Hungarian Forces

Hungarian Pilots in Kharkov, Russia, 1943

The key industrial city of Kharkov was a serious bone of contention during WW2. György (George) Debrődy, an ace pilot of the RHAF with 26 enemy kills, is shown here (middle) at a Kharkov railroad station during 1943, in the company of other Hungarian pilots and soldiers. Debrődy had not only accomplished six kills in the nearby Battle of Kursk, but eventually also acquired the label of "survivor." For exmaple, during September, 1943, after being downed over Soviet territory, he managed to escape by swimming accross the Dnieper river back to Axis lines. In February, 1944, he was forced to crash land behind enemy lines after a dogfight, only to see his friend and colleague Kenyeres (19 kills) rescue him after having landed his Me-109 on a snow-covered field nearby. The two friends ended up in the USA after the war, where Debrődy died in 1982 in peactime conditions.