KISKA

KISKA (Kisegitő Karhatalmi Alakulat) was a force attached to the Royal Hungarian Army during the brief period of Arrow Cross Party rule late in World War II. 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. There was generally one KISKA battalion in each city and university. The force numbered some 7,000 noncombatants, mostly recruited from Budapest. It was jointly controlled by the Ministry of War and the Ministry of the Interior. The purpose of KISKA was to secure the hinterland. It was rapidly infiltrated by dissenters, deserters, leftists and Jews, becoming in effect "the legal cover of the organisations of resistance". It was regarded as a nuisance by the Germans. It was finally dissolved by the Arrow Cross government on 6 January 1945.