In the fall of 1956, an anti-Soviet uprising broke out in the Hungarian capital of Budapest, in response to which the USSR sent troops to Hungary, real battles broke out on the streets of the city between the Soviet army and the Hungarian protesters. In this post - a photo story about these events.
Where did it all start? In November 1945, elections were held in Hungary, in which the Independent Party of Smallholders won 57% of the vote, "and the communists received only 17% - after which they began blackmail and fraud, relying on the Soviet troops stationed in Hungary, as a result of which the Hungarian communists ( The Hungarian Workers' Party, VPT) became the only legal political force.
The leader of the HTP and the chairman of the government, Matthias Rakosi, established a Stalin-style dictatorship in the country - he carried out forced collectivization and industrialization, suppressed dissent, created an extensive network of special services and informers, about 400,000 Hungarians were sent to camps for hard forced labor in mines and quarries.
The economic situation in Hungary was getting worse, and in the HTP itself, an internal political struggle began between the Stalinists and the supporters of reforms. Mathias Rakosi was eventually removed from power, but this was not enough for people - the political organizations and parties that appeared demanded urgent anti-crisis measures, the demolition of the monument to Stalin, the withdrawal of Soviet troops from the country.
On October 23, 1956, riots broke out in Budapest - demonstrators tried to seize the Radio House in order to broadcast the program demands of the demonstrators, clashes began with the Hungarian state security forces AVH. As a result, the demonstrators disarmed the guards of the Radio House, and many soldiers from the three battalions based in the city joined them.
On the night of October 23, columns of Soviet troops moved towards Budapest - as the official wording sounded - "to assist the Hungarian troops in restoring order and creating conditions for peaceful creative work."
02. In total, about 6,000 soldiers of the Soviet army, 290 tanks, 120 armored personnel carriers and about 150 guns were brought into Hungary. Part of the Hungarian troops went over to the side of the rebels, fighting detachments were formed to defend the city. In the photo - the rebels and the Hungarian military are discussing organizational issues, almost all are armed with PPSh.
03. During a rally near the parliament building, an incident occurred: fire was opened from the upper floors, as a result of which a Soviet officer was killed and a tank was burned. In response, the Soviet troops opened fire on the demonstrators, as a result, 61 people were killed on both sides and 284 were wounded.. Historian Laszlo Kontler writes that "in all likelihood, the fire was carried out by members of the secret services hiding on the roofs of nearby buildings", and almost 100 demonstrators were killed.
Almost immediately, fierce fighting broke out on the streets of Gorda. In the photo - the rebels set fire to the Soviet armored personnel carrier with Molotov cocktails.
04. Soviet T-34 tanks on the streets of the city. The photo was taken from the upper floors of one of the city houses, turned into ruins during the fighting.
05. People burn the Soviet flag at one of the demonstrations:
06. Armed Wengen rebels:
08. Demonstrators arrest a secret agent of the Hungarian special services and lead to the commandant's office. Hungarian rebels shot many state security officers right on the streets.
09. Protesters toppled a statue of Stalin:
10. Tanks and armored personnel carriers on the streets of the city:
11. Houses damaged during the fighting. In the foreground of the picture are Soviet cannons, and in the background is a crowd of people in search of food; during the days of the uprising, the supply of the city practically did not work.
12. Soviet tank T-34 in the city park. On the right, in my opinion, is the church building.
13. Another tank:
14. Residents of the city are looking for their missing relatives in the city cemetery...
15. Houses destroyed by tank shots.
16. Destruction in the city center.
17. Traces of fighting in the city - a destroyed house and the remains of a tank with a flying turret - apparently, the ammunition detonated.
18. Workers disassemble the rubble left by the fighting.
19. This is what many buildings looked like. The arched window of the first floor, laid with bricks, is either a former firing point, or an impromptu defense against marauders.
20. Some houses were almost completely destroyed...
21. Machine-gun point in one of the entrances.
22. Improvised street stalls selling food - in those days they were the only opportunity to buy at least something edible, most often these were the simplest products - bread, apples, potatoes.
23. At the shops where at least something was sold, long queues of citizens immediately lined up.
24. A tram line destroyed during the fighting.
On November 4, additional Soviet forces were introduced into Hungary against the rebels who had already believed in the victory - the order of the Soviet commander-in-chief said something about "Hungarian fascists" and "a direct threat to our Fatherland."
The second wave of Soviet troops and equipment crushed the uprising, mass arrests immediately began. The reaction in the Western world to the Hungarian events was quite unambiguous - intellectuals supported the rebels, and Albert Camus compared the non-intervention of Western countries in the Hungarian events with non-intervention in the Spanish Civil War:
“The truth is that the international community, which suddenly found the strength to intervene in the Middle East after many years of delay, on the contrary, allowed Hungary to be shot. Even 20 years ago, we allowed the armies of a foreign dictatorship to crush the Spanish revolution. This wonderful zeal was rewarded in World War II. The weakness of the UN and its split are leading us gradually to the third, which is knocking at our door."
In 1956, an uprising against the communist regime took place in Hungary, which in the USSR was called a "counter-revolutionary rebellion." At that time, Matyas Rakosi, a big admirer of Stalin and a fan of persecuting people for any dissent and sending them to camps, was in power in Hungary. His draconian policy was very unpopular among the Hungarians (but generally suited the Soviet authorities). Therefore, an attempt to overthrow him turned into the intervention of Soviet troops and the bloody suppression of the rebellion. Among the Hungarians, 2,652 insurgents died that year, 348 civilians, and 19,226 were wounded.
I found a good material for you about how it was. Under the cut, only official documents and archival photographs.
Information of the Ministry of Defense of the USSR in the Central Committee of the CPSU on the situation in Hungary as of 12.00 November 4, 1956
Special folder. Owls. secret. Ex. No. 1
At 6 o'clock 15 min. November 4 p. Soviet troops began an operation to restore order and restore people's democratic power in Hungary.
Acting according to a predetermined plan, our units captured the main strongholds of the reaction in the province, which were Gyor, Miskolc, Gyongyes, Debrecen, as well as other regional centers of Hungary.
During the operation, Soviet troops occupied the most important communication centers, including a powerful broadcast radio station in the city of Szolnok, ammunition and weapons depots, and other important military installations.
Soviet troops operating in the city of Budapest, having broken the resistance of the rebels, occupied the parliament buildings, the TsR VPT, as well as a radio station in the parliament area.
