12.10.2014

Slovak - Hungaro War 1939

Slovakian–Unkarin sota tai Pikkusota oli ennen toista maailmansotaa Slovakian tasavallan ja Unkarin kuningaskunnan käymä rajasota. 
Sota alkoi ilman sodanjulistusta Unkarin yllätyshyökkäyksellä Slovakian itäosiin 23. maaliskuuta 1939 ja päättyi Unkarin voittoon 4. huhtikuuta 1939. 
                             
Sodan jälkeen Slovakia joutui luovuttamaan Unkarille alueita itäosasta. Slovakia menetti 22 sotilasta ja 36 siviiliä. Unkari menetti 8 sotilasta ja 15 siviiliä. Sodan jälkeen Slovakia myönsi mitalin sotilaille, jotka taistelivat sodassa.
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Slovak - Hungarian War
Slovak-Hungarian Border War
Slovakia borderHungary.png
Territorial changes of the Slovak Republic: land ceded to Hungary before (red) and after (blue) the war
Date23 March 1939 – 4 April 1939[1]
LocationEastern Slovakia
ResultTactical Hungarian victory
Territorial
changes
Slovakia is forced to cede a strip of Eastern Slovak territory
Belligerents
Slovakia First Slovak RepublicHungary Kingdom of Hungary
Commanders and leaders
Jozef Tiso
Augustín Malár
Miklós Horthy
András Littay
Strength
3 infantry regiments
2 artillery regiments
9 armoured cars
3 tanks
5 infantry battalions
2 cavalry battalions
1 motorised battalion
3 armoured cars
70 tankettes
5 light tanks
Casualties and losses
Slovak military:
22 killed,
360 Slovak and 311 Czech POW
Slovak civilians:
36 killed
Hungarian military:
8 killed,
30 wounded
Hungarian civilians:
15 killed
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The Slovak–Hungarian War or Little War (Hungarian: Kis háború, Slovak: Malá vojna), was a war fought from 23 March to 31 March/4 April 1939 between the First Slovak Republic and Hungary in eastern Slovakia.
                                  
Admiral Horthy during the Hungarians triumphant entry into Košice, November 1938

Land war
At dawn on 23 March 1939 Hungary suddenly attacked Slovakia from Carpatho-Ukraine with instructions being to "proceed as far to the west as possible". 
                                 
Hungary attacked Slovakia without any declaration of war, catching the Slovak army unprepared, because many Slovak soldiers were in transit from the Czech region and had not reached their Slovak units yet. Czech soldiers were leaving newly established Slovakia, but after the Hungarian attack, many of them decided to support their former units in Slovakia.
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Slovak tank
                                                    Skoda OA vz armour car
                                                              Skoda  Lt 40
                                                              Skoda Lt 38
                                                               Skoda Lt 34
                                                           Skoda Lt 33

In the north, opposite Stakčín, Major Matějka assembled an infantry battalion and two artillery batteries. In the south, around Michalovce, Štefan Haššik, a reserve officer and a local Slovak People's Party secretary, gathered a group of about four infantry battalions and several artillery batteries. Further west, opposite the passive, but threatening Košice-Prešov front, where the Hungarians maintained an infantry brigade, Major Šivica assembled a third Slovak concentration. To the rear, a cavalry group and some tanks were thrown together at Martin, and artillery detachments readied at Banská Bystrica, Trenčin and Bratislava. However, German interference disrupted or paralysed their movement, especially in the V Corps. The defence was tied down defensively, as the Hungarian annexations the last autumn had delivered the only railway line to Michalovce and Humenné into their hands, thereby delaying all Slovak reinforcements.
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Hungarian tank.
Fiat 3000
Raba 38
Csapa Car
Zrinyj tank
Licht tank CV 33
                                                               LT 35 tank

The Hungarian troops advanced quickly into eastern Slovakia, which surprised both the Slovaks and the Germans. Despite the awful confusion caused by the hurried mobilization and desperate shortage of officers, the Slovak force in Michalovce had coalesced sufficiently to attempt a counterattack by the following day. This was largely due to Czech Major Kubíček, who had taken over command from Haššik and had begun to get a better grip on the situation. Because they were based on a widely available civilian truck, spares were soon found to repair five of the sabotaged OA vz.30 armoured cars in Prešov and they reached Michalovce at 5:30 am on 24 March. Their Czech crews had been replaced by scratch teams of Slovak signallers from other technical armed forces. They were immediately sent on a reconnaissance mission to Budkovce, some 15 km south of Michalovce, but could not find any trace of the Hungarians.

It was therefore decided to counterattack eastwards, where the most advanced Hungarian outpost was known to be some 10 km away at Závadka. The road-bound armoured cars engaged the Hungarian pocket from the front whilst Slovak infantry worked round their flanks. Soon they forced the heavily outnumbered Hungarians to fall back from Závadka towards their main line on the River Okna/Akna, just in front of Nižná Rybnica.

