Aurél Stromfeld

Aurél Stromfeld, depicted by an unknown artist; 1919

Aurél Stromfeld (born September 19, 1878 in Budapest , Hungary ; † October 10, 1927 , ibid) was an officer in the Austro-Hungarian army and after the collapse of the Danube Monarchy, Chief of Staff of the Red Army of the short-lived Hungarian Soviet Republic .

Life

Aurél Stromfeld, who was born in the Budapest district of Újpest into a German-speaking family, embarked on a military career and during the First World War worked mainly as chief of staff of various army corps of the Austro-Hungarian Army . So he acted from April to May 1915 as interim chief of staff of the XIII. Corps. From August 1915 to April 1917 he was chief of staff of the Henriquez corps, commanded by General Johann Ritter von Henriquez and named after him, which was later renamed Korps Hádfy after its new commander, General Emmerich Hádfy von Livno . In April 1917 this corps was renamed again to XXVI. Corps. Stromfeld remained chief of staff of this corps deployed on the Isonzo front until the end of the war . As a captain, he had also written a book on modern army organization.

After the collapse of the Danube monarchy, the Hungarian government under Mihály Károlyi , which was still installed by Emperor Karl I , declared Hungary's independence as a republic . The new state was confronted not only with enormous social and economic problems as a result of the World War, but also with the extensive territorial claims of Czechoslovakia , Romania and the SHS state supported by the Entente powers . The occupation of large parts of the former Kingdom of Hungary by Czechoslovak, Romanian , Yugoslav and French troops and the national bitterness of Hungarians over the reduction of their historical territory contributed significantly to the overthrow of the Károlyi government on March 21, 1919. The previously bourgeois republic has now been replaced by a council republic under the leadership of Béla Kun .

Just three days after taking office, the new council government ordered the creation of a Red Army to repel the "invaders". Driven by patriotism , numerous Hungarians volunteered for service in the new Red Army, including many officers and NCOs from the former Austro-Hungarian Army such as Colonel Aurél Stromfeld. First, however, the neighboring states hostile to the Soviet Republic took the military initiative, above all Romania, whose troops soon advanced as far as the Tisza (see also the Hungarian-Romanian War ), and Czechoslovakia, whose troops occupied the industrial city of Miskolc on May 2nd and threatened the mining area around Salgótarján , which was important for the Soviet Republic .

The crisis-ridden military development resulted in a reorganization of the command structure on the Hungarian side. On April 21, all military units fighting the Romanians were placed under a single high command and Aurél Stromfeld was appointed its chief of staff. On May 6, 1919, all units of the Red Army were finally subordinated to this high command, making Stromfeld the chief of staff of the entire Red Army . He played a decisive role in the fact that the Hungarian counterattack initiated in mid-May 1919 not only led to the defeat of the Czechs in the Salgótarján area and the regaining of Miskolc , but also to the conquest of large parts of Upper Hungary (now part of Slovakia) and the proclamation of a Slovak Soviet republic on June 16, 1919 in Prešov .

The successful Hungarian offensive to the north resulted in diplomatic notes from the Entente powers to the Hungarian council government in the first half of June, calling for the immediate cessation of fighting and the withdrawal of the Red Army behind the line of demarcation established at the Paris Peace Conference . Since the last of these notes contained the promise that if these demands were met, the areas occupied by the Romanian army would also be evacuated, the council government decided to accept them after fierce internal disputes. Aurél Stromfeld and other military leaders of the Red Army protested against this decision on the grounds that the note contained no guarantees that the Romanian troops would actually withdraw from Eastern Hungary. When the council government ordered the withdrawal from the conquered areas, Aurél Stromfeld resigned as chief of staff on July 1, 1919 in protest against this decision.