Captured three bridges across the river. Danube, linking the eastern and western parts of the city, and an arsenal with weapons and ammunition. The entire composition of the counter-revolutionary government of Imre Nagy went into hiding. Searches are underway.
In Budapest, there was one large center of rebel resistance in the area of the Korvin cinema (south-eastern part of the city). The rebels defending this stronghold were presented with an ultimatum to surrender, in connection with the refusal of the rebels to surrender, the troops began the assault.
The main garrisons of the Hungarian troops are blocked. Many of them laid down their arms without serious resistance. Our troops have been instructed to return to command the Hungarian officers removed by the rebels, and to arrest the officers appointed to replace those removed.
In order to prevent the penetration of enemy agents into Hungary and the flight of the leaders of the rebels from Hungary, our troops occupied the Hungarian airfields and firmly blocked all roads on the Austro-Hungarian border. The troops, continuing to carry out their tasks, clear the territory of Hungary from the rebels.
APRF. F. 3. Op. 64. D. 485.
Information of the Ministry of Defense of the USSR in the Central Committee of the CPSU on the situation in Hungary as of 9.00 on November 7, 1956
During the night of November 7, Soviet troops continued to liquidate small groups of rebels in the city of Budapest. In the western part of the city, our troops fought to destroy the center of resistance in the area of the former Horthy Palace.
During the night, there was a regrouping of the rebel forces in Budapest. Small groups tried to leave the city in a westerly direction. At the same time, a large center of resistance was discovered in the area of the city theater, the park to the east of this theater and in the neighborhoods adjacent to them.
On the territory of Hungary at night it was calm. Our troops carried out activities to identify and disarm groups of rebels and individual Hungarian units.
The government of the Hungarian People's Republic left Szolnok and arrived in Budapest at 6:10 am on November 7. The troops continue to carry out their assigned tasks.
Note: "Comrade Khrushchev familiarized. Archive. 9.XI.56. Dolud".
AP RF. F. 3. Op. 64. D. 486.
Information of the Ministry of Defense of the USSR in the Central Committee of the CPSU on the situation in Hungary as of 9.00 on November 9, 1956
Special folder Owls. secret. Ex. No. 1
During November 8, our troops restored order in Budapest, combed the forests in certain parts of the country, caught and disarmed scattered small groups of rebels, and also seized weapons from the local population.
District military commandant's offices have been set up in Budapest. A normal life is gradually being established in the country, a number of enterprises, urban transport, hospitals and schools have started to work. Local authorities are expanding their activities.
According to preliminary data, the losses of the Soviet troops during the period of hostilities in Hungary from October 24 to November 6 this year. 377 people are killed, 881 people are wounded. Including 37 killed and 74 wounded officers.
About 35,000 Hungarians have been disarmed by our troops. A large number of weapons, military equipment and ammunition were captured during the fighting and taken under guard as a result of disarmament, the accounting of which continues.
Note: "Comrade Khrushchev familiarized. Archive. 10.IX.56. Doluda".
AP RF. F. 3. Op. 64. D. 486. L. 43.
Information of the Ministry of Defense of the USSR in the Central Committee of the CPSU on the situation in Hungary as of 9.00 on November 10, 1956
Special folder Owls. secret. Ex. No. 1
During November 9, our troops continued to eliminate small groups of rebels, disarmed former Hungarian army soldiers, and also seized weapons from the local population.
A group of rebels offered stubborn resistance in the suburbs of Budapest - on the northern outskirts of Csepel Island. Three of our tanks were hit and burned in this area.
The political situation in the country continues to improve. However, in some places, hostile elements are still trying to prevent the establishment of order and the normalization of life in the country.
The situation continues to be difficult in Budapest, where the population lacks food and fuel. The government of Janos Kadar, together with the Command of the Soviet Forces, is taking measures to provide the population of Budapest with food.
Note: "Comrade Khrushchev reported. Archive. 10.XI.56. Dolud".
AP RF. F. 3. Op. 64. D. 486. L. 96.
Telephone message I.A. Serov from Budapest N.S. Khrushchev on the operational work carried out by the Soviet and Hungarian state security agencies
Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU comrade. Khrushchev N.S.
Yesterday the Minister of Public Security, Comrade Münnich, sent an order to the regional organizations, in which he pointed out that in the localities, contrary to the prohibition of the government, state security organs were being created. Therefore, he orders all employees of the state security organs to stop their work on the formation of organs and go home.
Considering that the special departments of the divisions carry out all the work on the removal of counter-revolutionary rebels through the Hungarian employees of the state security organs who appeared after the occupation of the cities by parts of the Soviet Army, today I talked with Comrade Münnich and asked how he further had in mind to carry out work to identify and arrest the counter-revolutionary element after such an order.
Tov. Münnich answered me that he issued the directive on the basis of instructions from the government, as provided for by the Government's Declaration.
Some time later, Comrade Kadar came to Comrade Münnich's office and said that he would also like to talk to me. During the conversation, Comrade Kadar focused on the following questions:
1. He had representatives of some regions, in particular the region of Salnok, who informed Kadar that the officers of the Soviet Army were arresting a lot and, along with the arrest of the counter-revolutionary element, they were also arresting ordinary participants in the insurrectionary movement.
He believes that this should not be done, since the people who participated in the insurgency are very afraid of revenge from the government, while the Declaration of the government said that those who lay down their arms and stop resisting will not be punished. The Hungarian government should not take revenge and show cruelty against such persons.
The representative of the Salnok region told Comrade Kadar that when 40 people were arrested in the region, representatives from the workers came and said that they would not start working until the arrested were released. In other regions, there were rumors that 6,000 people had been arrested in Salnok.
Tov. Kadar pointed out that the arrests of the reactionaries were former employees of the state security organs, whom the government had dismissed. It is not to our advantage before the people that Hungarian state security officers participate in arrests. You must bear in mind that in our country the mood of the masses is of great importance. The Soviet comrades and our members of the state security organs may arouse the indignation of the masses with arrests.
I said that the members of the state security organs in Hungary are now doing positive work in the removal of counter-revolutionary rebels. In a few days, when those who pose a threat to the current government are isolated, then these employees should be transferred to another job. Tov. Kadar and comrade Munnich agreed with this.
