Bombing of Kassa

[Lancer44]

(This post is dedicated to my friend Dani)


I would like to discuss very little known incident from WWII.
At first an original period joke about Hungarian involvement in WWII. This joke also gives an idea how complicated was situation in Europe and how perhaps US President understood it. It cannot be far from facts - Roosevelt policy towards Eastern and Central Europe clearly show just that.

It is 12 of December 1941. Secretary of State Cordell Hull is entering Oval Office.

- Mr. President! Hungary declared war against USA!
- Who's Hungary?
- It's a little state in Europe under leadership of Admiral Horthy.
- Admiral? Don't tell me that they have a fleet ready to attack us!
- No!! They don't even have acess to the sea.
- So who's their enemy?!!
- Their enemy is Romania.
- So why they don't declare war against Romania?!!
- Becouse they are allies, they fight soviets together with Romania.

On June 27th, 1941, after Germany had invaded the Soviet Union, Hungary formally declared war against the Soviet Union and became a full Axis partner to German and Italy. The pattern for this declaration had been set many years before, and the final impetus for the move is said to have come when the Hungarian city of Kassa was bombed, supposedly by Russian aircraft.
Some sources are saying that on 26-th of June three Romanian PZL-37 Elk with Romanian markings bombed Kassa.
Kassa was then Hungarian but now belong to Slovak Republic and is called Kosice. (Koszyce).

http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Hangar/7252/p37.htm



In fact in this region only Romania had two engined bombers inherited from Poland. Slovak Avias were not ready. Soviet SB bombers? But why USSR would bomb neutral country? To pull it into the war?


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Declaration_of_war_by_the_United_States
http://worldatwar.net/timeline/other/diplomacy39-45.html

Cheers,

Lancer44

[Dani]

Originally Posted by Lancer44

(This post is dedicated to my friend Dani)


I would like to discuss very little known incident from WWII.
At first an original period joke about Hungarian involvement in WWII. This joke also gives an idea how complicated was situation in Europe and how perhaps US President understood it. It cannot be far from facts - Roosevelt policy towards Eastern and Central Europe clearly show just that.

It is 12 of December 1941. Secretary of State Cordell Hull is entering Oval Office.

- Mr. President! Hungary declared war against USA!
- Who's Hungary?
- It's a little state in Europe under leadership of Admiral Horthy.
- Admiral? Don't tell me that they have a fleet ready to attack us!
- No!! They don't even have acess to the sea.
- So who's their enemy?!!
- Their enemy is Romania.
- So why they don't declare war against Romania?!!
- Becouse they are allies, they fight soviets together with Romania.

On June 27th, 1941, after Germany had invaded the Soviet Union, Hungary formally declared war against the Soviet Union and became a full Axis partner to German and Italy. The pattern for this declaration had been set many years before, and the final impetus for the move is said to have come when the Hungarian city of Kassa was bombed, supposedly by Russian aircraft.
Some sources are saying that on 26-th of June three Romanian PZL-37 Elk with Romanian markings bombed Kassa.
Kassa was then Hungarian but now belong to Slovak Republic and is called Kosice. (Koszyce).

http://www.geocities.com/CapeCanaveral/Hangar/7252/p37.htm



In fact in this region only Romania had two engined bombers inherited from Poland. Slovak Avias were not ready. Soviet SB bombers? But why USSR would bomb neutral country? To pull it into the war?


http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Declaration_of_war_by_the_United_States
http://worldatwar.net/timeline/other/diplomacy39-45.html

Cheers,

Lancer44

Thanks Lancer for your dedication

Now seriously, the fact was discussed here: Axis History Forum :: View topic - Did Romanian bombers attack Kosice?

[Jim O]

Originally Posted by Dani

Thanks Lancer for your dedication

Now seriously, the fact was discussed here: Axis History Forum :: View topic - Did Romanian bombers attack Kosice?

I read through that thread and there was no clear "consensus".

What's your view?

[Lancer44]

Originally Posted by Jim O

I read through that thread and there was no clear "consensus".

What's your view?

That's right. No definite answer. It is really hard to believe that Stalin was so stupid and soviets are to blame.
I have a gut feeling that Romanian PZL-37's with red stars did the job and German Abwehr was behind it.

Lancer44

[Jim O]

That makes the most sense. No doubt they both wanted Hungary to join in the war against USSR (Germany more so than Romania perhaps) but the Romanians may have taken a wee bit of pleasure in bombing Hungary.

[gao_yixing]

I agree.
I think Soviet air force was too busy at the beginning of the Operation Barbarossa to attack a neutral state.
Just another trick played by Chancellor.

[Dani]

Well, I'll consider 2 quotations:

Nuremberg Trial:

Further, Ujszaszy speaks of plans for provocation drawn up by the militarist clique in Hungary for the purpose of creating incidents abroad to justify an attack on the Soviet Union. Ujszaszy states-Page 10, Line 4 from the top of the document, Page 157 of the document book:
"These plans emanated from Lieutenant General Putterer, from his assistant Lieutenant Colonel Frimond, and from General Laszlo. They proposed that, if necessary, German aircraft, camouflaged as Russian planes, should bomb the eastern border districts of Hungary, with bombs of Soviet Russian origin."
And finally, Ujszaszy describes the events of the few days preceding the attack on the Soviet Union-this is Page 11 of the document, Page 158 of the document book:
"On 24 June 1941 (if I remember correctly), at 12:30 noon, I was informed that Soviet Russian planes were bombing Raho in Carpathian Russia and firing on trains in the vicinity with machine gun fire. On the same afternoon news reached us that Soviet Russian planes were bombing Kassa (Kosice). The Crown Council, with the Regent in the chair, met on the same evening and, on the strength of Soviet Russia's provocation, decided to declare war on that country. I am convinced that the bombarding was carried out by German planes with Russian markings. My conclusion was based on the following facts:
"a) Lieutenant General Putterer and the German propaganda machine publicized this bombing on a very vast scale.
"b) Lieutenant General Lazslo immediately gave me orders, through the Propaganda Subsection of Section 2 of the Royal Hungarian General Staff, to obtain photographs of such fragments of the 'Soviet Russian bombs' as could still be found and to publish these photographs in the press of the fascist countries.
"c) Lieutenant General Fiitterer, General Laszlo, and Lieutenant General Frimond spread, by a whispering campaign, the rumor that Slovakian pilots in Russian service had bombed KassA (Kosice). The excellence of the hits was explained by the fact that these pilots were well acquainted with the terrain."

The Avalon Project : Nuremberg Trial Proceedings Vol. 7

Hungarian historian:

Zsuzsa L. Nagy's interpretation of the event is the traditional one - and, let us add, is one that squares with the facts. She makes the point that the decision to attack was unquestionably constitutional, for Horthy, as Regent, had the right to send troops to fight abroad. At the same time, she points out that the German political and military leadership was not counting on Hungary's armed participation at that time. In this sense, at any rate, the June declaration of war can certainly be regarded as a rash decision, one prompted by the bombing of Kassa (Kosice), a provocation probably organized by a group of German and Hungarian army officers (pp. 220-21)

Those Inter-War Years

At that time Romania was really involved in Barbarossa for regaining Bessarabia and Bukovina from Soviet Union. Not to mention that Romania wasn't so interested in Hungarian involvment on the Eastern front because at the end of the war Romania would retake that much part of Transylvania lost to Hungary in the bloody year of 1940 as a result of Germany and Italy "arbitration".