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Just after lunchtime, on June 26, 1941, three unidentified planes appeared in the clear skies above the Hungarian city of Kassa (today Kosice, Slovakia). They soon let loose a stream of bombs on the unsuspecting city, civilians ran for cover as the bombs exploded. In just a few minutes the attack was over, over a dozen people had been wounded and some minor damage had been sustained at several buildings, most prominently the post office. It was a quick strike, over with almost as fast as it had occurred. Yet though the bombing may have been brief, its ramifications were long lasting. The next day, Hungary declared war on the Soviet Union, ostensibly over the attack.
Was questioned as to whether it was a conspiracy formulated and carried out by the Germans, an attack by the Soviets or perhaps even the Romanians.
The official explanation preferred by Soviet historians was the idea of a feigned attack by Germany to provoke Hungary into attacking the Soviet Union, employing Soviet planes captured on conquered airfields. Another possibility is that the Soviet bombers mistook Kassa for a nearby city in the First Slovak Republic, which was already at war with the Soviet Union. Colonel Ãdám Krúdy, the commander of the Kassa military airfield, identified the attackers as German Heinkel He 111 bombers in his official report but was ordered to keep silent about it.
Finally the historians Iván Pataki, László Rozsos and Gyula Sárhidai concluded Soviet aircraft attacked the city by mistake while targeting a German radio station in the city of Prešov (Eperjes), Slovakia, about 30 kilometers north of Kassa. All three bombers aimed at the post office building which had a large radio antenna on its roof. After releasing a total of 29 bombs, one of the planes dropped a single bomb outside the city which did not explode; it was recovered and identified as a 105 kg Soviet bomb. According to this explanation, Krúdy misidentified three Soviet TB-3 bombers as German He 111s, but the suggestion that this identification was "hushed up" represented post-war Communist propaganda.
Was questioned as to whether it was a conspiracy formulated and carried out by the Germans, an attack by the Soviets or perhaps even the Romanians.
The official explanation preferred by Soviet historians was the idea of a feigned attack by Germany to provoke Hungary into attacking the Soviet Union, employing Soviet planes captured on conquered airfields. Another possibility is that the Soviet bombers mistook Kassa for a nearby city in the First Slovak Republic, which was already at war with the Soviet Union. Colonel Ãdám Krúdy, the commander of the Kassa military airfield, identified the attackers as German Heinkel He 111 bombers in his official report but was ordered to keep silent about it.
Finally the historians Iván Pataki, László Rozsos and Gyula Sárhidai concluded Soviet aircraft attacked the city by mistake while targeting a German radio station in the city of Prešov (Eperjes), Slovakia, about 30 kilometers north of Kassa. All three bombers aimed at the post office building which had a large radio antenna on its roof. After releasing a total of 29 bombs, one of the planes dropped a single bomb outside the city which did not explode; it was recovered and identified as a 105 kg Soviet bomb. According to this explanation, Krúdy misidentified three Soviet TB-3 bombers as German He 111s, but the suggestion that this identification was "hushed up" represented post-war Communist propaganda.