I explained to Comrade Kadar that the special departments of the divisions were instructed to arrest all the organizers of the rebellion, persons who resisted units of the Soviet Army with weapons in their hands, as well as citizens who incited and kindled the hatred of the people (during the Nagy government) towards the Communists and employees of the state security, as a result of which some of them were shot, hanged and burned.
As for the rank and file participants in the uprising, they are not arrested. Tov. Kadar and comrade Munnich agreed that this indication was correct.
I further added that it was possible that individuals not belonging to the listed categories could be arrested. Therefore, all those arrested are carefully filtered and those who did not play an active role in the rebellion are released.
Taking into account the liberal attitude shown by the leading workers of Hungary towards the enemies, I instructed the special departments to send all those arrested as soon as possible from the regions and cities to the Chop station, and also explained the organization of the political department in the regions.
2. Further, Comrade Kadar said that in the Ministry of Internal Affairs (Budapest), where a large number of state security officers are concentrated, an unhealthy situation has created, since among the employees of the bodies there are persons who worked in the bodies under Rakosi and played a negative role.
Therefore, he believes that these employees should be immediately removed and given other jobs. In addition, he considers it appropriate to disband the security department, as these are dishonest people.
I expressed the wish that Comrade Münnich quickly issue an order, as we agreed, on the organization of the people's police and staffed it with the most dedicated honest employees, and also formed a "political department" (department of state security), which could begin work. Then this issue will be removed.
At the same time, we agreed with Comrade Münnich that there would be no more than 20-25 people in the political department of the center with an open staff, and the rest of the employees would work in a secret staff.
The political department will include: foreign intelligence, counterintelligence, secret political service, investigation and a special service of operational equipment. Tov. Munnich said that he would sign such an order tomorrow. I will report on the number of those arrested by regions and the seized weapons in a separate note.
AP RF. F. 3. Op. 64. D. 487. L. 78-80.
Telephone message I.A. Serov and Yu.V. Andropov from Budapest to the Central Committee of the CPSU about sending the arrested Hungarians to the territory of the USSR
Today, throughout the day, Comrades Kadar and Münnich (each separately) called us repeatedly, who informed us that the Soviet military authorities had sent a train of Hungarian youth to the Soviet Union (Siberia) who had taken part in an armed rebellion.
Kadar and Münnich declared in this connection that they did not approve of such actions on our part, since these actions caused an alleged general strike of the Hungarian railway workers and worsened the internal political situation in the country as a whole.
Tonight, the Budapest radio them. Kossuth conveyed a tendentious message about the deportation of Hungarian youth to Siberia. Tov. Munnich requested that the command of the Soviet troops make an official statement in the press that it did not and would not export anyone from Hungary to the USSR. On our part, Comrade Munnich was told that we would clarify this issue and tomorrow we would inform him of the answer.
In fact, today, November 14, a small train with arrested people was sent to the Chop station, the investigative files on which were registered as active participants and organizers of the armed rebellion. The echelon followed the border.
When the echelon was moving, the prisoners at two stations threw notes out the window, in which they said that they were being sent to Siberia. These notes were picked up by Hungarian railroad workers who reported it to the government. On our line, instructions have been given to send those arrested in the future in closed vehicles under reinforced escort.
Tomorrow, at a meeting with Comrade Münnich, Comrade Serov intends to tell him that in view of the absence in Hungary of a prison sufficiently prepared for keeping prisoners, where it would be possible to conduct an objective investigation, we had in mind to place a small group of arrested people in a room close to Soviet-Hungarian border. Comrades Suslov and Aristov have been informed of this.
Andropov
AP RF. F. 3. Op. 64. D. 486. L. 143-144.
Reference
According to statistics, in connection with the uprising and hostilities in the period from October 23 to December 31, 1956, 2,652 Hungarian rebels died, 348 civilians, and 19,226 people were injured.
The losses of the Soviet army, according to official figures, amounted to 669 people killed, 51 missing and 1251 wounded.
The losses of the Hungarian People's Army were, according to official figures, 53 killed and 289 wounded soldiers.
The total number of lost military equipment is unknown.
2nd Guards MD, the first to enter the rebellious Budapest, lost 4 tanks on October 24, 1956.
The 33rd MD during the operation "Whirlwind" lost 14 tanks and self-propelled guns, 9 armored personnel carriers, 13 guns, 4 MLRS, 6 anti-aircraft guns and other equipment, as well as 111 military personnel.
According to Hungarian communist sources, after the liquidation of the armed groups, a large number of Western-made weapons fell into the hands of the troops of the Ministry of Internal Affairs and the police: German MP-44 assault rifles and American Thompson submachine guns.
Budapest suffered as a result of street fighting between Soviet troops and rebels, 4,000 houses were completely destroyed in the city and another 40,000 were damaged.
On October 23, 1956, the Hungarian fascist rebellion began, prepared and led by Western intelligence services.
In the last twenty-five years, historians and journalists have been trying to present the Hungarian events of 1956 as spontaneous protests of the masses against the bloody pro-Soviet regime of Matthias Rakosi and his successor Erno Gero. However, in fact, the scenario of this whole bacchanalia was written from beginning to end in the Central Intelligence Agency, and if it were not for the timely intervention of the Soviet military, Hungary would have become a victim of the first orange revolution. What the Westerners would call this revolution is still unknown, but the operation to implement it was codenamed "Focus".
Operation "Focus" began with an information attack - with the help of balloons, Hungary began to be bombarded with leaflets. In the first half of 1956, 293 cases of their appearance in the country's airspace were recorded, and on July 19 they caused a passenger plane crash.
From the evening of October 1, 1954, thousands of balloons began to be released from the Munich area. Balloons flew in waves, 200-300 each, and each of them carried from 300 to 1000 leaflets.
The leaflets fell on fertile ground. The fact is that during the war in Hungary, which fought against the USSR on the side of Hitler, many Hungarians were killed or captured by Russians. Their relatives, of course, had no reason to love the Russians, and many hated Russia even for the events of 1848-49.
However, the Americans pinned their hopes not so much on the masses as on the unfinished Hungarian fascists - some of them went with the Germans to Austria, and those who did not have time to escape created conspiratorial organizations inside the country. The largest of them were the "Sword and Cross", "White Guard", "Division Botond", "Union of Cadets", "White Partisans", "Bloody Treaty", "Hungarian Resistance Movement" and "National Resistance Movement".
