Hungarian Paratroopers 1944 Help

[Grey Hunter]

Hello all

I'm working on a Hungarian Paratrooper briefing for a company level war game i play. I have found quite a bit on the units history but I have a few questions about their organization and support they would have had during the battle for the Carpathian mountains.

So questions:-

* Organization wise, were they different from a standard Hungarian infantry platoon?
* What internal anti-tank support did they have? Were they lucky enough to have Pak 40's?
* Support wise does anyone have an order of battle for the fighting around the Carpathian Mountains? I',m looking to see what German or Hungarian units might have supported them.

Thanks for any advance, info or help

Ben

[CB1]

Hi,

This comes from "Légideszant 1" by K. Turcsányi/E. Hegedűs:

What internal anti-tank support did they have?

Crew-served:
They had the 1936M 20mm Solothurn heavy rifle. It could be broken down to a 10-kg barrel and the 35-kg body for transport.
It was fed from 5-round magazines. The AP round pierced 20mm steel in a 500-meter distance. The HE round was used the demolish pillboxes upto 2000 meters.

From 1943 they had 40M 40mm páncéltörő ágyú. It was a 495-kg AT-gun developed from the Pak 36 with a crew of 6 protected by a 5mm plate. Armor-piercing capability was 46mm at 100m, 40mm at 500m and 30mm at 1000m.
http://www.masodikvh.hu/index2.php?opti ... itemid=189
As this was a bit inferior a special cumulative grenade (similar to Stielgranate 41) was developed. It was able to penetrate 180mm at 500m. The gun was broken down into two pieces and dropped in two containers.

Yes, they had the Pak 40. They planned to airland them gliders.

Personal:
They had rifle grenade laubchers, they bought the license of German Bergmann. They had Panzerfaust 60 an 100 from 1944. They also had Raketenpanzerbüsche 54 from 1944.

Experimental?
From 1944 the 44M Buzogányvető was introduced. Rocket grenades were launched from dual tubes, built on captured Maxim trolleys. The AP rocket (codenamed buzogány = mace) pierced 200mm armor from a 200-meter distance. The HE rocket (codenamed zápor = rain) was effective upto 1200 meters.

Here is how it looked like (possibly):

http://www.roncskutatas.hu/node/12989

Do you still need answers for the rest of your questions?

Bye,
Krisz

[Grey Hunter]

Hi Krisz

Thats great! really fills in the gaps I had.

Do you still need answers for the rest of your questions?

Bye,
Krisz

The only piece of the picture I'm not missing is what support they around the Carpathian Mountains? Both German or Hungarian units.

Thanks a lot Ben

[CB1]

Hi,

This is what I found (Az 1. magyar hadsereg története 1944.01.06-10.17 /History of Hu 1st Army, 6JAN-17OCT 1944/ by Ignác Ölvedi):

Page 116: Staff reports on 8-10AUG 1944 shows the following disposition of 1HuArmy:
a) VI Corps holds Mykulychyn-Tatariv-Vorokhta in the Hunyadi-line
- 1 Mountain Bde
- 2 Mtn Bde
- 27 Light Div
- 25 Inf Div
- 4 Mtn Div (German)

b) VII Corps was regrouping Pasichna-Chorna
- 7 Inf Div
- 16 Inf Div (holding the pass between Torun & Vyshkiv)
- 24 Inf Div
1 Para Btn was attached as Corps reserve

c) 20 Inf Div North East of Torun Pass in the valley

Page 167: in October 1HuArmy was occupying Árpád-line. Composition: III, V and VI Corps, 5 divisons (6, 10, 13, 16, 24), 2 mountain brigades (1, 2), 66th Frontier Group, 63rd Frontier Raider Btn, 1st Para Reg and 9 fort companies. The army was 140,000-strong.

Is this what you had in mind?

Bye,
Krisz

[Grey Hunter]

Thats great! Thanks once again Krisz