Karl Ungár

from Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Karl Ungár 1918
Karl Ungár was one of 110 soldiers who were awarded the Knight's Cross of the Military Maria Theresa Order during the First World War

Karl Ungár (born January 30, 1892 in Budapest , † June 23, 1975 in Marcali ), from 1917 and 1920 Vitéz Karl Baron Ungár von Bukowe-Berdo a. Ujscie , was an officer in the Austro-Hungarian Joint Army , who was awarded the Knight's Cross of the Order of Maria Theresa as one of 110 soldiers in World War I.

Life before World War I.

Karl Ungár attended the military academy in Budapest and was on 18 August 1911 as an ensign to Kuk Infantry Regiment "Freiherr von Schikofsky" no. 83 of Komárom retired .

First World War

Mobilization and deployment in Galicia in August 1914

The IR 83 belonged to the 33rd Infantry Troop Division, which as part of the Austro-Hungarian Corps as part of the Austro-Hungarian 1st Army under Commander-in-Chief Viktor Dankl marched on the San River in mid-August .

From the middle of September 1914, Karl Ungár commanded the regimental spy division of the IR 83 as a lieutenant and in this function acquired the military merit medal in bronze and the Order of the Iron Crown III by the end of the year . Class .

1st award act: October 3, 1914 - Ujscie

After the military setbacks of the Austro-Hungarian armies on the Russian front, the Austro-Hungarian 1st Army had to retreat towards Cracow in September 1914 . In order to relieve the heavily defeated Austro-Hungarian armies, the German 9th Army was deployed in Silesia in the second half of September to advance together with the Austro-Hungarian 1st Army in a new offensive about 250 km to the northeast of the Vistula , including the Russian To force army command to withdraw troops from Galicia. While the 9th Army had started its offensive on September 28th, which marked the beginning of the Battle of the Vistula , the Austro-Hungarian 1st Army first had to compensate for its previous losses by integrating marching battalions.

On October 1st, the offensive also began for the Austro-Hungarian 1st Army. While a group of forces was advancing west of the Vistula on the right flank of the German 9th Army, the Austro-Hungarian Corps with the IR 83 as the central unit advanced east of the river to the north, while the Russian units were also anxious to march north to reach the area southeast of Warsaw.

On October 2, Lieutenant Karl Ungár in Borki received the order from the command of the 66th Brigade, to which the IR 83 belonged, to march the next day with the regimental spy division into the mouth of the Wisłoka in the Vistula near Ujscie, in order to get timber for one to keep the following bridge building company ready. When, on October 3, the 68-strong division led by Ungár took a rest in the village of Olszyny, a few kilometers from the Wisłoka, and received information from locals that there was still an intact crossing over the river at Gawłuszowice , Ungár took hold the independent decision to take this bridge with his unit. At 3:00 p.m., the pioneers managed to conquer the 130-meter-long river crossing in a bayonet attack and to form a bridgehead on the north bank that was 20 km in front of their own troops. In the course of the night Cossack associations tried to recapture the crossing with two counter-attacks, but they both failed because of the resistance of Ungár's men. A machine gun troop from sister regiment 12 arrived as the first reinforcement after midnight, the bridgehead was then finally secured when the II./IR 83 reached the river crossing at 4 a.m.

Ungár's independent decision meant that the west wing of the kuk V Corps could advance two days faster than the east wing, which first had to build crossings over the Wisłoka. This circumstance also accelerated the Russian retreat from the corps considerably. For this act, the officer was to be awarded the Knight's Cross of the Military Maria Theresa Order as the first soldier of the IR 83.

2nd award act: April 2, 1915 - Bukowe-Berdo

Photos from the award of the Maria Theresa Order on August 17, 1918 in the Villa Wartholz
When the Maria Theresa Order was awarded in the Villa Wartholz in 1918 , Empress Zita spoke to Wilhelm Cavallar von Grabensprung . Anton Lehár and Josef Wächter are in the background , Karl Ungár is in the foreground

At the beginning of March 1915, regiments 12 and 83, which together formed the 66th Brigade , were made available as army reserves at Ustrzyki Górne in the area north of Wołosate . On the morning of March 7th, the brigade attacked at Dźwiniacz Górny and crossed the San to establish themselves in the Kiczora highlands one kilometer to the north. Since further attack attempts failed due to the fierce resistance of the Russian army, the front froze in trench warfare over the next few weeks.

While the Kiczora Heights were lost again on March 20, the 66th Brigade had to finally give up the San Line on March 30, because the left neighbor, the 37th Honved Division, could not withstand the Russian pressure and had to withdraw . The IR 83 and sister regiment 12 then withdrew to the heights of Bukowe-Berdo south of the river.

