Battle of Budapest

Siege of Budapest

Part of the Budapest Offensive (Eastern Front of World War II)

A Soviet soldier writing "Budapest" in Cyrillic on a signpost after the siege.

Date	29 December 1944 – 13 February 1945 (1 month, 14 days)
Location	Budapest, Hungary
Result	Strategic Soviet victory

Belligerents

Germany

Hungary

Soviet Union

Romania

Commanders and leaders

K. Pfeffer-Wildenbruch (POW)

Gerhard Schmidhuber †

Nicolae Şova

Strength

c. 180,000
(including 102,000 in siege)

500,000+
(170,000 for city assault)

Casualties and losses

In siege: c. 40,000 dead and 62,000 captured (wounded included among captured)
Total: ~130,000 casualties

Soviet:
c. 44,000 dead
c. 100,000 - 130,000 wounded or sick
Romanian: c. 11,000 dead c. 12,000 wounded

38,000 civilians dead

The Siege of Budapest or the Battle of Budapest was the 50-day-long encirclement of the Hungarian capital of Budapest by Soviet forces near the end of World War II. Part of the broader Budapest Offensive, the siege began when Budapest, defended by Hungarian and German troops, was first encircled on 26 December 1944 by the Red Army and the Romanian Army. During the siege, about 38,000 civilians died from starvation and military action. The city unconditionally surrendered on 13 February 1945. It was a strategic victory for the Allies in their push towards Berlin.

Suffering from nearly 200,000 deaths in three years fighting the Soviet Union, and with the front lines approaching its own cities, by early 1944 Hungary was ready to exit the war. As political forces within Hungary pushed for an end to the fighting, Germany preemptively launched Operation Margarethe 19 March 1944, and entered Hungary.

In October 1944, after successive Allied victories at Normandy and Falaise, and after the collapse of the Eastern Front following the stunning success of the Soviet summer offensive, Operation Bagration, Horthy again attempted to negotiate a separate peace with the Allies. Upon hearing of Horthy's efforts, Hitler launched Operation Panzerfaust to keep Hungary on the Axis side, and forced Horthy to abdicate. Horthy and his government were replaced by "Hungarist" Ferenc Szálasi, led by the far-right National Socialist Arrow Cross Party. As the new right-wing government and its German allies prepared the defense of the capital, IX SS Mountain Corps, consisting of two Waffen SS divisions, was sent to Budapest to strengthen the city's defense.

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Wikipedia