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The Hungarian invasion of Carpatho-Ukraine was a 1939 military conflict between the Kingdom of Hungary and Carpatho-Ukraine. During the invasion a series of clashes took place between the Hungarian and Polish troops against the paramilitary formations of the Carpathian Sich of Carpathian Ukraine and some Czech troops who remained in the region after the Czechoslovak army was disbanded. The war ended with the occupation and subsequent annexation of the territory of Transcarpathian Ukraine (Subcarpathian Rus') to the Kingdom of Hungary.
This territory was later invaded by the Soviet Union and integrated into its Ukrainian SSR.
Background
After the collapse of the Austro-Hungarian Empire, Transcarpathia became part of Czechoslovakia. Finally, the status of the territory was confirmed by the Treaty of Trianon in 1920. The Treaty of Trianon deprived Hungary of 71.5% of its territory before the war. The country was divided amongst the states bordering the then Kingdom of Hungary. Hungary was forbidden to use aircraft, tanks, and heavy artillery. The maximum number of the Hungarian army, which could be formed only of volunteers, should not exceed 35 thousand people. The navy, including the ships of the Danube Flotilla, was handed over to the Allies.
The political situation in Transcarpathia during the Interwar period was difficult. Ukrainophiles, led by Augustyn Voloshyn wanted autonomy within the Czechoslovak Republic, Russophiles, represented by the Autonomous Agrarian Union of Andriy Brody and the Italian Fascism inspired Russian National Autonomous Party of Stepan Fentsyk, supported autonomy within Hungary, the United Hungarian Party (about 10% of the vote) demanded a return to Hungary, and the Communists (up to 25% of the vote) wanted to join Soviet Ukraine. Thus, in the 1935 elections, 63% of the votes went to supporters of full autonomy, accession to Hungary or Soviet Ukraine, and only 25% to supporters of Czechoslovakia. All Czech parties in Carpathian Ruthenia opposed autonomy.
In the 1930s, Hungary began to openly ignore the terms of the Treaty of Trianon and put the economy on a military footing. In early autumn 1938, Hungary, taking advantage of the Sudeten crisis, also began territorial encroachments on Czechoslovakia. According to the provisions of the Munich Agreement signed by four major powers (Great Britain, Nazi Germany, Kingdom of Italy and the French Third Republic) on September 30, 1938, the Czechoslovak government was required to resolve the issue of belonging of the Upper Hungary with the Kingdom of Hungary within three months. It was these lands that Hungary lost in 1920 under the Treaty of Trianon.
Bilateral Czechoslovak-Hungarian talks took place from October 9 to 13 in Komárno, but ended in vain. On October 11, the authorities of the Czechoslovak "autonomous land" of Subcarpathian Rus' gained self-government,Субтельний, О. Історія України // Глава 22. Западная Украина между мировыми войнами. — К: Либідь, 1993. — ISBN 5-325-00451-4 and on October 20, a resolution supported a plebiscite on the territory's membership in the Kingdom of Hungary. However, five days later, Subcarpathian Prime Minister Andriy Brody, representing pro-Hungarian circles,Корниенко, М. Сечь, да не та. — From-UA, 17 марта 2010 года. was arrested in Prague, and was replaced by Foreign Minister Augustyn Voloshyn, who agreed to consider only the transfer of territories to the Kingdom of Hungary. with a predominantly Hungarian population, and rejected the idea of a plebiscite.
+Parties1924192519291935Communist39.4%%15.2%%RussophilesAZS8.3%%%%KTP7.9%%%RNP, RNAP1.1%%%HungariansMNP11.1%%11.4%%Others%%––UkrainophilesRKhP4.4%%3.4%%SDRPnPR8.3%%8.6%%JewishŽS7.1%7.8%6.3%ŽKS3.9%4.8%29.1%%CzechoslovaksRSZML5.9%%Others0.5%–2.8%%
First Vienna Award
The head of the Hungarian delegation at the talks in Komárno, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Hungary Kálmán Kánya, asked the signatories of the Munich Agreement to act as judges on the issue of delimitation. As the United Kingdom and the French Republic withdrew, German Foreign Minister Joachim von Ribbentrop and Italian Foreign Minister Galeazzo Ciano became arbitrators. On October 29, the Czechoslovak Republic and the Kingdom of Hungary formally proposed to Italy and Germany that an arbitration be held, agreeing in advance with its results.
At the arbitration held on November 2, 1938, in Vienna, the Czechoslovak delegation, among others, prepared to present their views, as well as the representatives of Carpathian Ukraine (Avgustyn Voloshyn) and of Slovakia (Jozef Tiso), but at the initiative of Ribbentrop they were not given the floor, because autonomy, which they represented could not be considered as a third party. By the First Vienna Award, the Kingdom of Hungary was given territories with an area of 11,927 km2, including the Carpatho-Ukrainian territory (1,537 km2). Between 57% and 84% of their population were Hungarians, according to Czechoslovak and Hungarian statistics, respectively.Контлер, Л. История Венгрии . — Изд: «Весь мир», 2002. — C. 485.
Carpathian Ukraine then lost its two main cities (Uzhgorod and Mukachevo) as well as all fertile lands. On November 12, they were officially incorporated into the Kingdom of Hungary by a resolution of the country's parliament. However, the decisions of the First Vienna Award did not satisfy the acquiring country, Hungary did not resign on the restoration of her old borders.
