Operation Margarete - the occupation of Hungary by German troops during World War II [1] [2] by order of Hitler on March 12, 1944 , with the aim of preventing Hungary from leaving the war on the side of Germany.
| Operation Margarete | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Main Conflict: World War II | |||
 Map of the occupation of Hungary by German troops in 1944 | |||
| date | March 12 - 16, 1944 | ||
| A place | Hungary | ||
| Total | The occupation of Hungary by German troops | ||
| Opponents | |||
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| Commanders | |||
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Operation
The reason for the operation was the fact that the Hungarian Prime Minister Miklos Kallai , with the knowledge and approval of the regent Miklos Horthy , secretly discussed a truce with the Allies. Adolf Hitler found out about these negotiations and feeling betrayed by the Hungarians, on March 12, 1944 ordered the German forces to carry out the occupation of Hungary to prevent the Hungarians from leaving the war unilaterally.
On March 15, Hitler invited Horthy to Klessheim Palace, near Salzburg . While Horthy was conducting fictitious negotiations with Hitler, German troops entered Hungary without resistance. The meeting was just a ruse to lure Horthy out of the country and leave the army without a commander in chief. Negotiations between Hitler and Horthy lasted until March 18 , after which Horthy took the train to return to Budapest .
When he arrived in Budapest , he was met by German soldiers. Horthy received an ultimatum: that he should remove Kallai from the government and stop negotiations with the allies if he wants Hungary to remain sovereign. Otherwise, the occupation of the country will continue, and Gauleiter will be placed at the head of Hungary, as in any other occupied enemy country. Horthy made concessions and appointed German supporter Demo Stoyai as Prime Minister.
The operation was carried out swiftly and bloodlessly. Also, in view of the Soviet offensive from the north and east and the prospect of a British and American invasion of the Balkans, the Germans, while preserving their forces in Hungary, sent part of the troops to protect the passes through the Carpathians [3] .
As a result of the Nazi occupation, 550,000 Jews from Hungary were taken to Nazi death camps (these events took place in close cooperation with the Hungarian authorities) [4] .
Operation Margarete II
Operation Margarete II is the code name for the planned Nazi invasion of Romania, modeled on the occupation of Hungary, if the Romanian government decided to capitulate and go over to the side of the Allies [5] [6] . Romania actually surrendered in August 1944 after the coup, but this operation was never implemented [5] [6] .
Notes
- ↑ Andreas Hillgruber, Helmuth Greinert, Percy Ernst Schramm, Kriegstagebuch des Oberkommandos der Wehrmacht (Wehrmachtführungsstab) 1940-1945, Band IV: 1. Januar 1944 - 22. Mai 1945 (Bernard & Graefe, 1961)
- ↑ Carlile Aylmer Macartney, October Fifteenth: A History of Modern Hungary, 1929-1945 , 2 vols. (Edinburgh University Press, 1956-57), II, 226.
- ↑ Earl F. Ziemke, Stalingrad to Berlin: The German Defeat in the East , US Government Printing Office, 1968
- ↑ Cesarani, David. Eichmann: His Life and Crimes .. - London: Vintage, 2005. - P. 159–195 .. - ISBN 978-0-099-44844-0 .
- ↑ 1 2 Jean W. Sedlar. The Axis Empire in Southeast Europe, 1939-1945 . - BookLocker.com, 2007. - ISBN 978-1-60145-297-9 .
- ↑ 1 2 John Erickson. Stalin's War with Germany: The road to Berlin . - Yale University Press, 1999. - ISBN 978-0-300-07813-8 .