25th Waffen Grenadier Division of The SS Hunyadi (1st Hungarian) - Chronological History

Chronological History

• November 2, 1944: The division formed on paper by SS-Führungshauptamt
• November 18: 10 000 volunteers moved to area Bruck (Austria)
• December 12: Finishing transfer to Neuhammer Training Camp
• December 19: Arms distributed to division
• February 5, 1945: Elements of 25th "Hunyadi" and 26th "Hungaria" combine to form "Hungarian SS Alarm Regiment" under Standartenführer Bela Peinlich.
• This numbers between 2450 and 2600 men in 4 battalions
• Alarm Commander: Standartenfuhrer Bela Peinlich
• (Military operations) Chief Officer: Hauptsturmfuhrer Janos Zoltay
• SS I Waffen – Alarm battalion: Waffen - Hauptsturmfuhrer Erno Solti
• SS II Waffen – Alarm battalion: Waffen - Hauptsturmfuhrer Alajos Duska
• SS III Waffen – Alarm battalion: Waffen - Hauptsturmfuhrer Geza Pataki
• SS IV Waffen – Alarm battalion: Waffen - Hauptsturmfuhrer Gyorgy Hermandy – Berencz
• The 4 companies (sharing equally the heavy weapons) are allocated 2,000 rifles, 70 machine pistols (MP40’s?), 4 heavy machine guns, 21 light machine guns, as well as approximately 50 panzerfausts and 500 grenades. Each soldier was given approximately 200 rounds of ammunition.

I and II battalions are mostly from “Hunyadi” and III and IV are mostly from “Hungaria”.

Early May 1945: The Hunyadi division battle group which has been travelling from Denmark is in Berlin near to the Brandenburg gate and the Spree. They move near the Reichstag to face more Russian divisions. Some men fall in the vicinity of the SS Headquarters at the corner of Berliner Straße and the Kaiserallee. Some of the unit survives by getting out of the city by using the U-Bahn (Underground) but end up getting captured by the Russians. In the fighting 83 men (including 1 officer) were killed. 12 men (including 1 officer) are missing.