Operation Panzerfaust
On 9 October 1944, Admiral Miklós Horthy, Regent of Hungary, a German ally, announced the conclusion of a separate peace with the Soviets. Veesenmayer and Rahn persuaded Colonel Ferenc Szálasi to form a new National Assembly at Esztergom, and together Veesenmayer and Rahn visited Horthy, telling him his son Miklós was a Gestapo hostage, having been kidnapped by German commandos led by Otto Skorzeny. On 15 October Germany launched Operation Panzerfaust, to remove Horthy from power, and on 17 October Horthy agreed to appoint a new pro-German Government of National Unity led by the fascist Arrow Cross Party.