page_title: Lajtabánság
section_title: Creation of the Rongyos Gárda
hierarchical_section_title: Lajtabánság / History / Creation of the Rongyos Gárda
caption_attribution_description: English: A portrait of Hungarian paramilitary leader Ivan Héjjas
context_page_description: Lajtabánság or Banate of Leitha was a short-lived western Hungarian state in the region where the Austrian federal state of Burgenland now exists. It existed between October 4 and November 10, 1921, following the Treaty of Trianon and the departure of the rump Kingdom of Hungary's army and after the Sopron plebiscite was held in the area according to the Venice protocol.
  The principal leaders of the state were Pál Prónay, Count Gyula Ostenburg-Moravek and former Hungarian prime minister István Friedrich. Its military was the Rongyos Gárda, recruited from former army soldiers, peasants and students devoted to retaining the region rather than surrender it to Austria.
context_section_description: In 1921, Pál Prónay started to organize a new paramilitary force - the Rongyos Gárda (Tattered/Scrubby Guard). The guard was organized (some sources say that it was organized in secret) and worked with the tacit consent of the Hungarian government. The insurgents were civilians, replacing military caps with a hood, the rim of which was fastened to the top of the hat with a cockade in the national colors of Hungary. The Rongyos Gárda consisted of peasants, college students, decommissioned military officers and Bosnian-Albanian Muslims who fought for the Kingdom of Hungary before Trianon (among them was Major Durics Hilmi Huszein, with nearly 300 associates). Aside from Prónay, Ivan Héjjas was also a major figure and leader of the Rongyos Gárda. Young people from all over Hungary joined the Rongyos Gárda to fight for Western Hungary, but hardly any of them were actually from the region.
  In 1921, Count Gyula Ostenburg-Moravek's hunter-battalion was stationed in Sopron. This unit did not belong to the Rongyos Gárda, but was a part of the Hungarian Army. It a battalion available to be controlled by the Entente committee in Sopron, helping them to control the evacuation and surrender of the area. Aside from this battalion, the Hungarian army did not have any presence in the territory.
caption: Ivan Héjjas, one of the leaders of the Rongyos Gárda
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