The Hungarian Catholic Church, headed by Cardinal Jozsef Mindszenty, also carried out great subversive work. Among the underground political groupings, the so-called Christian Party, founded in 1950, played a particularly dangerous role. The main task of the Christian party was the cultivation of the youth. An illegal clerical youth organization operated under the direct leadership of the top of the party, the creation of which several priests and former monks began to engage in as early as 1949-1951.
Propaganda activities of the clerics were carried out in various forms, including lectures, distribution of brochures and leaflets. In one of them, called "A Call to Men", the youth received such instructions: "... the time will come when you will receive an order from God to destroy, destroy, exterminate!".
The activities of underground clerical organizations could not have taken place without significant material "subsidies" from outside. Thus, the "Christian Front" received from its foreign patrons 130 thousand forints, the "Congregation of Mary" - 75 thousand in 1951, 75 thousand in 1954, 30 thousand in 1955 and 90 thousand forints. in November 1956. At the headquarters of the Regnum Marianum, at the moment when the Hungarian security forces put an end to its criminal activities, 258,230 forints, 45 napoleons, 67 typewriters, 12 tape recorders, as well as printing equipment were found.
The role of the coordinator of the so-called "popular resistance" was carried out by the "Free Europe Committee" and its specialized institutions - through diplomats, spies, various emissaries, through broadcasts of targeted programs on Radio Free Europe channels.
The Hungarian events began on 23 October. At 3 pm, a demonstration began, in which about a thousand people took part - including students and intellectuals. The demonstrators carried red flags, banners with slogans about Soviet-Hungarian friendship. However, on the way, the demonstrators were joined by radical groups shouting slogans of a different kind. They demanded the restoration of the old Hungarian national emblem, the old Hungarian national holiday instead of the Day of Liberation from Fascism, the abolition of military training and Russian language lessons.
At 19 pm, the rebels seized several motor depots and then delivered the "demonstrators" to various objects on trucks and buses.
At 20 o'clock on the radio, the first secretary of the Central Committee of the VPT, Ernö Görö, made a speech sharply condemning the demonstrators. In response, a large group of demonstrators stormed into the radio broadcasting studio of the Radio House, demanding that the program demands of the demonstrators be broadcast. This attempt led to a clash with the units of the Hungarian state security AVH defending the Radio House, during which, after 21 hours, the first dead and wounded appeared.
At the same time, an armed group of insurgents captured the Kilian barracks, where three construction battalions were located, and seized their weapons. Many construction battalion workers joined the insurgents. The colonel of the tank troops Pal Maleter, who was sent to the barracks to exhort the insurgents, also joined the rebels. Soon he will become one of the military leaders of the rebellion.
The head of the Budapest Police Headquarters, Lieutenant Colonel Sandor Kopachi, ordered not to shoot at the insurgents, not to interfere in their actions. He unconditionally complied with the demands of the crowd gathered in front of the office for the release of prisoners and the removal of red stars from the facade of the building.
At 11 p.m., on the basis of the decision of the Presidium of the Central Committee of the CPSU, the Chief of the General Staff of the Armed Forces of the USSR, Marshal Vasily Danilovich Sokolovsky, ordered the commander of the Special Corps to begin advancing to Budapest to assist the Hungarian troops "in restoring order and creating conditions for peaceful creative labor." Formations and units of the Special Corps arrived in Budapest by 6 o'clock in the morning and entered into battle with the insurgents and the Hungarian military who had joined them.
The military forces of the rebels in Budapest were concentrated primarily in the VIII and IX districts, as well as in the Seine area.
On the night of October 24, about six thousand servicemen of the Soviet army were brought into Budapest with 290 T-44, T-54 and IS-3 tanks, as well as 120 armored personnel carriers-152.
In the morning, the 33rd Guards Mechanized Division approached the city, and in the evening, the 128th Guards Rifle Division, which joined the Special Corps. During a rally near the parliament building, an incident occurred: fire was opened from the upper floors, as a result of which a Soviet officer was killed and a tank was burned. In response, the Soviet troops opened fire on the demonstrators, as a result, 61 people were killed on both sides and 284 were wounded.
The organized counter-revolutionary forces immediately found support from the declassed elements and criminals. From all available documents it is clear what a great role the criminal elements played in the activities of the counter-revolutionary gangs. On October 26, units of the Kishkunhalash rifle regiment near Budapest entered into an armed clash with a detachment of counter-revolutionaries and captured 23 bandits. The vast majority of those captured turned out to be criminals who had escaped from the devastated prison. In total, in the period from October 25 to 31, 9962 criminals and 3324 political criminals were released, most of the former received weapons, and most of the latter joined the activities of the political organs of the counter-revolution.
Ordinary, misguided people also took part in the battles, and died. They were captured by counter-revolutionary calls and took to the streets with weapons, primarily for the sake of implementing the slogans of "national communism". The responsibility for their delusions and death lies with the "party opposition" with its demagogic ideology and propaganda. Among those who turned out to be on the side of the counter-revolution, not sharing its goals, a significant part was made up of young people. The leaders of the rebellion, the agitators of Free Europe, with amazing cynicism, used for their own purposes the political immaturity, patriotic feelings and dreams of the heroic deeds of children, adolescents and young people. Some data can also be given in this regard.
During the period of armed clashes, a total of approximately 3 thousand deaths were recorded; 20% of the dead are under the age of 20, 28% - between the ages of 20 and 29. Among the wounded, the proportion of people aged 18 and younger was 25%, and more than half fell on the category from 19 to 30 years.
The uprising was led from Munich via Radio Free Europe. RFE maintained direct radio contact with some of the major armed groups. So, with a gang from Corvin Lane, two communication sessions were conducted daily: at 23 o'clock, "Free Europe" transmitted its directives and instructions, and at one in the morning it worked to receive information from the rebels.
Erno Geryo was replaced as First Secretary of the Central Committee of the CPSU by Janos Kadar and left for the headquarters of the Soviet Southern Group of Forces in Szolnok. Prime Minister Imre Nagy spoke on the radio, addressing the warring parties with a proposal to cease fire.
On October 29, the fighting in the streets ceased, and for the first time in the past five days, silence reigned in the streets of Budapest. Soviet troops began to leave Budapest.
However, as soon as the troops left Budapest, the insurgents again went on the offensive.
Released from prison, the former officer of the Horthy army Bela Kiraly, who became a major general in the Hungarian People's Army, but was convicted of espionage and sentenced to life imprisonment, organized, together with the already mentioned Maleter, the Committee of the Revolutionary Armed Forces. The armed formations of this committee began to kill the communists and employees of the disbanded Imre Nagy AVH. Cases of murders of Soviet servicemen on leave and sentries in various cities of Hungary were also recorded.
