General Malinovsky's Soviet armies reaching the eastern outskirts of Budapest by December, 1944, consisted of infantry, tank, artillery, and even cavalry units.  The opposing German forces were composed of  both Heer and Waffen SS divisions, while the Hungarians  were a mixture of  regular Honved units, auxiliary formations, and Arrow-Cross volunteers. Here Soviet infantry, dismounting from T-34 tanks,  moves into action in the vicinity of Budapest in the fall of 1944.

BUDAPEST SIEGE: The Red Army Approaches

The beginning of the battle for Stalingrad,the first bombings - Soviet Anti-Aircraft are put in position to fire on German planes

The Beginning 

General Tolbukhin was also a veteran of the war in Ukraine, now commanding the Third Ukrainian Front armies. He was a  careful general, who was less inclined to drive his troops into battle mercilessly, thereby earning the loyalty of his subordinates.  After Tolbukhin liberated Belgrade, he turned north and westward, and soon unexpectedly crossed the Danube into western Hungary. 

Seeing the stalled armies of Malinovsky, with Stalin's approval he adjusted his course toward the north, rapidly approaching the hills of Buda, and at Christmas 1944 surprising the capital from its largely undefended west side, until the 8th Waffen SS division and volunteer Hungarian units rushed in.
