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27th Székely Light Division

Under the terms of the Second Vienna Award, concluded on 30 August 1940, Hungary acquired from Romania northern and eastern Transylvania. The Hungarian troops took possession of the re-annexed territory of about 43,000 square kilometres gradually, between 5 and 13 September 1940. The territorial gain put the Hungarian military command in a new situation, since the military administration of the re-annexed territory had to be organised.

In November 1940, in the course of the establishment of military structure in northern Transylvania, a new army corps headquarters was set up in Kolozsvár, subordinated to the 1st Army. The IX Corps comprised the 25th Infantry Brigade in Nagyvárad, the 26th in Dés and the 27th in Marosvásárhely. After the inhabitants of the eastern Transylvanian recruiting districts, the 27th Infantry Brigade and all its subordinated units were authorised to use the attributive 'Székely'. On 15 November 1940, General (later Field Marshal) Ferenc Kolthay was appointed the commander of the brigade.

Subordinate to the 27th Infantry Brigade, the 27th Infantry Regiment was set up in the Gábor Bethlen Street barracks in Marosvásárhely, based on the rifle and machine-gun companies of six border rifle battalions and their subordinate units. In addition to the infantry, the border rifle batteries of the occupation troops were formed into the 27th Field Artillery Battalion, which was also subordinated to the 27th Infantry Brigade. From 12 February 1942, the infantry brigades comprising two regiments were labelled as light divisions and their structure of battle went through certain changes, too. They were enlarged by subdivisions, such as bicycle and hussar platoons and an auxiliary light artillery battery, all being directly subordinated to the regiment.

The Székely Light Division's 27/2nd Light Artillery Battery went off to the eastern front at the end of May 1942, and was fighting there for almost a year. On 22 March 1944, the entire division was mobilised and in April, as the original subordination of the division came to an end, it became subordinated to the VI Corps, which was engaged in fighting at the eastern theatre of operations.

During five months of frontline service at the eastern front, nearly 400 soldiers of the 27th Székely Light Division were killed in action, many of them in the offensive at the end of April 1944, others in the course of the defence operations near Kosow and Horod at the end of June and near Delatyn and Mikuliczyn at the turn of July and August. The fallen were buried in war cemeteries raised inside and around the small villages behind the lines of the light division, either separately or in mass graves, when heavy casualties demanded it. Several Székely soldiers were laid to rest in such cemeteries in Horod, Jaworow, Krzyworownia, Szeszory, Sokolowka, Tudiow, Worochta, Jasienow Gorny, Zabie and Mikuliczyn.