KISKA
KISKA
Hungarian armed organization during World War II
KISKA (Hungarian: Kisegitő Karhatalmi Alakulat)[1] was a force attached to the Royal Hungarian Army during the brief period of Arrow Cross Party rule late in World War II.[2] KISKA was activated by the Arrow Cross after the German takeover on 15 October 1944 and had replaced the Home Guard (Nemzetőrség) by early November.[3] There was generally one KISKA battalion in each city and university.[2] The force numbered some 7,000 noncombatants, mostly recruited from Budapest.[2][4] It was jointly controlled by the Ministry of War and the Ministry of the Interior.[3] The purpose of KISKA was to secure the hinterland.[5] It was rapidly infiltrated by dissenters, deserters, leftists and Jews,[4][5] becoming in effect "the legal cover of the organisations of resistance".[6] It was regarded as a nuisance by the Germans.[4] It was finally dissolved by the Arrow Cross government on 6 January 1945.[2]