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Owen · 11-10-2007, 12:11 AM

Not wishing for another battle like Stalingrad the Soviets hoped to by-pass Budapest.
Malinovsky and Tolbukhin didn't want to fight in a European city with a population of 1 million .
Budapest tied down 15 Soviet and 3 Romanian divisions.
On 29th December the Soviet Command with Stalin's agreement called upon the garrison of Budapest to surrender.
The Hungarians would be released and the Germans repatriated straight after the war ended.
Two Soviet groups were sent to parley, one on the Pest side and The Florian Geyer were involved in the parley on the Buda side.
The Soviet delegates were blindfolded and taken to the Florian Geyer's CP on Gellert-hegy Hill.
Ostapenko the Soviet delegate handed the ultimatium over to the most senior German officer who contacted the Commander of German forces in Buda.
Ostapenko then spent about an hour having an informal chat with the German staff officers.
The Germans did not accept the terms so after the Germans gave the Soviets a drink of soda water they blindfolded them and lead them by the arm to a car.
The delegates soon reached the front line and were recieved by SS Scharfuhrer Josef Bader of the 8th SS Cavalry Division.
He states
My commander ordered me to take the delegates back to no-man's land where I had first met them. We walked . The closer we got to the front lines the more intense the Soviet shelling became, although a few hours before, when the delegates arrived, it had died down completey. Now they were battering our first lines again. I suggested to the Soviet captain (who spoke flawless German) that we should halt and wait for the shelling to stop before we continued. I also said that I couldn't understand why his people were firing so heavily on our postions although they must have known that their delegates had not yet returned. But the captain said that he had strict orders to return to his people as soon as possible. I ordered the group to stop , took off their blindfolds and told them I had no intention of comitting suicide and was not going any further. I let them cross the no-man's land. I must stress that nobody on our side fired. The pause in the firing was complete , and one could only hear the detonations of the enemy shells. The group started to cross a little square. When they had gone about 50 metres a shell struck from the side. I threw myself flat on my stomach. When I looked up I could see only two soldiers walking on. The third was lying motionless in the road.

It was Ostapenko who was killed.

After the war the Soviets tried to say Ostapenko had been murdered by Captain Erich Klein of I Artillery Battalion of the Feldherrnhalle Division. In 1948 he was even tortured , he refused to plead guilty. At first sentenced to death for the "murder" , it was changed to 25 years. He was released in 1953. In 1993 the Russian military prosecutor rehabilitated him, confirming the charge was pure fiction.

11-10-2007, 12:11 AM	#11 (permalink)
Owen Top Moose Join Date: Dec 2005 Location: Under the stairs Posts: 9,057	Not wishing for another battle like Stalingrad the Soviets hoped to by-pass Budapest. Malinovsky and Tolbukhin didn't want to fight in a European city with a population of 1 million . Budapest tied down 15 Soviet and 3 Romanian divisions. On 29th December the Soviet Command with Stalin's agreement called upon the garrison of Budapest to surrender. The Hungarians would be released and the Germans repatriated straight after the war ended. Two Soviet groups were sent to parley, one on the Pest side and The Florian Geyer were involved in the parley on the Buda side. The Soviet delegates were blindfolded and taken to the Florian Geyer's CP on Gellert-hegy Hill. Ostapenko the Soviet delegate handed the ultimatium over to the most senior German officer who contacted the Commander of German forces in Buda. Ostapenko then spent about an hour having an informal chat with the German staff officers. The Germans did not accept the terms so after the Germans gave the Soviets a drink of soda water they blindfolded them and lead them by the arm to a car. The delegates soon reached the front line and were recieved by SS Scharfuhrer Josef Bader of the 8th SS Cavalry Division. He states My commander ordered me to take the delegates back to no-man's land where I had first met them. We walked . The closer we got to the front lines the more intense the Soviet shelling became, although a few hours before, when the delegates arrived, it had died down completey. Now they were battering our first lines again. I suggested to the Soviet captain (who spoke flawless German) that we should halt and wait for the shelling to stop before we continued. I also said that I couldn't understand why his people were firing so heavily on our postions although they must have known that their delegates had not yet returned. But the captain said that he had strict orders to return to his people as soon as possible. I ordered the group to stop , took off their blindfolds and told them I had no intention of comitting suicide and was not going any further. I let them cross the no-man's land. I must stress that nobody on our side fired. The pause in the firing was complete , and one could only hear the detonations of the enemy shells. The group started to cross a little square. When they had gone about 50 metres a shell struck from the side. I threw myself flat on my stomach. When I looked up I could see only two soldiers walking on. The third was lying motionless in the road. It was Ostapenko who was killed. After the war the Soviets tried to say Ostapenko had been murdered by Captain Erich Klein of I Artillery Battalion of the Feldherrnhalle Division. In 1948 he was even tortured , he refused to plead guilty. At first sentenced to death for the "murder" , it was changed to 25 years. He was released in 1953. In 1993 the Russian military prosecutor rehabilitated him, confirming the charge was pure fiction. Last edited by Owen; 11-10-2007 at 12:19 AM.