Preparation
The Hungarian government intensified negotiations with the Second Polish Republic, which had long incited the Kingdom of Hungary to seize Subcarpathian Rus' by force. Negotiations with the Kingdom of Italy also continued, but Galeazzo Ciano recommended abandoning plans to occupy Subcarpathia; in addition, Hitler, dissatisfied with the rapprochement of the Kingdom of Hungary and the Republic of Poland, also warned the Hungarian government against such actions.Пушкаш, А. Цивилизация или варварство. Закарпатье 1918—1945. — М., 2006. — С. 273—275.
However, despite all these warnings, preparations for the invasion continued. The mobilized 6th Hungarian Corps was concentrated on the border. At the same time, the Kingdom of Hungary and the Republic of Poland isolated Carpathian Ukraine from the outside world, restricting telephone, telegraph and postal communications, and began an economic blockade. Hungarian and Polish saboteurs were thrown across the border. Fighting broke out between units of the Czech army and saboteurs, and Czech spies managed to reveal the affiliation of Polish troops.
On November 9, 1938, in connection with the increasing number of Hungarian-Polish sabotage cases, the government of Carpatho-Ukraine, based on the Ukrainian National Union (UNO) political party, established the Carpathian Sich People's Defense Organization (ONOKS), although the first Sich detachments appeared in the early 1930s as ordinary fire-fighting and cultural-educational societies, similar to those formed in neighboring Eastern Galicia. The leading role in ONOKS was played by OUN members who came to Transcarpathia from other regions of Ukraine, as well as from emigration.
Dmytro Klympush, a former officer of the Austro-Hungarian army, was appointed as commander-in-chief of the Sich, and Ivan Roman, a former officer of the Czechoslovak army, was appointed as deputy commander. In December, the autonomous government of Voloshin and the Czechoslovak General Staff reached an agreement on conducting military training of the Sich, and they received the weapons of the local national guard, the Domobranstva. At that time, there were about 2,000 trained Sich soldiers, or so-called full members of the Carpathian Sich. In general, Sich had about 2-3 thousand soldiers and about the same number of reservists.Гогун, А. Деятельность вооружённых националистических формирований на территории западных областей УССР (1943—1949) // Диссертация на соискание учёной степени кандидата исторических наук. Научный руководитель: доктор исторических наук, профессор С. Н. Полторак. — Северо-Западная академия государственной службы, Санкт-Петербург, 2005.
On November 18, 1938, preparations for the invasion were completed, and it was scheduled for November 20. However, Nazi Germany intervened. The Germans believed that the Czechoslovak Republic would be able to resist, and the Wehrmacht, which was in the process of demobilization, would not be able to help the Hungarians, and therefore the Hungarians were "advised" not to take any action because of the unpredictability of their results. The military intervention was canceled, but the Kingdom of Hungary did not abandon its plans for Podkarpackie.
On January 6, 1939, preparations for the invasion resumed, and General Bidza was appointed as commander of the operation. On January 19, 1939, the new Minister of Internal Affairs of Carpatho-Ukraine, General Lev Prchala, appointed by the President of the Czechoslovak Republic Emil Hácha without the consent of the autonomous leadership, arrived in Khust, then the capital of the Carpathian Autonomy.«Карпатская Украина» 1938—1939 гг.. Хронос.
The Prime Minister of Carpatho-Ukraine, Augustyn Voloshyn, received Lev Prchala only as a general in the federal army. The general was denied cooperation and a note was sent to the government of the Czechoslovak Republic, while Prchala himself told Voloshyn that he did not expect to face such difficulties and promised to personally ask the government to dismiss him as minister.
In response to these actions, the Carpatho-Ukrainian government removed the representative of Carpatho-Ukraine, Julian Revay, from the Czechoslovak government and reaffirmed General Prhala's authority as commander of the Czechoslovak army in Carpatho-Ukraine; in addition, in his hands concentrated the management of the Ministry of Internal Affairs, Finance and Communications of Carpatho-Ukraine.
The Kingdom of Hungary soon joined the anti-Comintern pact, and Hitler decided on the possibility of Hungarian occupation of Carpatho-Ukraine, subject to the interests of Nazi Germany.
Warfare
March 12–14
The capture of Carpatho-Ukraine by Hungarian troops was originally planned to begin on March 12, 1939, the day of the elections to the local Soim, but the German government rejected the idea, saying it would announce the start of the occupation.Гай-Ныжнык, П. Карпатская Украина в 1939 г. как одна из «разменных монет» Мюнхенского договора // Западная Белоруссия и Западная Украина в 1939—1941 гг.: люди, события, документы: Сборник статей. — М.: Институт славяноведения РАН, 2011.
The Hungarians concentrated 12 divisions of the VI Army on the border, and on the night of March 13–14, the Hungarian army began advancing deep into the territory of Carpatho-Ukraine with small forces.Кульчицький С. В. Україна між двома війнами (1921—1939 рр.) / Сер. «Україна крізь віки». — Т. 11. — К.: Альтернативи, 1999. — 336 с. стр. 318
At 2:00 a.m., units of the Carpathian Sich (then a 5,000-strong paramilitary organization ) received weapons from the Khust gendarmerie (41 rifles and 90 pistols) to defend against the Hungarians on the orders of Prime Minister Augustyn Voloshyn.
At around 4 a.m., Ivan Roman, the deputy commander of the Carpathian Sich, received a call from Czech officers demanding that the weapons be returned to the warehouse. The commandant, referring to the decree of Augustin Voloshyn, flatly refused. In response, General Lev Prchala ordered units of the 45th Regiment stationed in Khust to seize weapons by force.