The Battle of Budapest is one of the bloodiest urban battles in Europe in World War II. According to Soviet statistics, the Red Army suffered 240056 wounded and 80,026 dead during sieges and related operations (including against German siege relief forces). The 80,026 deaths were equivalent to half of the total number of deaths of the Red Army in Hungary (the Hungarian border established in 1946, which is today's border).
That is to say, one out of every two Red Army soldiers who died in Hungary died for Budapest. The situation was similar for material losses. According to Soviet historical records, the Battle of Budapest began on October 29, 1944, and lasted for 108 days. During this period, Malinovsky's 2nd Ukrainian Front and Tolbukhin's 3rd Ukrainian Front lost a total of 135,100 pieces of light weapons, 1,766 tanks and self-propelled guns, 4,127 guns, and 293 aircraft.
Soviet statistics attributed all the losses of the 2nd Ukrainian Front (29 October 1944 to 13 February 1945) and the 3rd Ukrainian Front (12 December 1944 to 13 February 1945) to the Battle of Budapest, although some of the operations took place in the areas of Elch, Hautvan or Grand Bauyom. It is therefore difficult to compare the losses of the Soviets and Germans, not to mention that the loss figures of the Germans and The Hungarians are also very rough.
According to hungarian scholars' calculations, 25 percent of the Casualties associated with Budapest by the Red Army came from the Siege Relief Operation, 55 percent from the Urban War itself, and 20 percent from other operations, which the Germans and Hungarians did not consider to be directly related to the Battle of Budapest. In the battles on Hungarian territory under the Treaty of Trianon, 382 came to the autumn with the title of "Hero of the Soviet Union", of which 276 were honored with specific locations; Of these 276 men, the number of Red Army officers and men who participated in the operations in budapest or its environs was staggeringly higher, especially in the battle of Elch's forced crossing of the Danube, and as many as 115 were awarded the title of "Hero of the Soviet Union"
The losses of the Germans and Hungarians can only be roughly estimated, because we do not know whether the Huns were included in the siege, which caused an error of about 10%. The combined german and Hungarian casualties would not exceed 60% of the Red casualties, although almost all of the defenders were lost. Adding to the complexity of the calculations, many troops were transferred to or from the capital from November 1944 until the siege was completed. According to the available incomplete war reports and the author's calculations, the German and Hungarian casualties totaled 137,000, of which about 26,000 were wounded, 48,000 were killed, and 63,000 were captured; The Red Army and the Luo army suffered a total of 280,000 casualties, of which 202,000 were wounded, 70,000 died, and 8,000 were captured.
A large number of Red Troops moved to Budapest, allowing the Germans to temporarily barely maintain several other collapsing fronts in Hungary. Even after Christmas 1944, it was only because the Hungarian capital contained a large number of Red Army that the German army could hold the Outer Danube region, otherwise it would have been crushed by the superior strength of the Red Army. As reinforcements arrived and the German front was strengthened, Budapest quickly lost its meaning as a fortress that had to be defended at all costs.
Moreover, due to the problem of supply, the defenders could not even exert their combat effectiveness commensurate with their strength. For example, by the end of the first few weeks of siege, they were out of heavy weapons. After the failure of the siege, the situation was clear, and the price of stabilizing the front line by the end of December was that all the equipment of the German army equivalent to 4 divisions was lost, and nearly 100,000 German and Hungarian soldiers died, which could not be replenished.
As a result, the German top brass could only gain favourable conditions from the siege in a very short period of time. But the Germans continued this strategy until the end. On three occasions, the Germans concentrated large reserves to prepare for a counterattack, but all lost the opportunity because of the Red Army's preemptive strike.
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Reference "The Siege of Budapest"