Hungarian Golden Bravery Medals

[Octavianus]

Ave amici,

This is more or less a question for Hungarian speaking members of this forum aka ethnic Hungarians: Csaba, Milan and Geppistoly, do you happen to know where could a man get a list of Hungarian recipenits of Golden Bravery Medal, the highest Hungarian military decoration for bravery during WWII? Is there any website or a museum/military historical research centre, which I could contact?

Gratia,

Octvianus

[Csaba Becze]

The Hungarian Gold Medal for Bravery had two variants: one for soldiers and warrant officers, and one another for officers.

Recipient of the soldiers/warrant officers variant:

István Szarka (posthumously)
József Rozs (posthumously)
Károly Póthy (posthumously)
Béla Szabadi (posthumously)
Mihály Enczi
Lajos Tóth
Sándor Szobránci (Szoják) http://www.dalnet.se/~surfcity/hungary_szobranci.htm
István Hrdlicska (posthumously)
János Tóth
Gábor Krisán (posthumously)
Dezsõ Pataky (Pilipár)
István Honti
Gábor Madarasi
Sándor T. Szûcs
László Seres (posthumously)
Lajos Rákosi
József Sasvári
Kálmán Babics (posthumously)
József Gátmezei
Ferenc Dalos
Pál Burbucs
Géza Nyékhegyi (posthumously)
József Kalocsai (posthumously)
Ernõ Fehér
Sándor Hegedüs
József Behányi (posthumously)
Antal Hárshegyi (posthumously)
Lajos Tapody
Mihály Koltai
Gábor Delacasse (posthumously)
Sándor Lakatos (posthumously)
Imre Bakondy
István Lavrencsik
Géza Mészáros
Géza Kádas
Ferenc Szabó
Mihály Ujvári
Gyula Drezsik
Sándor Trombitás
János Eröss

Recipients of the officer's variant:

Tibor Massányi (posthumously)
Sándor Horváth
László Merész, dr.
László Duska
József Barankay
László Molnár (posthumously)
János Bozsóki
László Siprák
Gyula Ágner (posthumously)
Ákos Székely
Zoltán Álgya-Papp
Árpád Rechtzügel
György Vastagh (posthumously)
György Debrõdy http://www.elknet.pl/acestory/debrody/debrody.htm
Miklós Jónás
Dániel Lõvei (posthumously)
Ferenc Mezõ (posthumously)
Vilmos Vértes (posthumously)
Edömér Tassonyi
Tamás Marjay
Dezsõ Szentgyörgyi
Imre Pataki

And three German: Rudel, Lipfert and Pannier.

You can find just two English articles about two pilot recipients: Szoják, and Debrõdy

Csaba

[USAF1986]

Csaba,

I just stumbled across this post, very interesting! BTW, is the second listed German recipient Luftwaffe ace Hauptman Helmut Lipfert? Also, I take it the third is SS-Standartenführer und Oberst der Schutzpolizei Rudolf Pannier? Thanks!

Best regards,
Shawn

[Csaba Becze]

Shawn,

Lipfert was very succesful over Hungary, that's why he was awarded with that medal.

The another fellow was Rudolf Pannier.

Actually, it was a very strange situation with the medals but this is a long story...

[Brotherhood of the Cross]

If I may ask a collateral question re: Hungarian heroes. What happened to these guys after the Communists took over. Actually what was the fate of the soldiers/officers who defended their coutry against the Soviets. In the period immediately after war and later on (if relevant). I am trying to draw a parallel to the situation in Romania, which was sort of a Soviet Ally...
Thanks.

[Csaba Becze]

Generally they were punished. Spent some years in prisons, they were evicted, didn't get a good job,etc...

2ndLt Lajos Tóth, who missed the MTAVÉ because the war was ended, was executed by the communists. His body was identifyied exactly in a mass grave in last year.

[Brotherhood of the Cross]

Generally they were punished. Spent some years in prisons, they were evicted, didn't get a good job,etc...

Yes, but they were not executed in the Middle Square or anything gross like that. The Soviets expected them to fight them for the country so no extremely severe repressals were conducted against those who fought for their sacred Homeland (as you do whether or not you are a small Nation).
I guess that one could say that the Army officers in Hungary and Romania received roughly the same treatment from the Soviets. My point is that most 23 August 1944-"Good Decision" supporters give that as an argument - what happened in Hungary as compared to Romania. Well there not much of a difference at least in this area.

[Csaba Becze]

I don't think so, that it was the same situation. For example one above mentioned officer spent 10 years after the war in the Sovietunion as a "war guilty".

None of the above mentioned soldiers had any career after the war in the new army. IIRC in the Rumanian army was in a very different situation.

It's not a severe repressal spending years in prisons as an innocent, vegetating without work, etc? Bah...

[michael van lauesen]

Greetings,

I thought I would impart some information I have researched on this subject, through my study of the Hungarian airborne forces "Ejtoernyos."


On December 31, 1944, Budapest was surrounded by the Red Army, the city surrendered officially to the Russians on February 12, 1945. The Red Army and their allies then began their steam roller offensive west, pushing the remaining Hungarian forces and their German allies back into Austria. According to General Bor (Lieutenant-Field Marshal Jenö nemes halmaji Bor), there were many Hungarians who wished to return to their homeland, in 1945. Although the Russians had overrun Hungary, there was not yet a Communist regime in place, and there may have been hopes that Hungary's independence would be preserved once the war was over and the Allies withdrew from their respective zones of occupation.


In hindsight, of course, this was unrealistic when considering the Russians, but Hungary didn’t have the "benefit" of experiencing a prior Russian occupation. Russia continued as the de facto governing authority over the central European countries it had liberated from the Germans by installing Communist regimes in each that, effectively, sympathetic to the government of the Soviet Union and Russian Communism and were controlled by Moscow.

Ultimately many high ranking Hungarian military officers in the west were turned over to the Red Army or arrested by either the Soviet authorities and transferred to the Hungarian Communist authorities. Many Hungarian officers were put on show trials, deported to Siberia or executed, by the new Hungarian or other Communist regimes in Central Europe, (Lt. General Szombathelyi, C n’ C of the Hungarian Army in 1941, was turned over to the Yugoslavian authorities in 1945, put on a show trial in Belgrade and executed by impalement in 1946).

General Szügyi (commander of the Hungarian para Batl-) was no exception. Delivered to the Red Army by British military authorities in May 1945, General Szügyi was tried by the new governing body of Hungarian Communists who found him guilty of treason and with collaborating with the Hungary's Fascist government (The Arrow Cross). He was sentenced to life in prison. Szügyi signed several false confessions, so it is reasonable to believe he was subjected to torture by his captors.



Sources:

Anyakönzvi Lap (Army Daily Register), Szügzi Zoltan, 1941-1945.

Hadtörténelmi Levéltár (Hungarian Army Archives) Fourteen pages of documents from the 1 rst. Parartrooper Batl., to include 4 pages of awards issued to the unit in 1944, 3 pages of after action reports from 1941. Also 8 pages from the Magyar Honvéd Miniszter Katona Politikai Ostzalz (Elhártó Alosztálz), from 1947.

The Hungarian Paratroopers 1938-1945. Huszár János. Privately published, Budapest 1999.

A magyar katonai felső vezetes 1938-1945

[Bernd R]

And three German: Rudel, Lipfert and Pannier.

Is it known more detailed in the form of date / rank / position,unit ?

Thanks and regards
Bernd

[W.Vermeer]

Bernd, I know that your post is rather old already, but at the moment I am adding all the recipients to www.ww2awards.com see http://www.ww2awards.com/award/1124/B