This new position of the regiment was of strategic importance for the entire kuk V Corps, because the valley of Wołosate, through which it was supplied, was only two kilometers further south. On April 2, there was a massive Russian attack on the regiment's position. Lieutenant Karl Ungár, whose 60-man regimental spy detachment represented the regiment's intervention reserve, was relocated with his men to a hilltop as a precaution, which was about 70 meters behind the main line of defense. When a Russian battalion managed to break through the main line of defense, Ungár's pioneers and 40 other men, who were quickly gathered together, carried out a total of three bayonet attacks in front of the brigade commander, Major General Joseph Lieb, in order to push the Russian infantry out of position.

Despite high own losses (12 dead and 14 wounded among Ungár's pioneers as well as others among the men who were spontaneously gathered together), around 150 enemy soldiers were captured. The Russian battalion also left around 200 casualties, most of which had fallen victim to a flanking machine gun. For this act, which saved the kuk V Corps from being cut off, Ungár was again submitted for the Maria Theresa Order.

Awarded the order on August 17, 1918

Karl Ungár received the medal on August 17, 1918, on the birthday of Emperor Karl I , from him and Empress Zita together with eleven other honorable persons in the Villa Wartholz .

Life after the First World War

After the end of World War Karl Ungár was in the Royal Hungarian Army adopted and found inclusion in the as a war hero hero medals , the latter him to guide the name additive Vitez legitimate.

On May 1, 1935, he took command of a battalion of cycling troops in Esztergom , which was moved to Vásárosnamény in March 1939 to take part in the occupation of Carpathian Ukraine , which Hungary had been awarded in the course of the First Vienna Arbitration . Ungár's battalion was also involved in the 1940 invasion of Transylvania as a result of the Second Vienna Arbitration . In this context he was mentioned in the army report and was awarded the Cross of Merit with Swords . In addition, he was promoted to colonel in the course of the year .

Between August 1943 and August 1944 he commanded the Hungarian 13th Infantry Division, which was stationed as an occupation force in Subotica , Serbia , before retiring on February 1, 1945.

Ungár died on June 23, 1975 in Marcali , where he is buried with his wife.

literature

  • Series of publications Austria-Hungary's Last War 1914–1918
    • Czegka, Hoen, Kiszling, Meduna-Riedburg, Steinitz, Wisshaupt, Zöbl: Austria-Hungary's last war 1914–1918: From the outbreak of war to the outcome of the battle at Limanowa-Lapanów . Publishing house of the military science reports, Vienna 1931.
    • Brauner, Czegka, Diakow, Franek, Kiszling, Steinitz, Wisshaupt: Austria-Hungary's last war 1914–1918: The war year 1915 - Part one: From the end of the battle at Limanowa-Łapanów to the capture of Brest-Litowsk . Publishing house of the military science reports, Vienna 1931.
  • József Doromby: A volt cs. és kir. 83-as és 106-os gyalogezredek története és emlékkönyve , Budapest 1934
  • Oskar von Hofmann, Gustav von Hubka: The Military Maria Theresa Order - The Awards in World War 1914-1918 , 2nd edition, Verlag "Militärwissenschaftliche Mitteilungen", Vienna 1944

Web links

Commons : Karl Ungár  - Collection of images, videos and audio files

Footnotes

  1. ↑ a b c Ungár Károly katonai pályafutása , website nagyhaboru.blog.hu, accessed on February 11, 2020
  2. ^ A b c d e f Oskar von Hofmann, Gustav von Hubka: The Military Maria Theresa Order - The Awards in World War 1914-1918 . Publishing house of the military scientific messages, Vienna 1944.
  3. ↑ a b c d e Czegka u. a .: Austria-Hungary's last war 1914–1918: From the outbreak of war to the outcome of the battle at Limanowa-Lapanów . Publishing house of the military science reports, Vienna 1931.
  4. ↑ a b c d e f József Doromby: A volt cs. és kir. 83-as és 106-os gyalogezredek története és emlékkönyve . Budapest 1934.
  5. ↑ a b Brauner u. a .: Austria-Hungary's last war 1914–1918: The war year 1915 - Part one: From the end of the battle at Limanowa-Łapanów to the capture of Brest-Litowsk . Publishing house of the military science reports, Vienna 1931.
personal data
SURNAME Ungár, Karl
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Bukowe-Berdo et al. Ujscie, Vitéz Karl Baron Ungár von (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION Officer of the Joint Army of Austria-Hungary
DATE OF BIRTH January 30, 1892
PLACE OF BIRTH Budapest
DATE OF DEATH June 23, 1975
Place of death Marcali