempt a break out. Unfortunately for the defenders this word never arrived. Hitler had declared from the start that Budapest would be a fortress city. It was to hold out at all costs until help arrived. The overarching strategic idea was that the longer Budapest held out, the more German forces could be marshaled to defend Vienna, 100 miles to the west.  In essence, Budapest was sacrificed to protect the German Reich. On three separate occasions, the Germans attempted offensives in an attempt to rescue and resupply the besieged garrison. None of these were successful. The closest any of them came was about 20 kilometers from the city, but then the Russians would send in reinforcements and push back the effort. The last relief attempt failed in late January.

By the final day of January, the German and Hungarian defenders were generally confined to a pocket of land in Buda which included the railway embankment, Gellert Hill, the Buda Castle complex and ended on Margit Korut which runs into Szena square. The defenders were starved, shell shocked and under constant bombardment. The commander of German forces in Budapest, Karl Pfeffer-Wildenbruch, finally decided to attempt a break out, the main thrust of which would try to bust through the Russian lines at Szena square. From there they would try to make their way out of the city into the low hills and forests beyond. They hoped to flee into the nearest German lines which were located anywhere from 15 to 25 kilometers away.

Delusion and Apocalypse
To say this was a suicidal plan might actually be an overstatement. By this point, the Germans and Hungarians were down to just a handful of tanks, armored vehicles and a wide variety of assault guns. They had only a fraction of the firepower with which they had begun the siege. Nonetheless, fanaticism and delusion still gave hope to some Hungarian and German leaders. Arrow Cross officers believed that they would soon be resupplied with super weapons that would destroy the Soviet forces. German Major-General Schmidhuber, one of the highest ranking officers still alive, announced they would breach the Soviet lines, make their way to safety and be enjoying drinks the next day. Schmidhuber would be killed shortly after the attempted breakout began.

The breakout was set for February 11^th at 8:00 p.m. It would take place at Szena Square. Chaos and confusion took hold of the great mass of soldiers and civilians who prepared to plunge into a cauldron of flame, shot and shell. For every soldier, there were at least two civilians attempting to escape as well. It was a last, suicidal gasp for the men and women who had somehow survived the siege up to this point.  Lieutenant-Colonel Alajos Vajda described the scene in Szena and Szell Kalman squares as “beyond the wildest flights of imagination. The squares were almost as light as day with the many tracer bullets, flare rockets and searchlights.  Shell after shell exploded. I am not exaggerating a bit if I write that there were mountains of dead bodies everywhere.”

Descent Into Darkness
By midnight, only four hours after the breakout had begun, the situation was relatively quiet at Szell Kalman square. The first wave of soldiers and civilians had surprised the Soviets and largely been able to make their way into the forested areas beyond. The second and third waves were not as lucky. They had been devastated by Soviet counter strikes with artillery and rockets.  Those lucky ones who had made it through, were in constant fear of being attacked. In both small and large contingents, quietly desperate, they tried to find their way in the dark labyrinth of the early morning hours.  They were assisted by a thick winter fog that had descended upon the hills. The first soldiers that made it safely to German lines arrived about 24 hours later.

The statue of St. Gellert overlooking war torn Buda

Of the 28,000 soldiers trying to escape, only 700 were fortunate enough to stumble all the way into friendly territory. Many of these men undertook journeys lasting several days. Some spent the final leg of the exhausting trek crawling to safety. Others spent the entire spring and early summer in the forests hiding out until the war came to a definitive end.  As for the estimated 80 – 100,000 civilians fleeing the shattered city, it is thought that five to ten thousand made their way to the hills northwest of Buda and then pushed westward toward Vienna. Hundreds if not thousands were left behind in dead heaps on the busted pavement of Buda, between the burned out ruins of the narrow blocks. Many more were taken prisoner by the Russians. For them the war would continue in labor camps or as part of work details. Some came back home in months, others in years and still many others, not at all.

From a military standpoint the breakout was one of the worst disasters of the entire Second World War. Consider that the German command had 44,000 soldiers prior to the attempt. A mere four days later, over 39,000 of these had been killed or captured while a few thousand more were wandering aimlessly in the woods where they would soon be captured. A soldier had about a one in a hundred chance of making it to safety, but an almost four in ten chance of being killed during the breakout. One of the lucky few that did make it, Lieutenant Helmut Wolff, later said, “I have nightmares every night because I am still alive.”

Places to visit: Szena ter and Szell Kalman ter

Sources: The Siege of Budapest: One Hundred Days in World War II, Kristian Ungvary, Yale University Press, 2006. Specifically Chapter Five, The Break-Out, pgs. 201 – 256.
Schmidhuber comments from: The Siege of Budapest: One Hundred Days in World War II, Kristian Ungvary, pg. 207.
Alajos-Vajda quote from:  The Siege of Budapest: One Hundred Days in World War II, Kristian Ungvary, pg. 212.
Helmut Wolff quote from:  The Siege of Budapest: One Hundred Days in World War II, Kristian Ungvary, pg. 201.

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