Siege of Buda 1945
Hell on earth for many of those that survived.
The Siege of Budapest at the end of WW2
Budapest Offensive is not the same as the Siege
The 108 days figure reference is the Budapest Offensive that page covers the whole offensive (campaign) that began 29 October 1944 and ended 13 February 1945 — counting the entire operation rather than just the city’s siege of 26 December 1944 by the Red Army and the Romanian Army.
During the siege, about 38,000 civilians died. Defensive Plan 3 (Védelmi Terv 3 / “Huba III”) was prepared earlier in 1944, but it was officially activated by Endre and other Hungarian and German officers (put into effect) when Budapest Hungary’s capital city became directly threatened — in late December 1944. This pivotal operation lasted 52 days in which Soviet and Romanian troops encircled Pest and then Buda.
Endre Kovács’ Locations in Buda During the Siege (Winter 1944–45)
1. Vannay Battalion Headquarters – Toldy Ferenc High School (Toldy Ferenc Gimnázium)
Primary location (December 1944 – February 1945)
This was the central headquarters of the Vannay Volunteer Battalion, where Endre Kovács duties were varied:
Activities here
defensive-counterintelligence officer
training supervisor
liaison officer under Captain István Szekeres
2. Bohn Brick Factory Area (Bohn Téglaégető) – near today’s Bécsi út / Nagyszombat utca
Documented visit on 4 December 1944 with eyewitness account by Ervin Galántay, a 14-year-old courier, states he met Endre Kovács at the brick factory and participated in a number of key strategic activities.
Activities here
Endre oversaw training of new battalion members with the aid of Searg.
He inspected a captured Soviet T-34/76 tank that had been disabled nearby to be used for training purposes
He evaluated defensive positions and coordinated security tasks.
The following is an extract from the book The Boy Soldier:
Boy Soldier : Combat tactics pg 58 – 15 December 1944
Friday 1st snow, Bohn Factory one night in a battalion dormitory. A motor cyclist drives me Irving to the Bohn factory in Obuda. I report to 1st Lieutenant Kovacs and he refers me to sergeant Lovass. The sergeant takes the trouble to instruct me in the Vannay tactics of urban combat outlined below:
- two men form a pair but the smallest tactical unit is a squad of four men this is based on the bácsi system. This means that three young volunteers are assigned to an older veteran or uncle who is personally responsible for their training and subsequent survival
- in an attack or Defense, the squad moves in the diamond pattern. the point man is a lightweight youngster armed only with pistol and grenades. he is followed by the left wing and right wing rifleman and with machine pistols and by the “uncle” as rear guard carrying a sniper gun or a Panzerfaust RPG
- the point man is first to enter a tunnel or a cave or room or to climb up on a lightning rod or gutter to the roof then pulls up the other team members and their gear
- retreating, the uncle as the rear guard unless he is hit, if wounded, the youngsters are needed to drag him back then with the point man acting as the rear guard
- with the exception for reconnaissance missions, the raids are carried out by a half-platoon of 16 men in quadruple diamond formation. The last squad of the half platoon carries an mg42 machine gun or a 50 millimeter motar. in a mortar platoon each men has to carry two bombs in addition to the other weapons. the machine gun platoon’s must carry belt full boxes of ammunition each box-wise 13.5 kilograms!
- attacking a multi-storey building the first squad secures the roof, the second penetrates the basement Squad 3 the first floor Squad 4 the second floor. In the case of a tall or heavily defended building, further half platoons are deployed in successive waves up to 64 to 80 men which is the average combat strength of a company
- the combat course is about 200 meters long the length of a city block. the first task is to scale one of the long sheds of the brick factory and to advance riding on the ridge then rapple down. The next section is a large concrete pipe, have flooded which has to be crossed by Seal wiggling
- emerging from the pipe the team is confronted with a t34 carcass tank and must lob a grenade toward it from a distance of 30 meters then jog alongside the tank. Next the uncle fires a small Panzer faust towards a brick wall from 15 metres. The Rifleman fire at cardboard targets moved by small pulleys like stage sets in a theatre
- returning, the point man must jump up on the tank, run over the turret, jump down and take up the position of rear guard while the uncle assumed to be wounded, is dragged through the tunnel and along the brick drying sheds back to the starting position.
3. Tunnel and Labyrinth Network Near Toldy / Castle District
As the lines tightened around Buda in January–February 1945, Endre sent various Vannay units and staff :
Activities here
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Cellars of Toldy Street
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The old Castle Hill cave tunnel system. Side note: This is a tourist attraction today.
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Making sure connecting passages running toward the palace and Vérmező were open
Post War Review
Béla Józsa Extract of book:
The soldiers of the University Assault Battalion (weighed in between the positions of a regiment of the 8th SS “Florian Geyer” Cavalry Division) tried to stop the Red Army along the front line on the Rose Hill. During the heavy fighting that lasted for weeks and during one of the most hopeless undertakings of World War II, the outbreak of February 11, 1945, more than a hundred university students died heroically. This book was written in their memory!
Capture
When preparations were made for the Buda breakout, Endre’s worsening wound and illness prevented him from joining the attempt. Left behind in the Castle area with other sick and wounded defenders including his young son Andras Kovacs, he was captured when Soviet units overran the final strongpoints. To protect himself, he provided false personal details during interrogation. His capture marked both the end of his role in implementing Def-3 on the Buda side and the beginning of his long post-war ordeal.
As a Soviet POW after Siege of Buda, Hungary 1945
1st Lieutenant Endre Kovacs was sent to a Soviet prisoner of war camp, and after 18 months the soviets returned him to Hungary where he fell in the hands of the vengeful communist people’s tribunals and was condemned to death like many others comrades including the physician Dr Mihály Kádár , the medical student Bilkey Pap, etc