The insurgents captured the Budapest City Committee of the Hungarian Workers' Party, and over 20 communists were hanged by the mob. Photos of hanged Communists with signs of torture, with faces disfigured by acid, went around the world.
The uprising spread to other cities. The country quickly fell into chaos. Railway communication was interrupted, airports stopped working, shops, shops and banks were closed. insurgents roamed the streets, catching state security officers. They were recognized by their famous yellow boots, torn apart or hung by their feet, sometimes castrated. Caught party leaders were nailed to the floor with huge nails, with portraits of Lenin placed in their hands.
With each passing day, Imre Nagy moved further and further away from his former beliefs. Already on November 1, he announced the withdrawal of Hungary from the Warsaw Pact, and the same Maleter was appointed Minister of Defense with the assignment of a general to him. Voschёl in the government and released from prison, Cardinal Jozsef Mindszenty. And on November 3, Kiraly was appointed commander of the National Guard.
Nagy demanded that the Soviet troops leave Hungary, and neutral Austrian troops were concentrated on the Hungarian-Austrian border, ready to come to the aid of the rebels.
The USSR had to go for a military trick - to discuss the conditions for the withdrawal of Soviet troops to the headquarters of the Special Corps, the newly minted Major General Pal Maleter was invited. On the evening of November 3, as part of an official delegation, he arrived at the Soviet military base Tekel on Csepel Island near Budapest. Together with him, the delegation included Minister Ferenc Erdei, Chief of the General Staff General Istvan Kovacs and Chief of the Operations Department of the General Staff Colonel Miklos Syuch.
At midnight, the chairman of the KGB of the USSR, Ivan Serov, arrived in the hall where the negotiations were taking place and announced the arrest of the entire Hungarian delegation. Hungary was left without military leadership.
Early in the morning of November 4, the introduction of new Soviet military units into Hungary began under the overall command of the commander of the Warsaw Pact, Marshal of the Soviet Union Ivan Stepanovich Konev, in accordance with the plan of Operation Whirlwind. The special corps was supposed to take on the main task of defeating the opposing enemy forces.
The composition of the corps remained the same, but it was reinforced with tanks, artillery and airborne units. The divisions had to solve the following tasks:
2nd Guards Mechanized Division - to capture the north-eastern and central part of Budapest, capture the bridges across the Danube River, the Parliament buildings, the Central Committee of the High-Technical Movement, the Ministry of Defense, the Nyugati station, the police department and block the military camps of the Hungarian units, prevent the rebels from approaching Budapest by roads from the north and east;
33rd Guards Mechanized Division - to capture the southeastern and central parts of Budapest, capture the bridges across the Danube River, the Central Telephone Exchange, the Korvin stronghold, the Keleti station, the Kossuth radio station, the Csepel plant, the Arsenal, block the barracks Hungarian military units and prevent the rebels from approaching Budapest along the roads from the southeast;
128th Guards Rifle Division - to capture the western part of Budapest, capture the Central Air Defense Command Post, Moscow Square, Mount Gellert and the fortress, block the barracks and prevent the Hungarian rebels from approaching the city from the west.
To capture the most important objects in all divisions, one or two special forward detachments were created as part of an infantry battalion, as well as from 100 to 150 paratroopers in armored personnel carriers, reinforced by 10-12 tanks.
On November 4, Operation Whirlwind began. The main objects in Budapest were seized, members of the government of Imre Nagy took refuge in the Yugoslav embassy. However, detachments of the Hungarian National Guard and individual army units continued to resist the Soviet troops. Soviet troops launched artillery strikes on pockets of resistance and carried out subsequent sweeps with infantry forces supported by tanks.
By 0830, the paratroopers of the 108th Guards Airborne Regiment, in cooperation with the 37th Tank Regiment of the 2nd Guards Mechanized Division, captured 13 generals and about 300 officers of the Ministry of Defense and delivered them to the headquarters of General of the Army Malinin. The management of the Hungarian armed forces was completely paralyzed.
Despite the complete Soviet superiority in forces and means, the Hungarian rebels still prevented their advance. Shortly after 8 o'clock in the morning, the Budapest radio went on the air for the last time and appealed to writers and scientists of the world with an appeal to help the Hungarian people. But by that time, Soviet tank units had already completed the breakthrough of the defense of Budapest and occupied the bridges across the Danube, the Parliament and the telephone exchange.
Particularly fierce battles, as expected, unfolded for the Korvin facilities, Moscow Square, the Parliament building, the royal palace
Side by side with the Soviet troops, the hussars of Kadar acted - volunteer detachments of communists dressed in padded jackets and members of the Union of Working Youth of Hungary.
By noon on November 5, in fact, one strong knot of resistance remained in the capital in Corvin Lane. To suppress it, 11 artillery battalions were involved, which included about 170 guns and mortars, as well as several dozen tanks. By evening, the resistance of the rebels, not only in the alley, but throughout the entire block, had ceased.
During November 6, the Soviet grouping of troops in Budapest continued to carry out the tasks of destroying individual armed groups and points of resistance. The fighting continued until the evening of Tuesday, November 6th.
By November 10, the fighting had ceased. Imre Nagy and his accomplices took refuge in the Yugoslav embassy, but on the 22nd they were lured out and arrested. On June 16, 1958, he, Maleter and several other active putschists were hanged. On June 16, 1983, the remains of Nagy and Maleter were ceremonially reburied in the Budapest Square of Heroes.
Kiraly managed to avoid retribution, who fled to Austria and soon became deputy chairman of the Hungarian Revolutionary Council in Strasbourg. Then he moved to the United States, where he founded the Hungarian Committee and the Association of Freedom Fighters. In 1990, he returned to Hungary, received the rank of colonel general and became a member of parliament. He lived until July 4, 2009.
Content:
Revolt in Hungary
Budapest, 1956
What was avoided in Poland happened in Hungary, where the intensity of passions was much greater. In Hungary, the internal struggle between the communists turned out to be sharper. than anywhere else, and the Soviet Union was drawn into it more than in Poland or in other countries. Of all the leaders still in power in Eastern Europe in 1956, Rakosi was the most involved in the export of Stalinism. Returning to Budapest from Moscow after the 20th Congress of the CPSU, Rakosi told his friends: "In a few months, Khrushchev will be declared a traitor and everything will return to normal."
