Operation Panzerfaust, known as
Unternehmen Eisenfaust in Germany, was a military operation to occupy the
Kingdom of HungaryThe Kingdom of Hungary existed from 1919 to 1946 and was a de facto country under Regent Miklós Horthy. Horthy officially represented the abdicated Hungarian monarchy of Charles IV, Apostolic King of Hungary...
conducted in October 1944 by the German Military Forces (
WehrmachtWehrmacht was the name of the unified armed forces of Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe ....
). The operation was also known as
Operation Mickey Mouse. When German dictator
Adolf HitlerAdolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , popularly known as the Nazi Party...
received word that Hungary's
RegentA regent, from the Latin regens "reigning", is a person selected to act as head of state because the ruler is a minor, not present, or debilitated. Thus, the common use is for an acting deputy governor....
,
AdmiralAdmiral is the rank, or part of the name of the ranks, of the highest naval officers. It is usually considered a full admiral and above Vice Admiral and below Admiral of the Fleet/Fleet Admiral. It is usually abbreviated to "Adm." or "ADM"...
Miklós HorthyMiklós Horthy de Nagybánya was the Regent of the Kingdom of Hungary during the interwar years and throughout most of World War II, serving from 1 March 1920 to 15 October 1944...
, was secretly negotiating his country's surrender to the advancing
Red ArmyThe Red Army The Red Army The Red Army was the Soviet government’s revolutionary militia beginning in the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the USSR. Since 1946, after the Second World War, it was called the Soviet Army.The 'Red...
, he sent commando leader Lieutenant-Colonel of the
Waffen-SSThe Waffen-SS was the combat arm of the Schutzstaffel or SS, an organ of the Nazi Party. The Waffen-SS saw action throughout World War II and grew from three regiments to over 38 divisions, and served alongside the Wehrmacht Heer regular army, but was never formally part of it...
Otto SkorzenyOtto Skorzeny was an SS-Obersturmbannführer in the German Waffen-SS during World War II. After fighting on the Eastern Front, he commanded a rescue mission that freed the deposed Italian dictator Benito Mussolini from captivity...
to Hungary.
Operation Panzerfaust, known as
Unternehmen Eisenfaust in Germany, was a military operation to occupy the
Kingdom of HungaryThe Kingdom of Hungary existed from 1919 to 1946 and was a de facto country under Regent Miklós Horthy. Horthy officially represented the abdicated Hungarian monarchy of Charles IV, Apostolic King of Hungary...
conducted in October 1944 by the German Military Forces (
WehrmachtWehrmacht was the name of the unified armed forces of Germany from 1935 to 1945. It consisted of the Heer , the Kriegsmarine and the Luftwaffe ....
). The operation was also known as
Operation Mickey Mouse. When German dictator
Adolf HitlerAdolf Hitler was an Austrian-born German politician and the leader of the National Socialist German Workers Party , popularly known as the Nazi Party...
received word that Hungary's
RegentA regent, from the Latin regens "reigning", is a person selected to act as head of state because the ruler is a minor, not present, or debilitated. Thus, the common use is for an acting deputy governor....
,
AdmiralAdmiral is the rank, or part of the name of the ranks, of the highest naval officers. It is usually considered a full admiral and above Vice Admiral and below Admiral of the Fleet/Fleet Admiral. It is usually abbreviated to "Adm." or "ADM"...
Miklós HorthyMiklós Horthy de Nagybánya was the Regent of the Kingdom of Hungary during the interwar years and throughout most of World War II, serving from 1 March 1920 to 15 October 1944...
, was secretly negotiating his country's surrender to the advancing
Red ArmyThe Red Army The Red Army The Red Army was the Soviet government’s revolutionary militia beginning in the Russian Civil War of 1918-1922. It grew into the national army of the USSR. Since 1946, after the Second World War, it was called the Soviet Army.The 'Red...
, he sent commando leader Lieutenant-Colonel of the
Waffen-SSThe Waffen-SS was the combat arm of the Schutzstaffel or SS, an organ of the Nazi Party. The Waffen-SS saw action throughout World War II and grew from three regiments to over 38 divisions, and served alongside the Wehrmacht Heer regular army, but was never formally part of it...
Otto SkorzenyOtto Skorzeny was an SS-Obersturmbannführer in the German Waffen-SS during World War II. After fighting on the Eastern Front, he commanded a rescue mission that freed the deposed Italian dictator Benito Mussolini from captivity...
to Hungary. Hitler feared that Hungary's surrender would expose his southern flank, where the
Kingdom of RomaniaThe Kingdom of Romania was the old Romanian state based on a form of parliamentary monarchy between 13 March 1881 and 30 December 1947, specified by the first three Constitutions of Romania...
had just joined with the Soviets and cut off a million German troops still fighting the Soviet advance in the Balkan peninsula.
Hitler sends in Waffen-SS
Having anticipated Horthy's move, Skorzeny had been instructed to remove Horthy from power. Horthy's son
Miklós Horthy, Jr.Miklós Horthy de Nagybánya II was the younger son of Hungarian regent Admiral Miklós Horthy and, until the end of World War II, a politician.-Biography:...
was meeting with Soviet representatives. Miklós Jr. was informed by the German Security Service through intermediaries that envoys of President
TitoJosip Broz Tito Josip Broz Tito Josip Broz Tito (Cyrillic script: Јосип Броз Тито, (7 or 25 May 1892 – 4 May 1980) was a Yugoslav revolutionary and statesman. He was Secretary-General (later President) of the League of Communists of Yugoslavia (1939–80), and went on to lead the World War II...
of Yugoslavia wanted to meet with him. Miklós Jr. had failed to keep a prior meeting when he observed suspicious individuals near the proposed meeting-place. A second meeting was set for early October 15 at the offices of Felix Bornemisza, the Director of the Hungarian Danube ports. He hoped that the Yugoslavian representatives might have important news, but upon entering the building, Skorzeny and his troops attacked him and beat him into submission. They then kidnapped Miklós at gunpoint, trussed him up in a carpet, and immediately drove him to the airport and flew him to Vienna and from there he was transported to the concentration camp at
MauthausenMauthausen is a small market town in Upper Austria, Austria. It is located at about 20 kilometers east of the city of Linz, and has a population of 4,850 .During World War II, it became the site of the Mauthausen-Gusen concentration camp complex....
