The Poles are our friends - Hungarian support for the Warsaw Uprising 1944

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wm
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The Poles are our friends - Hungarian support for the Warsaw Uprising 1944

#1

Post by wm » 26 Sep 2017, 00:37

On Tuesday, speaking at the inauguration ceremony of a memorial to Hungarian soldiers assisting Polish insurgents in Warsaw, Deputy Minister of Defence Tamás Vargha, Parliamentary State Secretary of the Ministry of Defence pointed out that although they were fighting on the side opposing the Poles, Hungarian soldiers played a positive role during the Warsaw Uprising in 1944, in the spirit of thousand-year-old friendship.

The unveiling ceremony of the memorial erected on the initiative of the Hungarian Institute of Culture in Warsaw took place in the center of the Polish capital, near the Sejm of the Republic of Poland and the Hungarian Embassy.

In his speech, Tamás Vargha talked about the important moments in the thousand-year history of Polish–Hungarian friendship, pointing out that in the spirit of this friendship, Hungarian soldiers and officers “played an active and positive role” in the anti-Hitler Warsaw Uprising that broke out on 1st August 1944, “in spite of Hungary’s role in the anti-Soviet military alliance and its neutral stance towards the people of Poland.” [...]

Mr. Vargha explained that the order received from Budapest forbade the one cavalry and three infantry divisions – which were led by Lt.-Gen. Béla Lengyel and stationed near Warsaw at the time –, to join the uprising, but under the same order, they supplied the insurgents with bandages, medicament, food and also ammunition and explosives, and gave assistance to wounded Poles and refugees.

Referring to German military reports, Tamás Vargha explained that the Hungarian soldiers tasked with the encirclement of Warsaw enabled the insurgents to receive fresh incoming forces during the uprising. He pointed out that helping them was not without risks, as the German patrols “ruthlessly killed all Hungarian soldiers who were caught in the act of »fraternizing« with the Poles”. “Since then, our Polish friends have been taking care of some Hungarian soldiers’ graves that survived”, he added.
The Parliamentary State Secretary quoted an excerpt from the memoires of Lt.-Gen. Béla Lengyel: “In the given military situation, we conducted ourselves to the extent permitted by the honor of Hungarian soldiers; and the constraints on our conduct were the oath of service, the orders we received from our superiors and our friendly neutrality towards the Polish people.”
The monument:
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A Hungarian documentary (with English subtitles) Hungarian corridor - Warsaw 1944:
The German Military High Command planned to get the Second Hungarian Reserve Corps to crush the Warsaw uprising. However, the Hungarian contingent of thirty thousand troops misled their military ally. Not only did the soldiers provide large quantities of ammunition, weapons, food and medicine supplies for the Polish resistance Home Army but they also wanted to switch sides to support the rebels.



From Rising '44: The Battle for Warsaw by Norman Davies:
The approaching column of Hungarian infantry was beset by passers-by, and was forced to stop. We were standing right on Krashinski Square and from all sides we threw questions at the soldiers in different languages. Earlier they had smiled at us rather sheepishly. But lately, they expressed their sympathies quite openly. Traditional Polish-Hungarian cordiality was breaking through the walls of the enemy camp, and the chasm that had divided the enemies of Hitler, like us, from his allies, was crumbling.
'Long live Poland!' shouted one of the Hungarian soldiers. He was a Slovak and had correctly mastered the Polish language. 'Keep yourselves hale and hearty, the devils have already taken Hitler ...' [...]
At this moment, I saw a [German] gendarmerie patrol approaching from Long Street. Heavy blows from metal rifle butts rained down on the backs of the people who had been talking to the Hungarians. Fear of German brutality, which had kept a strong grip on us throughout the Occupation, had been recently replaced by greater boldness ... In the eyes of the whole of Warsaw, the Germans had lost their victors' strength.
One of the furious gendarmes fell upon the Slovak and began to tug at his uniform. The Hungarian soldiers and the German gendarmerie stared at each other, sizing each other up.
But the stand-off did not deteriorate into open hostilities, because a Hungarian officer appeared [from Honey Street] on a beautiful dun horse, rode towards the group at a light gallop, and without a word whipped the German gendarme until bloody stripes ran along the length of his hands. The Hungarians immediately marched forward, and the gendarme stepped back onto the pavement.

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Re: The Poles are our friends - Hungarian support for the Warsaw Uprising 1944

#2

Post by wm » 28 Sep 2017, 21:55

Graves of Hungarian soldiers:

Podkowa Leśna
József Véner, Antal Tóth, Pál Hunyadi
Died for Poland
pl1.jpg
Raszyn
Here lie Honvéd Sergeant Jözef Vonyik and 6 unknown Hungarian soldiers who have fallen for the Polish cause during the Warsaw Uprising, August 1944
Raszyn.jpg
Wesoła
Here lie three unknown Hungarian soldiers
wesola.jpg
Konstancin-Jeziorna
N.N. Hungarian soldier killed by the Germans in 1944
Image

sources: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5.


