The Royal Hungarian Army in World War II

by Nigel Thomas, Laszlo Szabo, Darko Pavlovic (Illustrator)

Overview

The Royal Hungarian Army was Germany's largest ally on the Eastern Front during World War II (1939-1945), providing a vital contribution in terms of both men and equipment. Information about the Hungarian Army in English is rare, and in this book co-authors Nigel Thomas and Hungarian expert Laszlo Szabo fill in the gaps about an important German ally.

Deployed in Ukraine at the beginning of the war, the Hungarian Army were involved in a number of brutal encounters with the Red Army, including stubborn resistance in Transylvania in the summer of 1944 and the brave defence of Budapest in the face of overwhelming odds. The Hungarian Army was a varied and colorful force, ranging from mountain troops and tank units to horse cavalry and specialist infantry. All of these are illustrated in full color artwork, and the text is full of details about the Hungarian Army's own, quite distinct uniforms and insignia as well as many of its own weapons and tanks. With so little of this information readily available outside of Hungary, this is an essential starter resource for war gamers, modelers, re-enactors and military historians.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9781846033247
Publisher:	Bloomsbury USA
Publication date:	10/21/2008
Series:	Men-at-Arms , #449
Pages:	48
Product dimensions:	7.10(w) x 9.60(h) x 0.20(d)

About the Author

NIGEL THOMAS PhD is an accomplished linguist and military historian, formerly at Northumbria University, now a freelance military author, translator and military uniform consultant. His interests are 20th-century military and civil uniformed organizations, with a special interest in Germany, Central and Eastern Europe. He has written widely for Osprey with titles such as MAA 518 Polish Legions 1914–19 and Elite 227 Armies of the Baltic Independence Wars 1918–20. He was awarded a PhD for the study of the Eastern enlargement of NATO.

László Pál Szábó is a freelance translator and software nationalization specialist. His hobby is military history, especially 19th and 20th century military organizations and insignia, with a particular interest in the United Kingdom, and the Austro–Hungarian Monarchy and its successors.

Darko Pavlovic was born in 1959 and currently lives and works in Zagreb, Croatia. A trained architect, he now works as a full-time illustrator and writer, specializing in militaria. Darko has illustrated a number of books for Osprey including Men-at-Arms 282: 'Axis Forces in Yugoslavia 1941–45'.

Table of Contents

Introduction

Organization of Royal Hungarian Army 1939

Occupations of Slovakian, Rutheniand and Yugoslavian territory, 1938-41

Operation Barbarossa: Mobile Group, Mobile Corps and Carpathian Group on the Ukraine, June-November 1941

Occupation Corps in the Ukraine, 1942

2nd Army on the Don, June 1942-January 1943

Anti-partisan warfare 1943

Soviet/Rumanian offensive, August 1944 - defence of Transylvania

Replacement of Horthy government by Arrow-Cross regime, October 1944

Defence and fall of Budapest, December 1944-February 1945

Pro-German and pro-Soviet units: Czechoslovakia and Austria, December 1944-May 1945

Editorial Reviews

Like other titles in this series, rare photographs and vivid illustrations add value to this book, and I imagine these resources can be extremely useful to modelers. This book definitely is a great starting point for me to start learning more about the Hungarian Army and how its men played a role in the European War.” —C. Peter Chan, World War II Database (December 11, 2008)

“What you will find in these pages are superb descriptions of these units/dress along with some unique photographs taken of some of the soldiers in their uniforms. This is further enhanced by the outstanding illustrations of Darko Pavlovic which add some real color to these old greyscale images from the distant past. A book that rightly belongs on the shelf of any WWII enthusiast and one that provides a bit more insight into one of the more important Axis allies.Highly recommended.” —Scott Van Aken, Modeling Madness (October 2008)

“The 'Men-at Arms' series is as much about the units and uniforms/equipment of these soldiers as it is about the conflict itself. That being the case, this particular edition covers just those aspects of the Royal Hungarian Army ... Highly recommended.” —Scott Van Aken, modelingmadness.com (October 2008)

“The combination of history, uniforms, and unit data all in one volume makes this a choice title to pick uop for all WW2 history buffs.” —Military Miniatures in Review

“If you ever wanted to know everything about the Hungarian Army during World War II, read this book.” —Jeff Grim, collectedmiscellany.com (October 2008)

From the Publisher