.
Horthy declares armistice
Working through his trustworthy General
Béla MiklósKnight Béla Miklós de Dálnok was a Hungarian politician who served as acting Prime Minister of Hungary, at first in opposition, and then officially, from 1944 to 1945.-Early career:...
who was in contact with Soviet forces in eastern Hungary, Regent Horthy attempted to negotiate the end of the war, seeking to surrender to the Soviets while preserving the government's autonomy. The Soviets willingly promised this. But the Germans were aware of Horthy's behind-the-scenes maneuvering and set in place Operation Panzerfaust which would remove him from power and replace his government with forces loyal to the German cause, effectively occupying Hungary. Horthy governed from Castle Hill in central Budapest, an ancient and now well-guarded fortress. He blamed the German government for "forcing" Hungary into war, and during a meeting of the Crown Council declared that:
At 2:00 p.m. on October 15, 1944, Horthy's declaration that Hungary had signed an armistice with the Soviet Union was announced over the radio. With Nazi help, the Arrow-Cross Party seized the radio station. A party member wrote a counter-proclamation and used the name of the Hungarian Army's Chief of the General Staff, General Vörös. The commanding officer and his assistant of the two remaining Hungarian army units in Budapest were arrested or disappeared, and their soldiers fell inline with the Arrow-Cross party.
Hungarian army doesn't respond
Given that many Hungarian units were controlled by the German army, it is unclear whether orders, if issued, ever reached most of the line troops. There had also been considerable propaganda about the harsh, punitive treatment of prisoners by the Soviets, and some Hungarian forces had witnessed first-hand the atrocities Soviet perpetrated against civilians. Combined with their loyalty to their country, no matter what government was in charge, they felt it was their duty to fight even when the end result was predictable.
Germans take Buda Castle
Skorzeny then brazenly led a convoy of Germany troops and four
Tiger IITiger II is the common name of a German heavy tank of the Second World War. The official German designation was Panzerkampfwagen Tiger VI Ausf. B , with the ordnance inventory designation Sd.Kfz. 182...
tanks to the Vienna Gates of
Castle HillBuda Castle is the historical castle of the Hungarian kings in Budapest, Hungary, first completed in 1265...
. Horthy recognized that he had no means to fight the German armor and superior forces. He issued orders that "no resistance should be made." One unit did not get these orders, and fought the Germans for about 30 minutes. The Germans quickly and with minimal bloodshed captured Castle Hill. Only seven soldiers were killed and 26 men were wounded.
Horthy captured
Horthy was taken into custody by
Edmund VeesenmayerEdmund Veesenmayer was a German politician, officer and war criminal. He significantly contributed to The Holocaust in Hungary and Croatia...
and his staff later on the 15th. Kept overnight in the Waffen SS offices, he returned to the Palace to collect his personal belongings. There he was confronted with a demand to sign a typewritten statement, handed to him by Premier
Géza LakatosKnight Géza Lakatos de Csíkszentsimon was a general in Hungary during World War II who served briefly as Prime Minister of Hungary, under governor Miklós Horthy from August 29 1944, until October 15...
. Surprised that his loyal friend would encourage him to sign the document, Lakatos told Horthy that his son's life was in the balance. Horthy asked Veesenmayer, who was standing outside Horthy's bathroom, if what Lakatos said was true. Veesenmayer affirmed the threat, and the Regent understood that this was an effort to put the stamp of his prestige on a Nazi-sponsored Arrow Cross coup, placing
Ferenc SzálasiFerenc Szálasi was the leader of the National Socialist Arrow Cross Party - Hungarist Movement, the "Leader of the Nation" , and the de facto Prime Minister of the Hungarian State for the final three months of Hungary's participation in World War II...
and the
Arrow CrossThe Arrow Cross Party was a national socialist pro-Nazi party led by Ferenc Szálasi, which ruled Hungary as the Hungarian State from October 15, 1944 to January 1945...
in control of the country.
Horthy later explained his capitulation: "I neither resigned nor appointed Szálasi Premier, I merely exchanged my signature for my son’s life. A signature wrung from a man at machine-gun point can have little legality."
Despite Veesenmayer's solemn promise to obtain Horthy's son's release from the German concentration camp, Miklós Jr. was released at the war's end on May 8. Transported to the Schloss Hirschberg near Weilheim, Germany, Horthy was guarded by 100 Waffen SS men at all times. On May 1, 1945, Lt. Gen.
Alexander PatchGeneral Alexander McCarrell "Sandy" Patch was an officer in the United States Army, best known for his service in World War II. He commanded Army and Marine forces during the invasion of Guadalcanal, and the U.S...
, the commander of the 36th Division, visited Horthy in his castle prison. Because Hungary had fought on to the end defending Germany, Horthy was considered a prisoner of war. Seven months later, on December 17, 1945, he was released from the Nuremberg penitentiary and was reunited with his family in a private home in Weilheim.