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Re: The Poles are our friends - Hungarian support for the Warsaw Uprising 1944

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Post by history1 » 30 Sep 2017, 10:46

They need to redo the inscriptions into "here lay xy Hungarian deserters".

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Re: The Poles are our friends - Hungarian support for the Warsaw Uprising 1944

#4

Post by wm » 30 Sep 2017, 18:41

The help was ordered by General Béla Lengyel (General Officer Commanding II Reserve Corps) after consultations with the Hungarian High Command so hardly they could have been deserters or traitors.
Although some of them joined the uprising (like the Vonyik's group) their commanders didn't give damn about it, and they are regarded as heroes by the Hungarians today.

General Béla Lengyel explained honestly the circumstances to the commander of the 9th Army General Nikolaus von Vormann, and he wrote in his memoir that Vormann was very understanding.
Last edited by wm on 30 Sep 2017, 21:11, edited 1 time in total.

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Re: The Poles are our friends - Hungarian support for the Warsaw Uprising 1944

#5

Post by wm » 30 Sep 2017, 19:43

Biography of Lieutenant-General Béla Lengyel:
1934-XX-XX – 1938-XX-XX Military Attaché to Finland, Estonia, Latvia & Lithuania
1934-XX-XX – 1939-XX-XX Military Attaché to Poland
1939-07-01 – 1940-03-01 Chief of Staff I Mobile Corps
1940-XX-XX – 1941-XX-XX Chief of Chancellery, Ministry of Defence
1941-08-01 – 1942-08-01 Chief of Section 10 Enlisted Personnel, Group I Organisation & Mobilisation, Ministry of Defence
1942-08-01 – 1943-08-10 General Officer Commanding 16th Light Division
1943-08-10 – 1944-08-01 General Officer Commanding 16th Infantry Division [Eastern Front]
1944-08-01 – 1944-09-22 General Officer Commanding II Reserve Corps [Eastern Front]
1944-09-22 – 1944-12-01 General Officer Commanding VIII Corps [Eastern Front]
1944-12-01 – 1945-03-XX At disposal of Ministry of Defence
1945-03-XX General Officer Commanding III Corps
1945-03-18 Retired

As can be seen he wasn't a stranger in Poland, he was a Military Attaché to Poland for five years.

1935, an audience with the Polish president, Lengyel is on the right:
Lengyel1.png
1937, his wife at the ball organized by the Hungarian-Polish Society, enjoying company of Col. Kevey.
Lengyel2.png
maybe because her husband prefered politics in company of military attaches of Japan and Czechoslovakia:
Lengyel3.png
sources: 1, 2.

According to a family legend the Lengyels have come from Poland. It's believed nothing but a legend, which is strange because Lengyel in Hungarian means "Pole" or "Polish".

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henryk
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Re: The Poles are our friends - Hungarian support for the Warsaw Uprising 1944

#6

Post by henryk » 30 Sep 2017, 20:28

The word, Polish, is derived from the tribe Polanie, Poznan area. Lengyel is derived from the tribe Lęndzianie, from the Lublin area. This tribe gave the name for Poland to Hungary, Lithuania and Turkey.
Source: Ancient Slavs, Frank A. Kmietowicz.

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Re: The Poles are our friends - Hungarian support for the Warsaw Uprising 1944

#7

Post by karlsh » 14 Nov 2017, 20:12

This is incredibly fascinating and all the information you all provide. An interesting read nonetheless. Thanks for sharing!!

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Re: The Poles are our friends - Hungarian support for the Warsaw Uprising 1944

#8

Post by wm » 09 Mar 2019, 15:08

In 1948 thousands of Poles selflessly fought in the Hungarian War of Independence.
The remains of one of them; the national hero of Poland and Hungary general Józef Bem returned to Poland in 1929 amid massive celebrations.

Regent Miklós Horthy welcoming the Polish military delegation:
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The gun carriage bearing the remains at Budapest Keleti railway station:
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at the Hungarian National Museum, Horthy visible:
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Statue of Bem in Budapest, the very place where the Hungarian Revolution of 1956 began.
The inscription calls him "Bem apó" - "Grandpa Bem" as he is frequently referred to in Hungarian. On the right, his famous words from the bloody battle at Piski are immortalized: (I will) retake the bridge or perish, onwards Hungary! With no bridge, there is no fatherland.
Image

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Re: The Poles are our friends - Hungarian support for the Warsaw Uprising 1944

#9

Post by history1 » 10 Mar 2019, 09:35

wm wrote:
09 Mar 2019, 15:08
In 1948 thousands of Poles selflessly fought in the Hungarian War of Independence.[...]
I assume you meant 1848......

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