THE SITUATION IN HUNGARY (INFORMATION AS OF 2400, 4 NOVEMBER )

Created: 11/4/1956

OCR scan of the original document, errors are possible

HE SITUATION IN HUNGARY (Information asovember)

Fighting continues in Budapest and in certain isolated areas in the provinces, although Soviet troops and theirin the new Hungarian "Workers and Peasants Revolutionary Government" established the morningovember appear to be in control of all border areas and almost all key urban areas. The premier of the new CommunistJanos Kadar, reportedlylate in the dayovember that "armed gangs of rebels are still murdering" and that there was still danger that they might get the upper hand. In mldafternoon of the same day, Soviet aircraft reportedly bombed the western part of Budapest, some hours after Moscow radio had hailed the "crushing" of theand Fascist" forces.

At least seven Soviet divisions areto be engaged in the fighting--two normally stationed in Hungary, two that had been brought In duringctober and three that apparently moved In dur-ing the past several days. gHsaaaaTsaTsaaTsaTMaawaYa) some

ment sincectober as high as twelve divisions. Into Ambassador Boh lens remark on the evening of

that the USSR was still putting troops intoKhrushchev answered that the Soviet Union had enough troops there, but if not, "We will add more and more If necessary."

Fighting continued throughout the day on

and reports of clashes between Soviet andmilitary units are confirmed.

Nov 56

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the immediate mission of their units is toand disarm the Hungarian troops without violence, but in the event of opposition the order appears to be to destroy them. Other reliable reports indicate that the Sovietare under orders not to conduct negotiations, to break opposition ruthlessly, and to disperse the population.

Resistance to the Soviet attack, launched throughout the country at0 hoursovember,was disorganized and conducted largely by irregular forces, including armed workers and students. The Hungarian defense minister and the chief of staff were arrested before the attack began by Soviet officers who had been engaged in negotiations--begun the previous day--wiih themSoviet troop withdrawal. Premier Nagy and most of the ministers in his short-lived coalition government werein the morning when Soviet troops captured thebuilding in central Budapest. Nagy had time only to announce the attack over Budapest radio5 and to appeal desperately for help from the outside world. Virtually all free Hungarian radio stations in the country were in Soviet hands by noon.

The USSR's decision to resume military action against the Hungarian revolt apparently was made onctober after it had become clear that the program of the Nagy regime would result in the severance of close Hungarian ties with Moscow. Mikoyan and Suslov, the two Sovietmost closely concerned with Hungarian developments in the past, arrived in Budapest onctober, perhaps tothis decision to Kadar.

The new Communist government headed by Kadar was formed coincidentally with the Soviet attackovember; one of its first acts was to appeal for Soviet armed assistance to put down the "counterrevolution" of the "sinister forces ofevertheless Kadar,peechssailed the "Rakosi-Gero clique" forof legality, promised to carryationalGomulka-like program and, after calm is restored, to negotiate with the USSR and other Warsaw pact states for the withdrawal of Soviet troops from Hungary.

The fate of Hungarian political leaders who during the past week had declared themselves in open

4 NovIntelligence4

opposlt Ion to both the USSR and to Communism at home ls Cardinal Mindszenty, however, has received political asylum In the American legation In Budapest and Social Democratic leader Ana Kethely was safe in Austria when the Soviet forces attacked.

Reaction to the Soviet move elsewhere ln the Soviet bloc has included echoes of the Moscow line from all Satellite capitals and from Peiping. Yugoslavia has also accepted the USSR's interpretation of Hungarian developments with virtually no reservations. Socialist party leader Nenni ln Italy, however, has condemned the Soviet move. Accordingome broadcast, Nenni statedovember that the USSR's substitution of force and power for proletarian internationalism ls unacceptable and expressed the hope that the Soviet Union will reconsider its xove, withdraw its troops, and recognize Hungary's

Original document.

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