The internal political struggle in Hungary continued to escalate. Rakosi had no choice but to promise an investigation into the trials of Rajk and other Communist Party leaders executed by him. At all levels of government, even in the state security agencies, the most hated institution in Hungary, Rakosi was demanded to resign. He was almost openly called a "murderer". In mid-July 1956, Mikoyan flew to Budapest to force Rakosi's resignation. Rakosi was forced to submit and leave for the USSR, where he eventually ended his days, cursed and forgotten by his people and despised by the Soviet leaders. Rakosi's departure brought about no real change in government policy or composition.
In Hungary, arrests of former security officials responsible for trials and executions followed. The reburial on October 6, 1956 of the victims of the regime - Laszlo Raik and others - resulted in a powerful demonstration, in which 300 thousand inhabitants of the Hungarian capital participated.
Under these conditions, the Soviet leadership decided to once again call Imre Nagy to power. A new ambassador of the USSR was sent to Budapest (a future member of the Politburo of the Central Committee of the CPSU and chairman of the State Security Committee).
The hatred of the people was turned against those who were known for their torment: the state security officers. They personified all the most disgusting things in the Rakosi regime; they were caught and killed. The events in Hungary took on the character of a genuine people's revolution, and it was precisely this circumstance that frightened the Soviet leaders. The USSR had to take into account at that moment that an anti-Soviet and anti-socialist uprising was taking place. It was obvious that this was a far-reaching political intent, and not just a desire to destroy the existing regime.
Not only the intelligentsia, but also industrial workers were drawn into the orbit of events. Participation in the movement of a significant part of the youth left a certain imprint on its character. The political leadership ended up at the tail of the movement, rather than leading it, as happened in Poland.
The fundamental issue was the presence of Soviet troops on the territory of the Eastern European countries, that is, their actual occupation.
The new Soviet government preferred to avoid bloodshed, but it was also ready for it if it came to the falling away of the satellites from the USSR, even in the form of declaring neutrality and non-participation in blocs.
On October 22, demonstrations began in Budapest demanding the formation of a new leadership headed by Imre Nagy. On October 23, Imre Nagy became prime minister and issued an appeal to lay down arms. However, Soviet tanks were stationed in Budapest, and this aroused the excitement of the people.
A grandiose demonstration arose, the participants of which were students, high school students, and young workers. The demonstrators went to the statue of the hero of the 1848 revolution, General Bell. Up to 200,000 gathered outside the parliament building. The demonstrators toppled the statue of Stalin. Armed detachments formed, calling themselves "Freedom Fighters". They numbered up to 20 thousand people. Among them were former political prisoners released by the people from prisons. The Freedom Fighters occupied various districts of the capital, established a high command headed by Pal Maleter, and renamed themselves the National Guard.
At the enterprises of the Hungarian capital, cells of the new government were formed - workers' councils. They put forward their social and political demands, and among these demands was one that angered the Soviet leadership: to withdraw Soviet troops from Budapest, to remove them from Hungarian territory.
The second circumstance that frightened the Soviet government was the restoration of the Social Democratic Party in Hungary, and then the formation of a multi-party government.
Although Nagy was made prime minister, the new Stalinist leadership, headed by Gehre, tried to isolate him and thereby worsened the situation even more.
On October 24, Mikoyan and Suslov arrived in Budapest. They recommended that Gehre be immediately replaced as First Secretary by Janos Kadar. Meanwhile, on October 25, an armed clash with Soviet troops took place near the parliament building. The rebellious people demanded the departure of the Soviet troops and the formation of a new government of national unity, in which various parties would be represented.
On October 26, after the appointment of Kadar as the first secretary of the Central Committee and the resignation of Gere, Mikoyan and Suslov returned to Moscow. They went to the airfield in a tank.
On October 28, while the fighting in Budapest was still ongoing, the Hungarian government issued an order for a ceasefire and the return of armed units to their quarters, awaiting instructions. Imre Nagy announced on the radio that the Hungarian government had come to an agreement with the Soviet government on the immediate withdrawal of Soviet troops from Budapest and the inclusion of armed detachments of Hungarian workers and youth in the regular Hungarian army. This was seen as the end of the Soviet occupation. The workers quit their jobs until the end of the fighting in Budapest and the withdrawal of Soviet troops. The delegation of the workers' council of the Miklos industrial region presented Imre Nagy with demands for the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Hungary before the end of the year.
Mikoyan and Suslov's report on the situation in Hungary, made immediately after their return from Budapest on October 26 to the Presidium of the Central Committee of the CPSU, reflected, as can be seen from the editorial of Pravda on October 28, an alleged readiness to agree to a program of democratization, provided that this program maintains the dominance of the Communist Party and keeps Hungary in the Warsaw Pact system. The article was just a disguise. The order for the Soviet troops to leave Budapest also served the same purpose. The Soviet government sought to gain time to prepare for the massacre, which was to follow not only on behalf of the other participants in the pact, but also Yugoslavia and China.
Thus, the responsibility would be distributed among all.
Soviet troops were withdrawn from Budapest, but concentrated in the area of the Budapest airfield.
On October 30, when Mikoyan and Suslov were in Budapest, the Presidium of the Central Committee of the CPSU adopted, as Khrushchev testifies, a unanimous resolution on the armed suppression of the Hungarian revolution, which stated that it would be unforgivable for the USSR to remain neutral and "not to assist the working class of Hungary in its struggle against the counter-revolution."
At the request of the Presidium of the Central Committee of the CPSU, a Chinese delegation headed by Liu Shaoqi arrived in Moscow for advice. Liu Shaoqi declared that the Soviet troops should leave Hungary and let the working class of "Hungary m" suppress the counter-revolution on their own. Since this completely contradicted the decision to intervene, Khrushchev, informing the Presidium on October 31 about the Chinese response, insisted on the immediate use of troops. Marshal Konev, summoned to a meeting of the presidium, said that his troops would need 3 days to suppress the "counter-revolution" (actually a revolution), and received an order to put the troops on alert. The order was given behind the back of Liu Shaoqi, who on the same day returned to Beijing in full confidence that there would be no Soviet intervention. It was decided to inform Liu Shaoqi about the intervention at the time of seeing off at the Vnukovo airfield. To impress Liu Shaoqi, the Presidium of the Central Committee of the CPSU appeared in Vnukovo in full force. Talk began again about “for the good of the Hungarian people.” In the end, Liu Shaoqi gave in. Thus, China's support was secured.
