The specific source of this originally black and white photo is not known to me, but it is obviously the work of a professional photographer from the WW2 era. I have colored gently, and am posting it  in the memory of all those young men who had given their lives in that senseless conflict, whether they had been Hungarians or not, and whether they had served in Axis or Allied ranks.

Hungarian Soldier / Magyar Honved

After the First World War, the vicotrious Entente decided to reward expanding Romania for her wartime military alliance by awarding her Transylvania (Erdely), a long-standing  province of neighboring Hungary. Resurgent Germany, joined with Italy, decided to avert a clash by dividing the region, but also planning to use the volatile issue for baiting both sides into fighting on the Axis side. Here an old Szekely town, Csikszerda, celebrates the Hungarian return in 1940. 

Honved Unit Welcomed by Old Magyar Town, 1940

[25th Assault Gun Battalion]
Armament: 75mm Pak40, Zrínyi II assault howitzers, StuG G and Hetzer assault guns

The battalion first saw combat between September and October 1944 at Del-Erdely near Torda in Northern Transylvania. Initially they were armed with four 75mm 40M (Pak 40) anti-tank guns.

The battalion commander, Százados Vilmos Vértes, led the battalion, despite its lack of equipment, with great bravery. On the first day of the battles for Torda, 5 September 1944, the battalion captured a great deal of Romanian equipment and took prisoner the commander of the Romanian 20th Infantry Training Division, Major-general Constantin Visarion. Later, between 13 and 14 September, his anti-tank guns knocked out three tanks and a rocket launcher and damaged a further seven tanks. He was killed on 15 September while leading his battalion during the street fighting for Torda. He was posthumously awarded the Officers’ Gold Bravery Medal, the third and last Officer of the Assault Artillery to be awarded so.
