Hungarian Forces

Hungarian General Marcell Stomm

As the commander of the 3rd Corps of the Hungarian Second Army on the Voronezh front, General Stomm was able to organize an orderly withdrawal of his troops during January, 1943, while providing rear-guard protection to the German 2nd Army. The units under his command were the last to retreat from the Don river. But when the withdrawal of large Hungarian contingents was blocked by a regional German commander, Stomm formally dissolved his formations and allowed them to successfully withdraw as small groups. His legs froze and had to be amputated when he became a POW in 1943. He and Hungarian communist exile Rákosi, the latter recruiting for the Soviet side, had a brief argument there, for which now communist boss Rákosi came close to being able to send the hobbling general to the gallows, after the latter's return to Hungary. Following the Soviet era, Stomm was fully rehabilitated.