Then Khrushchev, Malenkov and Molotov - authorized by the Presidium of the Central Committee - went successively to Warsaw and Bucharest, where they quite easily received consent to the intervention. The last leg of their trip was Yugoslavia. They came to Tito, expecting serious objections from him. There were no objections from him; as Khrushchev reports, “we were pleasantly surprised... Tito said that we were absolutely right and we should move our soldiers into battle as soon as possible. We were ready to resist, but instead received his wholehearted support. I would even say that Tito went even further and urged us to solve this problem as soon as possible,” Khrushchev concludes his story.
Thus was decided the fate of the Hungarian revolution.
November 1 began a massive invasion of Soviet troops in Hungary. To Imre Nagy's protest, the Soviet ambassador Andropov replied that the Soviet divisions that had entered Hungary had arrived only to replace the troops already there.
3,000 Soviet tanks crossed the border from Transcarpathian Ukraine and Romania. The Soviet ambassador, again summoned to Nagy, was warned that Hungary, in protest against the violation of the Warsaw Pact (the entry of troops required the consent of the relevant government), would withdraw from the pact. The Hungarian government announced in the evening of the same day that it was withdrawing from the Warsaw Pact, declaring neutrality and turning to the United Nations in protest against the Soviet invasion.
But all this was of little concern to the Soviet government. The Anglo-French-Israeli invasion (October 23 - December 22) in Egypt diverted the attention of the world community from the events in Hungary. The American government condemned the actions of Britain, France and Israel. Thus, the split in the camp of the Western allies was evident. There was no sign that the Western powers would come to Hungary's aid. Thus the conflict over the Suez Canal in 1956 and the ensuing war of England, France and Israel against Egypt distracted the Western powers from events in Hungary. The international situation was exceptionally favorable for the intervention of the Soviet Union.
What happened on the streets of Budapest? The Soviet troops faced fierce resistance from the Hungarian army units, as well as from the civilian population. The streets of Budapest witnessed a terrible drama, during which ordinary people attacked tanks with Molotov cocktails. Key points, including the building of the Ministry of Defense and Parliament, were taken within a few hours. The Hungarian radio fell silent before finishing its call for international help, but dramatic accounts of the street fighting came from a Hungarian reporter who alternated between teletype and the rifle he fired from his office window.
The Presidium of the Central Committee of the CPSU began to prepare a new Hungarian government; The first secretary of the Hungarian Communist Party, Janos Kadar, agreed to the role of prime minister of the future government.
On November 3, a new government was formed, but the fact that it was formed on the territory of the USSR became known only two years later. Officially, the new government was announced at dawn on November 4, when Soviet troops broke into the Hungarian capital, where a coalition government led by Imre Nagy had been formed the day before; non-partisan General Pal Maleter also entered the government.
By the end of the day on November 3, the Hungarian military delegation, headed by Defense Minister Pal Maleter, came to continue negotiations on the withdrawal of Soviet troops to the headquarters, where they were arrested by the chairman of the KGB, General Serov. Only when Nagy was unable to connect with his military delegation did he realize that the Soviet leadership had deceived him.
On November 4, at 5 o'clock in the morning, Soviet artillery rained fire on the Hungarian capital, half an hour later, Nagy notified the Hungarian people about this. For three days, Soviet tanks smashed the Hungarian capital; armed resistance in the province continued until 14 November. Approximately 25,000 Hungarians and 7,000 Soviet soldiers were killed.
After the suppression of the uprising-revolution, the Soviet military administration, together with the state security agencies, perpetrated a massacre of Hungarian citizens: mass arrests and deportations to the Soviet Union began.
Imre Nagy and his staff took refuge in the Yugoslav embassy. After two weeks of negotiations, Kadar gave a written guarantee that Nagy and his staff would not be prosecuted for their activities, that they could leave the Yugoslav embassy and return home with their families. However, the bus Nagy was on was intercepted by Soviet officers, who arrested Nagy and took him to Romania. Later, Nagy, who did not want to repent, was tried in a closed court and shot. This announcement was published on June 16, 1958. The same fate befell General Pal Maleter. Thus, the suppression of the Hungarian uprising was not the first example of the brutal defeat of political opposition in Eastern Europe - similar actions on a smaller scale had been carried out in Poland just a few days earlier. But this was the most monstrous example, in connection with which the image of Khrushchev the liberal, which he seemed to promise to leave in history, faded forever. These events may have been the first milestone in the path that led a generation later to the destruction of the communist system in Europe, as they caused a "crisis of consciousness" among the true believers of Marxism-Leninism. Many veterans of the party in Western Europe and the United States were disillusioned, because it was no longer possible to turn a blind eye to the determination of the Soviet leaders to maintain power in the satellite countries, completely ignoring the aspirations of their peoples.
The Hungarian uprising against Stalinism and Soviet troops was the largest protest movement in the entire Eastern bloc. This is partly due to the revolutionary tradition of the country. In 1919, a Soviet republic was formed in a short time, and after the Second World War, a revolution broke out with strikes and workers' councils, which, unfortunately, was suppressed by the Stalinists and the Russian army. It also has a nationalist side to it. Throughout their history, the Magyars, as they call themselves in Hungarian, have fought for their independence. In the middle of the 19th century, the troops of Tsarist Russia invaded the country to prevent them from breaking away from the Habsburg kingdom.
A more immediate cause was the brutal oppression of Stalinism. Like the USSR and the rest of Eastern Europe, the country was a one-party state ruled dictatorially by the bureaucratic Communist Party. There were no free trade unions and no free press, and strikes were in practice forbidden. There was also the hated security police, who spied on people with the help of informers. It is also alleged that the doors of all the apartments that were being built at that time opened inwards so that the security police could kick them out.
In the years after 1945 and up to 1956, living standards fell, partly because the reparations-laden country (Hungary was on the side of Nazi Germany) had to pay the Soviet Union as well as feed the Soviet occupying forces, and partly because of poor management and negligence Stalinists. Hungary, like the rest of Eastern Europe, is referred to by Marxists as a "deformed workers' state". The second element of this definition refers to the fact that property relations in it are proletarian, and the first describes their, so to speak, distorted state. In reality, these countries found themselves at the stage of transition between capitalism and socialism, which is characterized by social state production, but at the same time, however, it still follows the bourgeois norms of division: wages are determined by the nature and degree of participation in work, there are also large differences in the wages of workers, managers and politicians.
