Well aware of the approach of Soviets forces, the Arrow-Cross wasted no time in propagandizing the public for the battles soon to come .  Here a group of local supporters display and admire one of their posters, which stresses continued Hungarian-German solidarity and military preparedness. (The posters do not show atrocities committed by some Arrow-Cross activists.)

 BUDAPEST SIEGE:  Arrow-Cross (Nyilas) Poster

General Beregfy is shown here inspecting  the training of  Hungarian soldiers in the use of the German Panzerfaust (bazooka) anti-tank weapon.  He also facilitated the integration of  many new Hungarian recruits and transfers into the German military structure,  most of all by the establishment of the 25th SS Grenadier Division &quot;Hunyadi,&quot; based on the original Hungarian 13th Light Division, which eventually reached a strength of 20,000 soldiers.

BUDAPEST SIEGE:  Training Magyar Defenders

After Horthy's deposition, government nominally passed into the hands of a local right-wing nationalist  and anti-Semite named Szalasi (Sah-laa-shee), the leader of the Arrow-Cross &quot;Hungarist&quot; party.  He is shown here marching through a Buda Castle square, wearing a long overcoat, followed by a Hungarist retinue, including his Minister of Defense General Beregfy,  in the front row.

The display of armbands indicated adherance to the Arrow-Cross, which stood in agreement with Hitler for continuing the struggle against the Soviet Union. In any case, real decision-making had shifted to the Third Reich.  The Szalasi government , including  Beregfy, moved to western Hungary in early December. After the war, both were executed by the new regime.