During building armies, painting minis, researching and working on projects my thoughts, from time to time, return to the same idea, that I should make some figs and vehicles as modern Hungarian military and law enforcement units. When I started this blog one of my objectives was to write some posts and build minis in this theme. At the moment I only know the scale, but has no idea about possible scenarios or rules. Maybe writing and researching will help 🙂
So, the first post will be about the Hungarian Defence Forces (Magyar Honvédség) or HDF shortly. As I grew up in a garrison town and being member of the HDF reserve forces I have always been close to the military, which might be an explanation for my recurring thoughts about this topic. Another reason I have started it now is that last week there were some exciting news about new weapon procurements, which I will share in my next post.
Brief history
The birth of the individual Hungarian army was around the end of May 1848, during the Hungarian Revolution and War of Independence. Although it ended with a defeat in 1849, but this idea of having a national armed force came back during the years after it. The name changed many times in connection with the ruling political system, but the number one objective remained the same: the armed defence of the people and territory of Hungary against foreign (and domestic) enemies.
After the fall of the Soviet Union and the dissolution of the Warsaw Pact the Hungarian People’s Army transformed into the HDF. The first challenge of the newly formed army was the war in Yugoslavia, when there was a huge chance that Hungary will be attacked by the Serbs. Some of the units (recon and anti-tank) were deployed to the Southern border, but besides some border and airspace violations, and a bombing of a village (luckily without any casualties) no military operations were carried out against the country. In 1999 NATO started bombing operations in Yugoslavia and Hungary granted airfields and an open airspace to help it.
In the same year Hungary joined the NATO which meant a huge change in the doctrines and military thinking. In 2004 the Parliament suspended compulsory military service and the HDF became a fully professional armed force. The HDF has been taking part in NATO and UN foreign missions in all around the world, some of the notable places are the territory of the late Yugoslavia, Afghanistan, Iraq, Cyprus and Baltic air defence. These missions provided the combat experience for both the individual soldiers and the whole organisation, that was necessary to convert if from a mass army into an effective armed force.
Tasks and duties
The main task of the HDF is to defend the sovereignty and territorial integrity of Hungary, the armed protection of the national airspace and to strengthen the collective defence of the NATO.
In case of disasters, whether natural or industrial, the HDF provides special knowledge, manpower and logistical support for the rescue. For example, during the COVID crisis troops helped in supplying the hospitals, in the disinfection and even in keeping public order on the streets and checking foreign vehicles on transit routes.
If there is an internal conflict, huge national security risk or a terror attack, the Ministry of Interior can officially ask for a kind of military intervention, when armed HDF troops help the work of law enforcement with authorisation to use even deadly force (of course it is a bit more complex legally, but broadly it means what I write down).
Organisational structure
The HDF has a strength around 30.000 personnel (the exact number is classified but it could vary from time to time). The military service is based on volunteering in peace and on compulsory military service during wartimes. Since 2019 the leading organisation is the HDF Command, with the HDF Commander (now a four-star general) in charge. The Commander in Chief is the President of Hungary (or the Home Defence Board in the state of war).
A huge amount of, mostly Soviet, equipment of the HDF from the Cold War era was worn out during the decades and only a portion of it was replaced. In the recent years a huge modernisation has started, which meant that new equipment has been purchased both for ground forces and the air force. It includes new AFVs, APCs, helicopters, the modernisation of Mi-24 attack helicopters and the acquisition of transport planes too. Another aspect of modernisation is the reforming and conversion of certain units. It means that the organisational chart changes quite often, so watch out, you can find out of the date pictures on the net, always check the year of publishing. I don’t really want to go into details about the units in this post, but some of them will be discussed later, when I get there with building and painting the minis.
Besides the professional military units there is a reserve system too. It has three pillars: Defence Reservists, Operational Reservists and Territorial Defence Reservists. The Defence Reservists are kind of like armed security officers, protecting certain sites and garrisons. The Operational ones’ task is to help the professional units with their (civilian) expertise, like engineers, vets, doctors etc, serving within non-reservist units. The Territorial Defence has several units around the country and the units are formed based on the regions where the reservists live (it is like the US National Guard but with less heavy equipment).
What’s next?
So, with this brief initial briefing I start this new project (well, now there is 2 ongoing parallelly, but who counts…). Luckily, I have some paintings ongoing at this very moment plus some time ago purchased minis that could be converted or painted as HDF soldiers. I will not just to try to paint them but also write about the unit they represent. I will also show what is going to be the new stuff in the following years within the HDF. I would envision this enterprise as a side-project running with the others at the same time. It will help to fill the gaps during waiting for the new figs or the return of inspiration. Hope you will join me!
Most of the pictures are from the official website of the HDF.
Sources:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hungarian_Defence_Forces
https://hu.wikipedia.org/wiki/Magyar_Honv%C3%A9ds%C3%A9g#cite_note-1
https://www.iranyasereg.hu/page/tartalekos
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Structure_of_the_Hungarian_Defence_Forces
Minis with moustaches 
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