City of Eternal Heroes ETO (id:#61462)

(HASL 8 - Festung Budapest ID: FB CG III)   [next]   [previous]

Buda, Hungary 1945-02-02 (6 others)

Overview:

By the end of January, Soviet units of the 37th and 75th Rifle Corps, reinforced by the rifle divisions of the “Budapest Group,” had been able to consolidate their lines and compress the Axis defenders in the north and west sectors into an area around the base of Castle Hill. Running from Margit körút in the north, then along Krisztina körút toward the Déli Pályaudvar, and finally along Kékgolyá utca to the southwest, the Soviets had made considerable gains. In the southern part of Buda, Soviet forces had less success in pushing the Axis defenders back. Firmly entrenched along two dominating hilltops, the Sas-hegy and the Gellért-hegy, German and Hungarian defenders had repulsed several Soviet attacks. With the defeat of the Hungarian Vannay Battalion in the Városmajor on 26 January, the retreat of SS-Kavallerie-Division 8’s Kavallerie-Regiment 16 from Wolf’s Meadow Cemetery on 2 February, and the defeat of three German relief attempts by SS-Panzer-Korps IV, Marshal Malinovsky was able to reinforce his southern sector for another attempt. By 6 February, Eagle Hill fell to the 18th Independent Rifle Corps, while German troops holding the Austrian-built Citadella atop the Gellért-hegy were in imminent danger of being overrun from the south by the 83rd Marine Brigade. To the north, the Soviet 297th Rifle Division advanced toward the last Axis stronghold west of the Vérmezo, the Déli Pályaudvar. The Soviets were finally in a position to start their assault on the station area.

Defender: German (SS) / Hungarian (Galántai Gendarmerie Battalion and SS-Kavallerie-Regiment 15, SS-Kavallerie-Division 8 "Florian Geyer")  

Errata (source)