The decision to withdraw had not only cost the Soviet Republic with Stromfeld one of its most capable military organizers and strategists , but also - what was even more serious - its reputation with the soldiers, who did not understand why the territories that had been conquered with great effort were given up again. irreparably damaged. This also benefited those counter-revolutionary forces in Hungary who had worked from the beginning to overthrow the Soviet republic. This finally took place on August 1, 1919, after a final offensive by the Red Army against the Romanian troops had failed.

After the fall of the Soviet Republic, Aurél Stromfeld was arrested and sentenced to three years in prison by the new government under " Reichsverweser " Miklós Horthy , with whom he avoided any contact. His military rank, his pension and his awards were stripped from him. When he was released in 1921, he was forced to work as a simple worker in a hat factory. After a short time, however, he was transferred to the company's office and finally brought it to the head of administration. In 1923 Stromfeld was arrested again and spent six months in detention. In that year he had also established contact with the Hungarian Communist Party (Hungarian Magyar Kommunista Párt ; MKP), of which he had been a member since 1925. In 1928, the year after his death, his second book, Készül az új háború! ("Armor for the New War").

Honors

The Hungarian Post honored the former Chief of Staff of the Red Army of the Hungarian Soviet Republic in 1952 with a special stamp bearing his picture.

literature

Scientific works

Tibor Hetés: Stromfeld Aurél. Kossuth Könyvkiadó, Budapest 1967 (also: Zrinyi Katonai Kiadó, Budapest 1978, ISBN 963-326-053-1 ) (Hungarian).
Kálmán Nagy: Aurél power field. Művelt Nép, Budapest 1952 (Hungarian).

Fiction

Péter Földes: From the other bank. Life novel about Aurél Stromfeld . Translated into German by Tilda and Paul Alpári. German military publisher, Berlin 1962.

Web links

Info about Stromfeld in the Magyar életrajzi lexikon

Notes and individual references

↑ All information about Stromfeld's staff positions comes from Corps Commanders and Chiefs of Staff 1883-1918 on the website Austro-Hungarian Land Forces 1848-1918 by Glenn Jewison and Jörg C. Steiner.
↑ The following brief description of the political and military developments during the existence of the Hungarian Soviet Republic essentially follows Joseph Rothschild: East Central Europe Between the Two World Wars. University of Washington Press, Seattle et al. 1990, ISBN 0-295-95357-8 , pp. 137-153, ( History of East Central Europe 9).
↑ According to Joseph Rothschild (1990), p. 149, Stromfeld's highest rank in the Austro-Hungarian Army was a lieutenant colonel.
↑ Stefan Szende : Between violence and tolerance. Testimonies and reflections of a socialist. With a foreword by Willy Brandt . European Publishing House, Frankfurt am Main 1975, ISBN 3-434-00252-9 , p. 126.

personal data
SURNAME	Stromfeld, Aurél
BRIEF DESCRIPTION	Austro-Hungarian officer and chief of staff of the Army of the Hungarian Soviet Republic
DATE OF BIRTH	September 19, 1878
PLACE OF BIRTH	Budapest
DATE OF DEATH	October 10, 1927
Place of death	Budapest

[1] All information about Stromfeld's staff positions comes from Corps Commanders and Chiefs of Staff 1883-1918 on the website Austro-Hungarian Land Forces 1848-1918 by Glenn Jewison and Jörg C. Steiner.

[2] The following brief description of the political and military developments during the existence of the Hungarian Soviet Republic essentially follows Joseph Rothschild: East Central Europe Between the Two World Wars. University of Washington Press, Seattle et al. 1990, ISBN 0-295-95357-8 , pp. 137-153, ( History of East Central Europe 9).

[3] According to Joseph Rothschild (1990), p. 149, Stromfeld's highest rank in the Austro-Hungarian Army was a lieutenant colonel.

[4] Stefan Szende : Between violence and tolerance. Testimonies and reflections of a socialist. With a foreword by Willy Brandt . European Publishing House, Frankfurt am Main 1975, ISBN 3-434-00252-9 , p. 126.