24.12.1944
- By 16:00 (Moscow time), after eight hours of intense combat, 18 Tank Corps captured Bicske; all four brigades were involved. The following losses were inflicted to the enemy:
destroyed: 39 tanks, 20 guns, 3 APCs, 21 machineguns, 188 motor vehicles, 4 aircraft, 548 soldiers and officers.
captured: 1 ammunition dump, 108 motor vehicles, 2 tanks, 4 guns
Own losses: 8 T-34S, 1 SU-85, 1 76-mm gun. Further 1 T-34 and 2 SU-85s were damaged.
Personal gratitude from Stalin. (!)
- At 18:30 110 TBr captured Tinnye, where an enemy column coming from Budapest was destroyed. 2 tanks and 4 guns were captured. Several more columns were ambushed and destroyed by the early hours of 25.12.
- Following the capture of Bicske, 181 TBr was replenished with both fuel and ammo and at 24:00 advanced to Zsámbék.
- 170 TBr was replenished too and before midnight captured Many.
25.12.1944
- At 6:00 181 TBr captured Szomor and two hours later - Dág
- At 12:00 110 TBr captured Pilisvörösvár, the mountain pass and two tunnels, thus cutting the main road leading from Budapest to the NW. During the day the brigade, using ambushes, destroyed 3 tanks, 4 guns, 50 motor vehicles and more than 50 soldiers. Another 3 tanks, 5 guns, 20 motor vehicles and 100 men were captured. On that day the brigade suffered no loses.
- At 13:00 181 TBr unsuccessfully attacked Dorog from the south and lost 3 tanks in process. After the arrival of 32 mot.Rifle Brigade and 363 HvySPArtReg the attack was resumed and by 20:00 the settlement was cleared from the enemy, who left there 6 tanks, 8 guns, 3 APCs and 150 soldiers destroyed or killed. Brigade's own losses amounted 4 tanks.
- 170 TBr (with 1438 SPArtReg), having encountered virtually no resistance, managed to capture Sárisáp and Tokod and by 17:00 the brigade's forward detachment reached Tát, where was halted by the enemy. After regrouping, at 18:00 the brigade resumed the attack and by 20:00, after intense street fighting, captured the settlement. 1 enemy gun was destroyed, more than 100 soldiers were killed and another 250 were taken prisoner. Thus the Danube was reached and the IX-SS GebK was blocked from the west.
26.12.1944
- In the early hours of 26.12. 181 TBr, with 32 MRBr, 363 HvySPArtReg and 292 Mort.Reg attacked Lager Esztergom, which was taken by 03:00.
At 8:00 the same group began the attack on the city of Esztergom, where it encountered fierce resistance. The assault was over by 13:00. The following enemy loses were claimed: 8 tanks, 2 guns, 2 APCs and more than 300 soldiers. Moreover, the corps reported the following booty:
15 tanks, 5 railway freight trains cramped with military goods, 200 motor vehicles, 60 motorcycles, 600 bicycles, 8 locomotives, 187 railway wagons, 3 stores of military equipment. 120 officers and men became POWs.
The German documents, (KTB HGr Süd, in particullar) give very brief description of the battle. Nevertheless, they make it clear that on 26.12. Esztergom was defended by the troops of LXXII AK and confirm the destruction of the Danube bridge, which took place at 07:30 (CET) on 26.12.
Abel Ravasz wrote:Divisionsgruppe Pape arrived at Tata - Tatabánya to guard the approaches through the Vértes mountain only between 24-26/12/44.
The Pape Group didn't arrive - it was rather mustered. It emerged on 22 Dec when various troops engaged in the area west Budapest were placed under single command authority - that of General-Major Pape and the his small staff, the Ia-Staffel of Panz.Div Feldherrnhalle supported in the terms of communication by half of the divisional PzNachrAbt. On the next day the Panzerkampfgruppen of 6. and 8.PzD were placed under Pape.