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

enemy incursion into Hungarian territory.
The Entente officers – as well as the Austrians – knew that the battle at
Ágfalva was a coordinated operation between the rebels and the Ostenburg
battalion. This became evident from the telephone conversation of the
following day, September 9, which was tapped by the Sopron detachment of
army intelligence. The following dialogue took place between two generals, the
Italian in Sopron and the French in Kismarton.
Gauthier: “I have finished my investigation into the matter of Ágfalva. I will
also put my report in writing. What I know, I mostly know from the retreating
Austrian gendarmes (…) [who] have the feeling that the rebels and Hungarian
gendarmes were in collusion, in other words, the appearance of Ostenburg was
mere comedy. They took the rebels captive, disarmed them and released [them]
toward the rear, and probably gave their weapons back, too.”
Ivaldi (laughing): “Of course, of course.” 364
The Sopron Entente Mission managed, among other things, to ascertain: the
rebels began their attack at 4am but Maj. Ostenburg reached the outskirts of
Ágfalva from Sopron with a part of his unit at 5am. This route of march, with
reveille, assembly and an approx. 6 km. march, would take at least 2 hours. The
Entente generals shared the result of the assessment with Lt.Gen. Pál Hegedűs,
who visited them on September 11. 365 The Austrian gendarmes who fled to
Nagymarton, the seat of Robert Davy’s Burgenland administrative center,
stated: they have no desire to stay and fight in Western Hungary because they
are civil servant. Let the Viennese government order in the army to take
possession of the territory.
A few hours after the battle of Ágfalva of September 8, at 11:00 o’clock,
Hungarian military counter-intelligence listened in on the telephone
conversation between British General George Gorton and Chancellor Schober,
between Sopron and Vienna. The Chancellor complained: “Our gendarmes
were again beaten out of Ágfalva. The situation is impossible for us. (…) I ask
that Entente forces support our gendarmes or allow us to send our army.”
Gorton: “Austria cannot send army units under any circumstances because that
would break the agreed accord [i.e., the Trianon dictate-J.B.].”
Schober: “But our gendarmerie is too weak.”
Gorton: “Then let them retreat.”
Schober: “The Austrian gendarme is used to working in an honest country
unlike the Hungarian gendarmes, in a savage country.” 366
We know from the detailed report that Commissioner Sigray sent to PM
364
MOL. K 26. 1388. csomó. 1922–„H” tétel, p. 261.
365
Ibid, pp. 414–415.
366
Ibid, pp. 411–412.
139