Géza Butyka

Géza Butyka was born on 15 January 1921 in Apcon, his father was a teacher. After graduating from the Ludovika Academy, he was promoted to the rank of armoured lieutenant in 1943. In August 1944, he was transferred to the 1/II Tank Battalion as a telegraph officer. In the fighting in the Lowlands his tank was shot down and he was subsequently transferred to the platoon section. At the beginning of January 1945 he and his platoon separated from his unit and from then on he did not take part in any combat activity. At the beginning of February he changed into civilian clothes and reported for duty with the Soviet troops on the 11th. He became deputy commander of the 4th Hungarian Company and with the company took part in the liquidation of breakout . He was subsequently drafted to Kelenvölgy with several other Hungarian companies, and on 2 March 1945 was transported to Jászberény, where he took over guard duty at the POW camp on 19 March, turning the POWs into free soldiers. In the 1st Infantry Division organised here, he was given the rank of assistant officer in the 1st/II Battalion. They left for Austria in early May, but were not deployed (his 1953 autobiography says that 'the government of the day delayed our equipment' - not true at all, but politically he looked good). He was active politically alongside the MP in the 1947 elections. After completing three months of party school, he became assistant officer to the commander of the border guard, Major General Mihály Szalvay, and secretary of the party organisation of the border guard headquarters. Between 1949 and 1950, he completed the Higher Armoured School in Leningrad, where he was trained as a staff officer in armoured divisions. Later, he was transferred to the Mátyás Rákosi Armoured Officers School in Tata, where he was head of the combat department from 1955. However, he was subsequently transferred to a much lower post. Of the personnel discussed here, he was the only Ludovico officer to be retained in the army until his retirement.

On 11 February 1947 he was awarded the Budapest Medal of Merit, in 1948 the bronze degree of the Republican Medal of Merit and the 48th Medal of Honour, in 1955 the Distinguished Service Medal, in 1974 the Hungarian Partisan Medal, and on his retirement the gold degree of the Medal of Merit for Service to the Homeland. Despite 32 years of service, he was not promoted to colonel.

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