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

Kossuth songs, which the Austrians wanted to stop. A fight broke out, during
which the Croats kept yelling: We want to stay Hungarian. Throw out the
Austrians.” It was also reported from the 80% Croat-populated Mosonújfalu
that: “The population is Croat and is not satisfied with Austrian rule. Increasing
the bitterness is the fact that the Austrians promised them cheap sugar and
collected the money for it but there is no sign of the money or the sugar.” In
any case, the magistrates of the villages of Mosonújfalu, Pándorfalu,
Lajtaújfalu and Köpcsény “sent a memorandum to High Constable [of Moson
County] dr. István Zsembery for transmittal to the Entente, in which the
villages petition the Entente to leave them with Hungary and permit the
Hungarian gendarmes to return.” 377
Although the Sopron Entente Mission had expressed its dissatisfaction with
Sigray since the end of August, the removal of the Chief Government
Commissioner only happened as a result of Prime Minister Bethlen’s directive
of September 11. 378 The government thus satisfied the demand of the Sopron
generals to remove Sigray – his deputy, Villani, as noted previously, had
already been demoted – because, according to them, he colluded with Maj.
Ostenburg, field commander Prónay, Capt. Ranzenberger and the rebels. Sigray
immediately turned to Bethlen with a personal letter. “Dear István, the division
of the responsibilities of the chief government commissioner, as governed by
the rules conveyed this morning, makes my position completely untenable to
the degree that I will probably tender my resignation from Sopron, – something
I did not wish to say to you this morning in the presence of others – that is why
I said that the associate (and not subordinate) military commander’s position
will make it very difficult to address the issues, since de facto power is in the
hands of Hegedűs, because without military (…) [illegible word: creativity?
flexibility?] in the present situation makes action impossible.”
Earlier that morning, PM Bethlen redefined the responsibilities of the Chief
Government Commissariat for Western Hungary with regard to the territory to
be handed over. He left Count Sigray in charge of ‘civilian matters, meaning
public administration but took away direction of military and police bodies,
which were assumed by Lt.Gen. Hegedűs. At the same time, both were directly
to report to the Hungarian government, stating: “they should proceed with
complete agreement, support and keep each other informed.” However, “only
Lt.Gen. Hegedűs will maintain contact with the generals of the Allied Mission
in Sopron.” 379 The last instruction showed the refined tactical sense of Bethlen
because Hegedűs, as an army officer, was much better at talking to the high
ranking Entente officers than Sigray, the nobleman-turned-politician. Col.
György Köller was named as chief of staff for Hegedűs; previously he acted as
military advisor beside the Chief Government Commissioner. In the end, Sigray
did not resign his post.
377 Ibid, p. 478.
378 Ibid, p. 459.
379 Ibid, pp. 450–451, 559.
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