Page 312 - Conflitti Militari e Popolazioni Civili - Tomo I

312 XXXIV Congresso della CommIssIone InternazIonale dI storIa mIlItare • CIHm

Deserters, who called themselves “The Green Cadre”, were organised in gangs and obtained
their weapons from the military units that were sent to confront them. Their supplies were
provided by the local population, whom they defended against requisition in several plac-
es. There were lots of deserters hiding in Budapest, in Debrecen, in the Hungarian Plain,
35
and in the regions of Szeged and Szabadka (Subotica), too. In the capital and its environs, the
number of deserters was an estimated 50,000 from March 1918 to the end of the war. 36
During the first three months of 1918, 45,000 deserters were arrested in Hungary. At the
end of the summer of 1918, their number reached 70,000 in Croatia and Bosnia; 60,000 in
Hungary; and totalled 230,000 in the entire Monarchy. In accordance with the martial law,
which came into force on 1 June, deserters had to be severely punished, as well as those civil-
ians that hid them. 37
In August 1918, 49,921 soldiers were missing from the body of the infantry, 28,787 of
whom were deserters; 16,162 were former prisoners-of-war who had not joined the army
again; and 4,972 were arbitrarily absent. 38
In the early autumn of 1918, the number of deserters hiding in the hinterland was estimat-
ed at 600-800,000. To reduce that number, the supreme command deployed the policing
39
troops to carry out raids against the deserters. After the mutiny in Pécs, policing troops were
reinforced in the region of Újvidék (Novi Sad) in particular. In the course of a major raid,
which was carried out together with the gendarmerie between 10 and 20 June, 4,200 soldiers
(most of them serving in the units of the field army) were deployed between the Danube and
Tisza rivers. Altogether 11,016 people were arrested in the Bačka, 5,070 of whom were de-
serters; 9 people were killed and another five seriously injured. 40
The Royal Hungarian 40th Infantry Division, which was under the command of Lieuten-
ant General Pál Nagy and had carried out requisitioning tasks in Croatia since March, was
primarily deployed to patrol and carry out raids against deserters from June. On the first oc-
casion on 22 June, the battalions only combed the vicinity of their garrisons. 30 companies
took part in the action and arrested 268 people. (134 of those arrested were former soldiers of
the “common” army, 69 used to serve in the Royal Hungarian Army, 54 were of military age,
and 11 had escaped from Russian captivity.) One man was killed and another injured. In the
course of the second patrol between 23 and 30 June, 21 companies were deployed and 311
people were arrested in Szerém County. On the occasion of a minor raid on 27 June, seven
companies caught 93 people. At the same time the number of deserters hiding in Croatia was
estimated at 100,000 people. During the summer raids carried out against deserters and
41
“The Green Cadre”, more than 10,000 people were arrested in the territory of Hungary. 42
At the end of July, the 22nd Infantry Regiment of the Royal Hungarian 38th Infantry Divi-

35 Farkas: 97.
36 Farkas: 98; Tóth: 102.
37 Plaschka, Haselsteiner and Suppan. Vol. II: 100-101.
38 Ibid: 70.
39 Tóth: 104.
40 Plaschka, Haselsteiner and Suppan. Vol. II: 95-97.
41 Ibid: 72-74.
42 Ibid: 95-97.