Russians enter Hungary
- Category:
- Military operations
- Front:
- Eastern Front
- Date:
- 24 September 1914
- Author:
- Natalia
- Tags:
- Russia, Austria-Hungary, Carpathians
On 24 September 1914 Russian troops for the first time crossed the crest of the Carpathians and entered the territory of the Kingdom of Hungary. They struck through the passes on the stretch from the Uzsok Pass to the Tatar Pass, into lands that today belong mainly to Ukraine’s Transcarpathia. It was the first of several Russian incursions into Hungary in 1914–1915.
Through the passes
After their victory in the Battle of Galicia the Russian armies occupied most of Galicia and reached the foot of the Carpathians. The passes were defended only by weak forces: march battalions and Landsturm units, older reservists, often armed with obsolete rifles. Russian infantry regiments supported by cavalry and Cossacks advanced on the passes. At the Uzsok Pass the defenders were routed, and the Russians descended into the Uzh valley and reached Fenyvesvölgy (today Stavne in Ukraine). Other units crossed the Verecke Pass and the passes of Máramaros. The defenders of Máramaros fell back down the Tisza valley beyond Máramarossziget, the capital of that county.
Fear in Hungary
The news of Russians on the Hungarian side of the Carpathians caused panic. Thousands of people fled from the border villages and small towns, offices stopped working, and cholera was spreading in the region. The authorities in Budapest tried to stem the wave of refugees heading into the interior, because they feared an epidemic and there was no room for them. The army meanwhile arrested many local Ruthenians suspected of pro-Russian sympathies. The Prime Minister, István Tisza, intervened with the military authorities, demanding an end to unjustified harassment of the population.
The Russians driven back
The Russian units that had crossed the mountains were, however, too weak to venture far from the passes. The Austro-Hungarian command sent reinforcements into the Carpathians, including Hungarian Honvéd divisions. At the end of September the advance was halted, and at the beginning of October the defenders went over to the counter-attack. The Uzsok Pass was retaken by 5 October, and in the following weeks the Russians also withdrew from the other passes. Units of the Polish Legions, the future II Brigade, moved there at the end of September, also took part in the fighting in the eastern Carpathians.
The threat returned as early as November, when the Russians again crossed the Carpathians, this time also through the Łupków Pass, and at the end of November took Humenné in today’s Slovakia, from which they were soon driven out. The fighting for the Carpathian passes then went on throughout the winter of 1914/1915.
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Meanwhile
(04)Elsewhere in the same days.
- 24 September 1914 · Western FrontGermans take PéronneOn 24 September 1914 German troops again occupied Péronne on the Somme. The town remained in their hands until March 1917.
- 23 September 1914 · Asia and the PacificBritish join the siege of TsingtaoOn 22–23 September 1914 General Barnardiston's British force landed in Laoshan Bay to support the Japanese in the siege of Tsingtao.
- 25 September 1914 · Western FrontGermans retake NoyonAccording to the British chronology the Germans retook Noyon on the Oise on 25 September 1914. The front settled just beyond it and held until March 1917.
- 25 September 1914 · Western FrontFirst Battle of Albert endsThe British chronology ends the First Battle of Albert on 25 September 1914, but fighting for the heights between Albert and Bapaume went on to the month's end.
Related events
(04)The same battle, people or subject.
- 3 October 1914 · Eastern FrontRussians take MáramarosszigetIn early October 1914 Russian cavalry that had crossed the Carpathian passes took Máramarossziget, capital of the Hungarian county of Máramaros.
- 7 October 1914 · Eastern FrontAustro-Hungarians retake MáramarosszigetOn 7 October 1914 Austro-Hungarian troops, supported by the Polish Legions, drove the Cossacks out of Máramarossziget, capital of Máramaros, taken days before.
- 8 October 1914 · Eastern FrontEnd of the first Russian invasion of HungaryA British chronicle dates the end of the first Russian invasion of Hungary to 8 October 1914. The Russians were then falling back behind the Carpathian passes.
- 15 November 1914 · Eastern FrontSecond Russian invasion of HungaryIn the second half of November 1914 the Russians again crossed the Carpathians into Hungary. They took Humenné late in the month, but were soon driven back.