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

were made up of about 20,000 armed men. However, a good third of this
strength were local irregulars, of negligible military value, newly released
Orthodox Serb prisoners of war, forcibly recruited farmers, shepherds and
“Bunyevci peasants [Roman Catholics of Croatian origins] who had a Serbian
cap put on their heads.” The Serb military command quickly armed them with
weapons and ammunition left behind by the Austro-Hungarian armies and sent
them across the Száva (Sava) River to occupy the Szerémség (Syrmia), part of
Croatia-Slavonia, an associated country with Hungary. However, the forces
available were not adequate to achieve the Serbian objectives. In early
November, the Entente forces in the Balkans were far from Hungary’s southern
border and, in any case, were undergoing a process of replenishment of ranks.
The ranks of the Serbian army only reached a strength of 30,000 six months
later. The following data were recounted by Vilmos Böhm, at the time one of
the armed forces commissars of the Hungarian Soviet Republic and the
commander of the Hungarian Red Army: During the second half of May, 1919,
in the southern sector, under the high command in Eszék (Osijek), three
divisions of the Serbian Army (Drina, Morava, Duna) were stationed (21,500
infantry, 1,300 cavalry and 54 artillery pieces), while in the Muraköz
(Medimurje) sector, a further division with approx. 7,000–7,200 men. 55
On the other side of the equation, the Károlyi government could have
fielded a force of 200,000 to 300,000 men, mainly Hungarians and Rusyns, to
oppose the attack on Hungary, which was comprised of about 4,000 Czech-
Slovak, 4-5,000 Romanian and approx. 20,000 Serbian forces. A total of
perhaps 28-29,000 in all. Since he failed to do so, Mihály Károlyi, the ‘Red
count’ and his associates have – as we have already written – committed the
crime of treason.
55 Böhm, op. cit., pp. 280–281.
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