The Fate of Western Hungary 1918-1921 - Corvinus Library ...

e ceded to Austria. The area is to be officially handed over on August 27 in
accordance with diplomatic protocols. 258
For the negotiations and resolutions regarding the matter, the Hungarian
government appointed Chief Government Commissioner Antal Sigray with the
authority that, during the time of the handover and evacuation, he is to be in
charge of all the military and civil authorities. Following the Paris
memorandum of July 26, an Inter-Allied Military Mission was formed in
Sopron. The mission, comprised of an Italian, British and French general, was
soon joined by the mentioned 30 Entente officers to oversee the handover of the
annexed area. In their plan, they defined two zones, “A” and “B”, which
essentially corresponded with the new border proposed by the Hungarian
government in July, and the partitioned area. The exception was in Moson
County, where it diverged significantly. Zone “A” lay west of the North-South
line of the historical Austria-Hungary border from Köpcsény – Féltorony –
Fertőrákos – Sopron – Léka – Pusztaszentmihály – Németújvár. East of this
sector lay zone “B” to the Köpcsény – Pomogy – Nagycenk – Füles – Rohonc –
Pornóapáti sector. Zone “C” ran about 5kms. wide East of that. 259
The information received by Deputy Foreign Minister Kánya was reliable.
The Entente Mission’s Italian, French and British officers in Sopron had
worked out a nine page handover plan of 39 points, covering the three counties
and their settlements (Plan de Transfert à ľAutriche du territoire de la Deutsch-
West-Ungarn). It was published on August 1, 1921. The last page of the prime
ministerial copy bears a hand written note (acknowledging Count Sigray and
chevalier Davy as the Hungarian and Austrian delegates) and is signed by the
heads of the Sopron Military Mission: British General George Gorton, French
General Camille Hamelin and Italian General Carlo Ferrario. The note is dated
August 6. 260 It was an accidental event that a one page Hungarian-language
version of the Inter-Allied Military Mission’s (in some sources Inter-Allied
Generals’ Mission) August 1 plan appeared on bulletin boards and wall posters
in the form of a notice – titled To the people of Western Hungary! – only after
the national holiday honoring King Saint Stephen (August 20).
In conjunction with the August 1 plan (Plan de Transfert…), the Military
Mission also issued a six-page French-language pamphlet, which separately
258
Ibid, p. 72.
259
Zsiga, 1989. p. 114. Map of the three zones defined in the handover of Western
Hungary.
260
MOL. K 26. 1388. csomó. 1922–„H”-tétel, pp. 80-85. The French member of the
Mission, Gen. Hamelin, was deemed by Count Sigray as an unambiguous Austrian
supporter. General Árpád Guilleaume did not consider him as such. Hamelin’s siding
with Austria is refuted by the already cited confidential military report of July 1 in
which Hamelin “sees the Entente’s behavior as ultimately in error, which, in all
likelihood, will annex ‘Burgenland’ to Austria at the same time as returning Baranya
County. (…) in its entirety, he deems it a foolish, senseless step to weaken Hungary for
the sake of the Entente strengthening Germany – through Austria.” Fogarassy, 1981,
op. cit., pp. 48-49.
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