On the Flank

The long Russian line across Hungary swung inexorably north. Budapest held with German-made firmness; Red Army units which advanced to its outskirts three weeks before had gone no farther. But eastward Marshal Rodion Y. Malinovsky's divisions snapped railroads and highways one by one, captured town after town, reached to within 23 miles of the Slovakian border. Budapest was being flanked.

Whether the Russians were holding off direct attack to save the city or save their troops, no one could tell. But the Germans said Budapest would never be declared an open city, announced they would "defend it street by street without regard to consequences to the city or its population." The Hungarian puppet Government echoed them uneasily, prodded its soldiers with promises. Said the War Minister: troops will receive higher pay, postwar jobs, and "I have every hope that every fighting man will be provided with adequate warm clothing."

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