72005 WWII ROYAL HUNGARIAN ARMY 1942-45

As early as 1920, Hungary was ruled far from being democratic by Miklos Horthy, whose political views can be described as right-wing and conservative. He also clearly aimed at undermining the peace treaty in Trianon (1920) and restoring the so-called Great Hungary. From the turn of 1938/1939, he was clearly oriented towards Germany and Italy in his foreign policy. Hungary also entered the war with the Soviet Union. Already in March 1940, they formed 3 general armies (1, 2 and 3), each consisting of three corps (Hungarian Hadtest). The so-called Mobile Corps (Hungarian Gyorshadtest) composed of two cavalry brigades and two motorized brigades. The motorized brigades numbered 9,000 men. On the other hand, the first Hungarian armored division was formed in 1942 and consisted of a command and reconnaissance sub-unit, sappers, two anti-tank artillery battalions and two AA artillery battalions, a single motorized infantry regiment consisting of three battalions and an armored regiment composed of 2 battalions. In the same 1942, the 1st Armored Corps (Hungarian Pancelos Hadosztaly) was established, consisting of the 1st and 2nd Armored Divisions. It is worth adding that the Hungarian armored forces operated both on German and Czechoslovak equipment (eg LZ vz.38), but also on domestic production. We are talking about tanks from the Toldi family and the Zrinyi self-propelled howitzers.