- Košice attack
The Košice attack was the
June 26 ,1941 aerial bombing of thecity of Kassa, today Košice (Slovakia ), then a part of Hungary. This attack became the welcomed pretext for the government of Hungary to declare war on theSoviet Union , on27 June 1941 .On June 26, 1941, four days after Germany attacked the Soviet Union in violation of the Molotov-Ribbentrop non-aggression treaty, three unidentified planes of apparently Soviet origin bombed the city, killing and wounding over a dozen people and causing minor material damage.
The true identity of the attacking nation has never been established. The official explanation preferred by Soviet historians was the idea of a attack by Germany to provoke Hungary into attacking the Soviet Union, employing Soviet planes captured on conquered airfields. Another possibility is that the Soviet
bomber s mistook Košice for a nearby city in theFirst Slovak Republic , which was already at war with the Soviet Union.After the incident Hungary declared itself at war with the Soviet Union.
Links
* [http://fotokosice.eu/thumbnails.php?album=search&search=bombardovanie&lang=english_gb Photos from 26 June 1941 (Damaged houses and post office)]
ource
*"New Twist to an Old Riddle: The Bombing of Kassa (Košice), June 26, 1941," Journal of Modern History, Vol. 44, No. 2, (June 1972), pp. 232-42.
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