Iván Hindy

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Iván Hindy (ca.1938)

Iván Hindy (officially Hungarian Vitéz kishindi Hindy Iván ; born June 28, 1890 in Budapest , † August 29, 1946 ibid) was a Hungarian general in the Royal Hungarian Army during the Second World War , most recently in the rank of colonel general . During the siege of Budapest , he commanded the Hungarian troops, which were used to defend the city against the siege and later conquest by the Red Army .

family

Hindy came from a noble Catholic family . He was the younger son of Helen, nee Ziska, and Geza Hindy (1850–1895), an official of the Hungarian state railway Magyar Államvasutak . His uncle, Arpad Hindy (1843–1898) was a journalist and newspaper editor. His paternal grandfather, Iván Hindy (1800–1875) was a lawyer and judge in Transleithanien and the younger brother of Michael Hindy (1807–1870), a Roman Catholic priest and language teacher in Vác . His older brother Zoltan Hindy (* May 17, 1880; † May 8, 1951) was also a lawyer, prosecutor and politician.

Military background

From 1909 to 1912 he graduated from the infantry cadet school in Kassa , and was promoted to lieutenant after graduation . He was assigned to the 32nd Infantry Regiment , with which he also fought as a troop officer in the First World War. In recognition of his bravery and services he was promoted several times and was honored with the Military Merit Cross in 1915 and the Order of the Iron Crown Level III in 1918 . He was also the holder of the wounded medal .

In the era of the Hungarian Soviet Republic , he was put into temporary retirement. After their overthrow in February 1920 and the restoration of the Kingdom of Hungary , he was ordered back into active service by the new army command on March 1, and in 1929 was in the rank of major . From November 1, 1933, he was a teacher at the Ludovika Academy and was promoted to lieutenant colonel in 1934 . Until 1939 he worked there a. a. as a teacher for the German language and internal security policy.

From May 1, 1939 to March 1, 1940 he was posted to the Army High Command and served as a reporter. Here he was promoted to colonel in 1939 . He then served in the Hungarian army command and was assigned to the Eastern Front . There he was instrumental in the planning of the Hungarian military operations and was promoted to the rank of major general on November 1, 1942 .

As part of the armistice negotiations planned by Miklós Horthy with the Soviet Union, his confidante Lieutenant General Bela Aggteleky was arrested on October 15, 1944 . He was the commanding general of the Hungarian troops on the western front and was charged with handing over the armistice offers. As a reward for his loyalty to the Arrow Crossers , Ferenc Szálasi appointed him Commander in Chief of the Hungarian troops on the Eastern Front on the same day. Since these had already been pushed into Hungarian territory due to the massive retreat, he was also appointed corps commander for the defense of the city of Budapest. On November 1, 1944 he was promoted to lieutenant general and commanded the 3rd Hungarian Army from November 29, 1944, with a manpower of 37,000 soldiers, which Budapest together with the IX. SS Mountain Corps, with a manpower of around 33,000 soldiers, under the command of SS-Obergruppenführer and General of the Police Karl Pfeffer-Wildenbruch , to whom he was subordinate.

At the beginning of January 1945 the Hungarian civil resistance contacted him and wanted to discuss ways in which the city could be handed over largely undamaged to the Soviet units and how the German troops could surrender. Hindy refused to mediate with the words "Believe me, gentlemen, a decent German officer can do more than I do in my situation." He limited himself to multiple requests to Wildenbruch not to have the remaining Danube bridges blown up by German pioneers . On February 10, 1945, he tried to break out of the pocket with 38,000 German and Hungarian soldiers after Adolf Hitler refused any request to surrender the remaining troops. However, Soviet troops had already expected this and increased the potential of their troops at the expected eruption on Széll Kálmán tér near Buda Castle . The bloody attempt to escape, especially since there were thousands of civilians in his entourage, collapsed quickly and Hindy was taken prisoner by the Soviets .

After the complete liberation of Hungary on April 4, 1945, he was demoted by the authorities of the people's government on June 19, 1945 and immediately afterwards expelled from the army. However, after examining his person, the Soviet military tribunal handed him his officer's sword and placed him under the guard of two Russian colonels until the beginning of 1946. On February 16, 1946, he was handed over to the authorities of the Republic of Hungary. The People's Court sentenced him to death by hanging as a war criminal and ordered the complete confiscation of his entire property. On August 29, 1946, the death sentence was confirmed after the judges rejected all requests for clemency.

Honors (selection)

in the first World War

in World War II

literature

  • Attila Ótott Kovács: The Hungarian holders of the Knight's Cross of the Iron Cross. Scherzers Militaer-Verlag, Ranis 2006, ISBN 3-938845-02-3 , pp. 103-114.
  • Margit Szöllösi-Janze : The Arrow Cross Movement in Hungary. Historical context, development and rule (= studies on contemporary history. Vol. 35). Oldenbourg, Munich 1989, ISBN 3-486-54711-9 (also: Munich, University, dissertation, 1985/1986).
  • Nigel Thomas, László Pál Szábó: The Royal Hungarian Army in World War II. (= Men-at-arms. Vol. 449). Osprey, Oxford 2008, ISBN 978-1-84603-324-7 .
  • Krisztián Ungváry : The Battle of Budapest 1944/45. Stalingrad on the Danube 1944/45. F. A. Herbig Verlagbuchhandlung, Munich 1999, ISBN 3-7766-2120-6 .
  • Krisztián Ungváry: Hungarian theater of war. In: Karl-Heinz Frieser (Ed.): The Eastern Front 1943/44. The war in the east and on the secondary fronts (= The German Reich and the Second World War. Vol. 8). Deutsche Verlags-Anstalt, Munich 2007, ISBN 978-3-421-06235-2 , pp. 849-958.

Web links

personal data
SURNAME Hindy, Iván
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Hindy, Iván Vitéz Kishindi
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Hungarian general of the Royal Hungarian Army
DATE OF BIRTH June 28, 1890
PLACE OF BIRTH Budapest
DATE OF DEATH August 29, 1946
Place of death Budapest