Endre my grandfather is remembered as a true Hungarian patriot, honoured for his role in 1939 retrieving Hungary’s lost territories after the Treaty of Trianon and for his bravery during World War II at the Siege of Buda in 1945. His Hungarian military legacy stands as a lasting symbol of dedication, courage, and loyal service to his homeland.
Captured in the final days of the Siege of Budapest, Endre endured years of suffering no soldier should face as a prisoner of war. And in 1949, was compelled to make the ultimate sacrifice — not in war, but at the hands of those who twisted justice to silence him.
First Lieutenant Endre Kovacs (Hungary WW2) Military Career
Kovács Endre (born: Szolnok, 3rd June 1901 – executed in: Budapest, 31st March 1949).
Endre Kovacs served in the military for more than two decades and rose through the ranks to become a leading figure in Hungarian Army counterintelligence. His strong patriotism and dedication to Hungary define much of his legacy. His story highlights the complexities of history and shows why it is essential to understand the circumstances in which people lived and made decisions during wartime.
He graduated from military school and, in 1938, joined the Ragged Guard as a reserve lieutenant. He later earned promotion to reserve first lieutenant. By the end of the Second World War, he served as a first lieutenant and intelligence officer and became one of the key military leaders responsible for implementing Hungarian Defence Plan 3 (Def-3), which operated with ministerial approval. This plan included external counter-espionage measures designed to prevent Soviet infiltration, reflecting his commitment to protecting Hungary’s national interests. Endre worked closely with other Hungarian officers to coordinate Hungary’s defenses against the advancing Soviet Army during the Siege of Budapest and the breakout operations.
Few people today realise his early 1938-1939 paramiltary activities in regaining Tiszaújhely and Tiszaújlak, now lie within modern Ukraine, though they were and remain predominantly Hungarian communities.
The Ragged Guards (in Hungarian Rongyos Gárda) was an irregular Hungarian paramilitary force active during the 1938–1939 territorial revisions. Operating outside the formal army structure, Endre and others carried out sabotage, reconnaissance, and covert nationalist actions against Czechoslovakia and later in Transcarpathia (Kárpátalja) in order to reunite lost territories.
Endre Kovacs
During peacetime, Endre Kovács worked as a civil servant. As war approached, he became a first lieutenant in László Vannay’s battalion and played a crucial role in the defense of Budapest by applying his counterintelligence skills and experience. When fighting began, he organised and led a company under the extreme conditions of urban warfare. His leadership and his training of young soldiers proved essential for maintaining morale during the Siege of Budapest, one of the war’s most intense and tragic battles. The recognition he later received posthumously highlights both his bravery and the importance of his role in Hungary’s defence (DEF-3). After the war, Soviet-backed Hungarian authorities executed him in 1949 for his involvement in anti-communist activities. Today, Kovács is remembered as a complex and significant figure in Hungarian history.
Hungary prepared Defence Plan 3 (Def-3) in the final months of 1944 as its last major effort to slow the Soviet and Romanian advance. As the front collapsed and Soviet forces threatened Budapest directly, the General Staff organised a defensive system along the Danube line. Within this framework, Endre Kovács served as an officer responsible for implementing the plan’s counterintelligence and security measures. He helped coordinate the protection of key positions and supported broader defensive operations aimed at holding Hungary’s western regions as long as possible.
Hell on earth for many of those that survived.
Siege of
Budapest 1945
On 14 February 1945, during the final phase of World War II, the 52-day siege of Budapest ended in total devastation. First Lieutenant Endre Kovács was wounded and captured. The Soviets sent him to a POW camp, then later returned him to Hungary, where the vengeful anti-fascist people’s tribunals seized him and sentenced him to death.
Endre was as a captured war prisoner at the siege of Budapest in 1945, was sent to Uszmány, a Russian Prisoner Of War camp settlement 65 km northeast of Voronezh, the Voronezh-Gryaz railway line along.
Soviet POW 18 Months Diary Extract of Endre Kovacs
This chess board was carved by Endre for his 14th year old son’s birthday in 1946.
Hungarian Mock Trials 1948
Andras Kovacs (son of Endre Kovacs 1901-1949) wrote:
My father was released from Soviet POW after 18 months weighing 45 kilos, and then in 1948, he was arrested by the AVO (Hungarian communist secret police), and on March 31, 1949, was executed by hanging, because, according to them, the time spent in the “Soviet paradise” was not enough for him to “expiate” his “war crimes”. May God reward him for his heroism. Zebike mentioned in any text is my nickname (András) given to me by my father.
I wish the blessing of the God of the Hungarians on the reader of these lines and I wish all of them a more beautiful, free Hungarian future.
Dedication
Endre Kovács states: ”As the grandson with the same name Endre, I dedicate this biography of First Lieutenant Kovács Endre and memory of vitez Andras Gyula (father) and all Hungarian military patriots that had fallen in pre and post WW2.
