Miskolc attack (Fall Grün)
From Alternative History
The Miskolc attack was an aerial bombing of the city of Miskolc in the Kingdom of Hungary on October 18, 1938. This attack became the welcomed pretext for the government of Hungary to declare war on the Republic of Czechoslovakia, on October 20, 1938.
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[edit] The attack
According to the official story, on October 18, 1938, eighteen days after Germany attacked Czechoslovakia, three at that time unidentified planes of apparently Czech origin bombed the city, killing and wounding ten people and causing minor material damage.
Three Hungarian CR. 32 fighter planes of was sent up to intercept them, shooting one of the planes down. It was later established that the downed bomber was a Avia B-71 fast bomber of the Czechoslovak Air Force, and bomb shrapnel had clear Czech markings.
[edit] Context
The Miskolc attack was a part of a false flag operation, carried out by Abwehr and Luftwaffe forces, with cooperation of Leutenant Colonel Homlok of the Hungarian General Staff.
In case Hungary should join the Germans in the attack on Czechoslovakia, a casus belli would be needed as a pretext for a Hungarian declaration of war. This conclusion was made due to the fact that territorial claims alone might not be sufficient for an attack on Czechoslovakia. In September 1938 Leutenant Colonel Homlok of the Hungarian General Staff proposed to Colonel Helmuth Groscurth of the Abwehr, that german planes should drop Czech bombs on Hungarian territory, after some of the czech airfields have been captured, in order to create a false flag operation.
During the second week of October 1938, the Germans managed to down two Avia B-71 bombers without inflicting too much damage on them. They were repaired and given command to Luftwaffe pilots under direct command of Hermann Göring and Abwehr. After the airplanes had dropped their bombs, they landed the aircraft and immediately afterwards blew up the planes, to simulate that the planes had exploded after being shot down.
[edit] Aftermath
Hungary immediately condemned the attack, and blamed the Czechs for being responsible. They immediately demanded that Czechoslovakia handed over the border regions of Slovakia and Ruthenia, in which a Hungarian-speaking minority lived. The Czechs denied the accusations, and asked for an investigations from a neutral third party. However, two days after the incident, Hungary declared itself at war with Czechoslovakia.
[edit] See also
 Invasion of Czechoslovakia 
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| Battles: The Border - Ostrava - Karlovy Vary - Otročín - Bezděkov - Želetava - Šumperk - Siege of Plzeň - Ivančice - Otnice, Bošovice and Velké Hostěrádky - Brno - Hungarian offensive - Bratislava - Michalovce - Košice - Frühlingserwachen - Olomouc - Siege of Prague Contemporaneous military operations: Zaolzie - Miskolc bombing - Batarci incident |