This is the kind of political revolution that took place in Hungary. The immediate impetus for it was Stalin's death in 1953 and Khrushchev's speech at the Russian Party Congress in 1956, during which the massacres, deportations and brutal repressions of the Stalin era were exposed. In the Eastern bloc, this gave rise to hope for change. In Poland, an uprising began: the masses went on a demonstration in order to gain independence from the USSR in 1956 and return the repressed Gomulka (Gomulka). All this succeeded, and after promising that so-called socialism would be preserved and Poland would remain among the Warsaw Pact countries, Khrushchev was satisfied.
In Hungary, however, things went further. Even a few years before, there had been massive sabotage and deliberate slowdowns of production, as well as occasional spontaneous strikes and demonstrations, which led the Minister of Industry to declare: "The workers have taken a terrorist position towards the directors of the nationalized industry."
The uprising began on 23 October 1956 with a demonstration in solidarity with Poland. After the demonstration, the protests continued, including the toppling of an eight-meter statue of Stalin on Parliament Square. People then went to the radio station to demand that the resolution be broadcast. There they were met with gunfire by the security police, who, however, were disarmed. Thus began the riot.
The arms factory workers distributed weapons to the masses, and quite a few Hungarian soldiers joined them. A general strike began and hundreds of workers' councils were formed, first in the industrial centers of Budapest and then in the rest of the country. The process swept through factories, mines, hospitals, agriculture, universities, the army, and government agencies. Only suppliers of vital products and services in areas such as food, fuel, health care, newspapers and rail transport did not strike.
Context
The most velvet revolution
BBC Russian service 24.10.2016Hungary and language madness
New time of the country 27.09.2017In Hungary, they are afraid of the long arms of Moscow
Dagens Nyheter 18.07.2017Hungarian citizenship is not a matter of emotions
Ukrainian truth 11/17/2017Ukraine-Hungary Conflict: Some of the Biggest Threats
Apostrophe 10/21/2017 Peasants ensured that food was delivered to the cities, and truck drivers delivered ammunition to the people. Militia detachments were also formed at workplaces. They demanded a transition to free socialism with free elections, a free press, real control of the workers. They demanded that Russian troops leave the country, as well as that Imre Nagy (Imre Nagy) again become prime minister.On October 24, the tanks of the Russian units stationed in Hungary entered Budapest. They were met with automatic fire, grenades and Molotov cocktails. This demoralized many Russian tankers, and some of them even went over to the side of the people. Nagy was again declared prime minister and forced to backtrack on his original plan to reform the Communist Party. Carried away by the flow of events, he instead decides to end one-party rule, remove Hungary from the Warsaw Pact and make it neutral.
This caused panic in Moscow, which was afraid that the uprising would spread. So Khrushchev decided to bring in troops from Siberia (with the active support of the Chinese leader Mao Zedong, who was also frightened by the riot), who did not speak Russian and were deceived into thinking they were going to Berlin to put down a fascist uprising. This attack began on November 3 and was again met with fierce resistance, especially in the working and industrial areas, as well as in the mining areas. But after a week of fierce fighting, the uprising was crushed. According to estimates, then 25 thousand Hungarians and 7 thousand Russians lost their lives. Imre Nagy was deposed (and later executed) and replaced by the ruthless sensualist Janos Kadar.
However, the general strike continued, as did efforts to organize workers' councils. This meant that part of the production remained in the hands of the workers. To remedy this, mass arrests of council members were carried out, and strikers were threatened with the death penalty, which testifies to the inhuman cruelty of Stalinism.
The US and NATO were inactive, in part because they were preoccupied with the so-called Suez Crisis, during which Britain and France attacked Egypt when Nasser nationalized the Suez Canal. The United States, backed by the USSR, pressured Britain and France to withdraw, out of fear that their attack would provoke a revolution in Egypt. Eventually the attack stopped. In addition, the United States believed that trying to support Hungary was pointless due to the military superiority of the USSR. In addition, after World War II, Europe was divided into spheres of interest. So the US was content to promise economic support to countries that managed to free themselves from Moscow.
However, the uprising was not in vain. Hungary de-Stalinized the fastest in the eastern bloc, and there was more freedom than in other countries. The Kadar regime was forced to act delicately out of fear of a new uprising. The standard of living has risen, and a free market for small businesses and consumer goods sales has been partly introduced. In 1989, the protest movement in Hungary developed the fastest, and it was in this country that the first border to the West opened.
“For several days of euphoria, it even seemed that the revolutionaries would miraculously win,” writes Sebestyen. But at dawn on November 4, 1956, Soviet tanks rolled into Budapest. Blood flowed like a river through the streets. Hundreds of thousands of Hungarians fled the country, of whom 8,000 went to Sweden. The Hungarian Revolution of 1956 is a tale of "respectable courage in a hopeless struggle."
But, as many Hungarians stated, the struggle was not in vain. Had the revolutionary leadership been improvised, the outcome might have been different. The fact that the Soviet troops that were stationed in the country had to get out speaks for itself. And the second invading army could also be demoralized if the soldiers were met with more effective weapons and propaganda in their own language. And since these troops proved unusable, Khrushchev had to remove his hands. The statements that the insurgent masses were for the most part not anti-socialist are justified.
The Hungarian uprising remains an outstanding example of the will to fight and almost unbending courage, and also belongs to a number of high points in the history of revolutions and reforms. Unfortunately, the protest movement in 1989 did not lead to a political revolution, but to a bourgeois counter-revolution. This was due to the long rise of capitalism during the 80s and 90s, as well as the demoralization caused by Stalinism, which trampled socialism into the mud. Today Hungary, like the rest of the Eastern European states, is subject to economic crises and political instability. This will lead to social clashes during which the traditions of 1956 will be revived. But this time both a social and a political revolution is required, although the social revolution will be easier to carry out here than in Western Europe, since capitalism is weaker in Hungary and the state is still strong. It would spread like wildfire to all of Eastern Europe and Russia, and then to the rest of Europe and the whole world.
The Hungarian uprising remains an outstanding example of the courage and will to fight among the youth and the working class.
The materials of InoSMI contain only assessments of foreign media and do not reflect the position of the editors of InoSMI.
