Határvadászok III. : a Magyar Királyság határvédelme 1938-1944

The Hungarian leadership identified the defence of the Eastern border as the protection of the Carpathians which was supposed to be solved with the building of a defensive line, the ‘Árpád line’. The concept of the defensive system was that the directions leading through the Carpathians had to be closed (including mountain passes, canyons and river valleys) which were capable of transportation. These valleys and passable routes all over the country were closed well before the border line with fortifications, which were called valley fastening. A fortress century served in each valley fastening. Between the valley fastenings, where motor vehicles could not pass, border guard legions built defensive lines. The Árpád-line was not ready in the late summer of 1944, in the time of the desertion of Romania. Yet it could held back the monumental attack of the Red Army for a while, until it was rounded from the South by the Soviet troops. This way the further protection became useless and so it lost its significance