The Siege of Budapest: One Hundred Days in World War II Paperback – November 13, 2006

Frankly, I was conflicted over this work. It sounds like this is the military story of the siege of Budapest, and I expected a full development of the German and Hungarian defense and the Soviet attacks. Instead the author primarily covers the story of Hungary in World War II, its government, factions, people, and how they participated (or not) in the defense of Budapest, and their suffering during and after the siege. That part was excellent -- it was only that I expected something else. Maybe that was my bad, but I'd still like to see a definitive work on the siege of Budapest from a military perspective. I suspect that Ungvary could produce such a definitive work if he so wished.

The Soviet side is presented very weakly, and this was my main reason for giving this work four instead of five stars. Even the German defense is not as well handled as it could have been, and there is a great deal of detail missing. It is almost impossible to make sense out of the fighting and the progression of the ever-shrinking perimeter.

Nonetheless, the book is what it is, and I recommend it since it contains much material rarely found in other works on the Eastern Front of World War II. It definitely adds to the literature of World War II.

When I first started reading this book I was put off to some extent by the dry recitation of the villages , then cities and finally streets that fell before the Soviet onslaught. I kept thinking that better, and more regular, maps and street plans would help me "watch" the events taking place. The narative would have benefited tremendously from an introductory description of the city and its key sites - at no stage did I become "acquainted" with Budapest. Accompanying this "dryness" was a description of warfare that just numbs you with the agony of it all (it reminded me in some ways of the stark realism of "Blackhawk Down" - bullets and explosions and bits of flesh flying all over the place)... And then came the Breakout... I was previously unaware of how dramatic the events around Budapest in 1944-45 really were; it's strange how little is actually reported or written! The futility and sheer horror, of lives wasted and blind ideologies followed, ultimately rises to the surface... and leaves you filled with amazement and horror.

This book is a must for all the ex Hungarians who lived through the war and their descendents.

It is also a great book for the understanding of all those who lived through the war.

I was 6 years of age in 45 and remember every minute of the siege as the front was in our street for many weeks. We lived in the cellar of our home and ate snow for survival as there simply was no food. I was present at the rape of the women in our cellar.

This book puts everything into context for me and I am sure for thousands of others

This history recounts the bloody siege of Budapest in late 1944/early 1945 and provides an outstanding window for a Westerner to better understand the evolution of the end of WWII. Most students of WWII in the US know about the D-Day invasion, Operation Market-Garden, and the German Ardennes Offensive, but from the German perspective the main war was in the East against the Soviets Toward the end of the war, Hitler's primary focus wasn't on trying to hold the Americans back from the Rhine or keep the Soviets from Berlin, but, as Ungvary explains, trying to hold on to western Hungary as this was Germany's last remaining supply of petroleum. The military discussions every day started with the situation in Hungary, and the last German offensive of the war was in Hungary. Most English speaking readers of this review will likely only have heard of the siege of Budapest in passing, and here is your chance to rectify this shortcoming.

Krisztian Ungvary has written a part military history and part social history of the siege largely from the Hungarian perspective. This English language translation is a highly readable but information-packed recounting of the events of the siege. As a purely military history, I would give this a decent (maybe 3.5 stars), but not outstanding rating. You'll learn a lot of details about the siege, but much of the focus of the military situation is centered on several relatively small units of the Hungarian army, which played an important part no doubt, but much of the big picture discussion of the major players (Germans and Soviets) is missing. The maps are entirely inadequate, and the descriptions of the fighting really requires the reader to have a detailed knowledge of the city or at least a large map handy to keep track of what is going on where. Purely as a military history, this book would rate as a good addition to the existing literature on the subject, but not the whole or complete story. One point that Ungvary does make a convincing argument for is that from a purely military perspective, it is almost always foolish to allow large numbers of troops to become surrounded in a city and bypassed. This may buy the surrounded side some small amount of time to pursue other operations, but the loss of the entire garrison and all of its equipment was never compensated by any significant gains, and the Germans would have been better off from a military perspective to use the troops surrounded in Budapest in the line of battle (i.e. defending cities in a siege is a was of men and material).

The real strength of this book lies more in its social history: what the siege meant for the soldiers and civilians in the city, the complex political situation of Hungary, the role of the Arrow Cross in massacres and deportations of Jews to German hands, and even what the siege meant for the average German or Soviet soldier. If you want to understand what life was like in a city under siege in WWII for both the soldiers and civilians, read this book. Additionally, the English speaking countries tend to have a very Manichean view of the war with the US and her allies as liberators (which is largely true), but the same certainly could not be said about the Soviets. If you want to get some idea of what it meant to be `liberated' by the Soviets and why many of the Eastern Europeans fought so hard FOR the Germans, read this book. The political complexities facing Hungary at the time (and even earlier in the war) are also explained in detail. Caught between Nazi Germany and the Soviet Union, the Hungarians had no good choices.

Anybody that has any interest in WWII will find this book fascinating I think. For a serious student of the Eastern front, this is a must read. This book is well written and an easy read in spite of the subject matter and density of information. It starts a bit slow as the stage is set and the players introduced, but stick with it until the siege starts, then you won't be able to put it down (I couldn't and read it in three days). I'm happy to have this as part of my permanent collection. Highly readable, informative, and incredibly compelling.

The author has done an outstanding job of writing about the little known siege of Budapest during the Second World War.He goes into great detail about Hungarian,Soviet,German operations during the siege,anti-Arrow Cross activities,atrocities against the civilians etc.A must read for those who are interested in the last six months of WW 2.

The author repeatedly stated that the Budapest siege was the worst in the European theater of World War II, yet he failed to give percentages which would have given the reader a much clearer comparison view to the other sieges of that war. He also failed to give an accurate description of the violence perpetrated against Hungarian civilians and the Hungarian civilians deported to the Soviet Union, actions which were so bestial that they prompted President Roosevelt to attempt an intervention with Stalin on behalf of the Hungarian people. It appeared to me that the author was minimizing the extent of that violence.

The descriptions of the battle and the everyday soldiers and their commanders were interesting and enlightening, though.