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

the units we scattered. The Viennese of the day report the strength of our rebel
forces at 20-30,000, when, in fact, it was merely several hundred.” 333
During these days, the unit of Iván Héjjas took control of the area around
Királyhida on the Hungarian side – and Bruck on the Austrian side – in Moson
County, along the Hungarian-Czechoslovak border. The rebels, led by Pál
Gebhardt and Viktor Maderspach, initially joined by the Friedrich group, were
waiting for the Austrian incursion in Ágfalva, west of Sopron. South of them,
around Felsőőr (Oberwart) and Pörgölény (Pilgersdorf), were the units of
Árpád Taby. The fifth rebel unit claimed as its battle zone in the South, around
Gyanafalva. The patriots who took to the field were armed by Héjjas and
Prónay with the arms and ammunition that Héjjas and company acquired
through the daring raid of July 1920 from the armory of the Austrian garrison
of Fürstenfeld.
By this time, the unit organized from the students of the Sopron mining and
forestry academy had joined the uprising. A meeting was held in the morning of
August 29, where it was decided that the academy was joining the Ostenburg
battalion as a company comprised of [former] officers. The meeting sent a
three-man delegation to Major, and city commander, Ostenburg and after an
agreement was made, the students joined the battalion as the 5 th Officer
Company. The Major assigned the 5 th Company, led by Elemér Székely, to the
sector running northwest of Sopron along the line of Kelénpatak –
Szentmargitbánya – Kismarton – Kishőflány – Lajtaújfalu. Ostenburg was not
disappointed in the young men as they took their share in the struggles and
played a large role in the plebiscite and Sopron remaining in Hungary. In their
sector, they carried out nighttime raids on the villages and harried the
gendarmes billeted in the houses with barrages of rifle fire. “During the day in
uniform, weapons drill and various duties; then almost every night, in civilian
coat and hat, armed with a rifle and grenades, one rebel raiding party after
another. A little ‘worrying’ of the occupying ‘Austrian cousins’ and by morning
another ‘delicacy’ for the Entente committees, preferably from an Austrian
perspective.” 334
The majority of Sopron citizens could not accept that their city was to be
torn from Hungary. They delegated former mayor Dr. Károly Töpler, the
lawyer Dr. István Pinezich and the principal of the technical institute, Ernő
Lauringer, who visited Deputy Chief Government Commissioner Frigyes
Villani in his room in the Pannonia Hotel on August 29. They stated that they
would not stand idly by and watch the occupation of their city but will support
the Héjjas rebels. The baron took note of the decision with dismay and repeated
that this move by the citizens harmed the country. It was in these circumstances
that the 83-strong Sopron detachment of the Ragged Guard was born, which
swore allegiance and joined the force of Iván Héjjas. The list of signatories
contained many local notable families – such as Imre and Pál Storno – and
333 Héjjas J., 1929, op. cit., p. 31.
334 Krug, 1930, op. cit., pp. 54–55.
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