Operation Panzerfaust
판처파우스트 작전
A German operation of October 1944 to keep Hungary on the German side. On 15 October, as Regent Horthy proclaimed an armistice with the Soviets, Otto Skorzeny’s SS commandos kidnapped Horthy’s son, and the next day Horthy signed a document abdicating and appointing Ferenc Szálasi prime minister.
In depth
Hitler feared that a Hungarian surrender would expose his southern flank, where Romania had just joined the Soviets, and cut off the German troops in the Balkans. On the morning of 15 October Skorzeny lured Horthy’s son with a promise of a meeting with Tito’s envoys and seized him; he was held in Mauthausen. When Horthy’s armistice proclamation was broadcast that afternoon, the Arrow Cross seized the radio station with German help, and Skorzeny advanced on Castle Hill behind tanks.
To save his son’s life Horthy signed the abdication, later writing that he had “merely exchanged my signature for my son’s life”. He was taken to Germany, and Hungary fought on at Germany’s side under the Arrow Cross regime.