The armoured cars continued down the road a little past Závadka whilst the Slovak infantry fanned out and began to deploy on a front of some 4 km on either side of them, between the villages of Úbrež and Vyšné Revištia. The infantry first came under Hungarian artillery fire during the occupation of Ubrež, north of the road. At 11 pm a general attack was launched on the main Hungarian line at Nižná Rybnica. The Hungarian response was fierce and effective. The Slovaks had advanced across open ground to within a kilometre of the Akna River when they began taking fire by Hungarian field and anti-tank artillery.

One armoured car was hit in the engine and had to be withdrawn, while a second was knocked out in the middle of the road by a 37mm anti-tank cannon. The raw infantry, unfamiliar with their new officers, first went to ground and then began to retreat, which soon turned into a panic that for some could not be stopped before Michalovce, 15 km to the rear. The armoured cars covered the retreating infantry with their machineguns, in order to forestall any possible Hungarian pursuit.

Late on 24 March, four more OA vz.30 armoured cars and three LT vz.35 light tanks and a 37mm anti-tank cannon arrived in Michalovce from Martin to find total confusion. Early on 25 March, they headed eastwards, sometimes steadying the retreating infantry by firing over their heads, thereby ensuring the reoccupation of everything up to the old Úbrež – Vyšné Revištia line, which the Hungarians had not occupied. However, the anti-tank section mistakenly drove past the knocked-out armoured car and ran straight into the Hungarian line, where it was captured.

By now, elements of the 41st Infantry Regiment and a battery of 202nd Mountain Artillery Regiment had begun to reach Michalovce, and Kubíček planned a major counterattack for noon, to be spearheaded by the newly arrived tanks and armoured cars. However, German pressure brought about a ceasefire before it could go in. On 26 March, the rest of 202nd Mountain Artillery Regiment and parts of the 7th and 17th Infantry Regiments began to arrive. There were now some 15,000 Slovak troops milling around Michalovce but, even with these reinforcements, a second counterattack had little better prospect of success than the first, because the more numerous and cohesive Hungarians were well dug-in, and had more than enough 37mm anti-tank cannons to deal effectively with the 3 modern light tanks that represented the only, slight, advantage possessed by the Slovaks.
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Slovak Air Force
After the splitting of Czechoslovakia, the six regiments of the former Czechoslovak Air Force were also disintegrated. The core of this air force on Slovak territory was the 3rd Air Regiment of Milan Rastislav Štefánik, which came under Slovak Ministry of Defence control. However, most of the officers, experienced pilots and aviation experts were Czechs.

Before 14 March the Slovak Air Force (Slovenské vzdušné zbrane) had about 1400 members. After the split Czechoslovakia had only 824 left. Returning crews from occupied Protectorate of Bohemia and Moravia only slowly reinforced the nascent Slovak Air Force. The tactical situation was most critical in eastern Slovakia, at the airport of Spišská Nová Ves. The two fighter squadrons at that airport only had nine pilots, and there were only three officers at the airport headquarters. Additionally, the situation was becoming more and more critical as Hungarian attacks were increasing.

Many pilots flying together in those days were collected from different parts of Slovakia and had no time to train together, which put them at a marked disadvantage against the prepared and complete Hungarian squadrons. The best Slovak fighter plane of the time was the Avia B-534.

Avia B-534
                                                        Avia 71 
                                              
                                                    Aero 100 A
                                    
                                                           Bloch M.B. 210
                                                     Aero A.32

Other elements of the 3rd Air Regiment of Milan Rastislav Štefánik were located at airports in Vajnory, Piešťany, Nitra, Žilina and Tri Duby. However, there was also a great lack of pilots, so the powerful potential could not be fully exploited. Some crews from Piešťany and Žilina were sent to support Spišská Nová Ves. In this condition the Slovak Air Force had to depend on supporting ground units in combat and interfering with Hungarian supplies. To do this, they had to fly low and, as they had no armour, they often become an easy target for Hungarian artillery or even ground unit soldiers.
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Royal Hungarian Air Force
                                              Fiat CR.32 Fichter

Ju-86K-2 Bombers
                                                                   Fiat CR.42
                                                                 Avia 135

The best plane in the Royal Hungarian Air Force was the Fiat CR.32 fighter. It did not have as powerful an engine as the Slovak Avia, so Hungarian pilots tried to fight at horizontal levels, while the Slovaks tried to take the combat into the vertical plane. The Fiats could be handled better, especially if the Avias were flying with bombs under their wings, making them more clumsy. The Fiat CR.32 had better machine guns.
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2 kommenttia:

  1. Great info again. I didn't know much about this!

    VastaaPoista
    Vastaukset
    1. Hello Rodger.
      Thank you for your comment
      A little strange for me, too.
      This war "occurred to my eyes poland war times".
      I find wikipedia, this little longer English version

      Poista

Any explosive ammunition or empty cores, you can put in this.