Siege of Budapest

For earlier battles, see Battle of Buda (disambiguation).
Siege of Budapest
Part of the Budapest Offensive (Eastern Front of World War II)

A Soviet soldier writing "Budapest" in Russian on a signpost after the siege
Date29 December 1944 – 13 February 1945
(1 month, 2 weeks and 6 days)
Location
Budapest, Hungary
Result

Soviet victory

Belligerents
Nazi Germany Germany
Kingdom of Hungary (1920–1946) Hungary		 Soviet Union Soviet Union
Kingdom of Romania Romania
Commanders and leaders
Nazi Germany Karl Pfeffer-Wildenbruch (POW)
Nazi Germany Gerhard Schmidhuber †
Kingdom of Hungary (1920–1946) Dezső László
Kingdom of Hungary (1920–1946) Iván Hindy (POW)		 Soviet Union Rodion Malinovsky
Soviet Union Fyodor Tolbukhin
Kingdom of Romania Nicolae Șova [ro]
Strength

In the city:[1]

79,000 men
Nazi Germany 41,000 men (ration strength)
Kingdom of Hungary (1920–1946) 38,000 men (ration strength)
489 guns
125 tanks and assault guns
117 heavy anti-tank guns

In the city:[2][3]

177,000 men
1,000 guns
Casualties and losses

3 November–15 February: 137,000 men[4]
24 December–15 February: 114,000 men[4]
City:

79,000 men
  • Nazi Germany 30,000 killed
  • Nazi Germany 11,000 captured
  • Kingdom of Hungary (1920–1946) 9,000 killed
  • Kingdom of Hungary (1920–1946) 29,000 captured

Relief attempts:

  • unknown
 3 November–11 February: 100,000 - 160,000[5]
76,000 civilians dead[6]
38,000 civilians died in the siege (7,000 executed)
38,000 died in labour or POW camps

The siege of Budapest or battle of Budapest was the 50-day-long encirclement by Soviet and Romanian forces of the Hungarian capital of Budapest, near the end of World War II. Part of the broader Budapest Offensive, the siege began when Budapest, defended by Hungarian and German troops, was encircled on 26 December 1944 by the Red Army and the Romanian Army. During the siege, about 38,000 civilians died through starvation, military action, and mass executions of Jews by the far-right Hungarian nationalist Arrow Cross Party.[7][8] The city unconditionally surrendered on 13 February 1945. It was a strategic victory for the Allies in their push towards Berlin.[9]

  1. ^ Frieser et al. 2007, p. 897.
  2. ^ Frieser et al. 2007, p. 898.
  3. ^ Ungváry 2003, p. 324.
  4. ^ a b Ungváry 2003, pp. 331–332.
  5. ^ "The Siege of Budapest". 25 July 2022.
  6. ^ Ungváry 2003, p. 330.
  7. ^ "Szita Szabolcs: A budapesti csillagos házak (1944-45)[The Star Houses in Budapest (1944-45)]". Remeny.org. 15 February 2006. Retrieved 2017-06-17.
  8. ^ "The Arrow Cross - Persecution of the Jews". Archived from the original on 2009-02-02. Retrieved 2013-05-18.
  9. ^ Ungváry 2005, p. 512.