How effective were the minor allies of Germany in WWII?

you have to know that the Hungarian Army was weaponless before WWII. Hungary was not allowed to raise an army after the lost WWI. it only had an army of voulenteers but the amount of the voulenteers was strictly regulated, as the use and store of weapons. this changed only in 1938 (Bled agreement), where the states of the little Entente allowed Hungary to raise and keep an army. in exchange Hungary promised not to use this army to regain territory from its neighbours.

at the start of 1940 Hungary still had a small, ill equipped and untrained army, what was not a real threat to anyone. also Hungary's foreign policy was to stay military neutral. the PM did not allowed german troops to use the rail system, refused to declare war on Great Britain, and Hungary was represented with minimal troops in operation Barbarossa.

to counter the loss in the failed operation Barbarossa, Germany asked more support from his allies, including Hungary. after the suicide of the PM and the Bombing of Kassa, and after all their neighbours started supporting Germany, Hungary declared war on the Soviet Union, the US and on Great Britain, and sent the 2nd Hungarian Army to assist his allies near Stalingrad, what - with its 200.000 man - was roughly the 1/3 of the whole Hungarian Army.

even the deployment went rough, and some troops had to march more hundreds or even a thousand kilometrers to get to their posts. and as they finally arrived they started to attack the soviet beach heads on the west side of the Don and were able to repel some of the better equipped soviet forces.

the hungarian troops had only a 4 week training, their supply lines were cut, they had no winter clothing in the -25 Celsius, they had no anti tank weapons and had to guard a very long part of the frontline with very few man, what made their ranks loose, so morale was very low. their original gaol was to secure the supply lines and bridges behind the germans, but soon they were sent to guard the wide frontline, where they had the command to "hold out till the end".

the 2nd Army is probably the best known hungarian wartime army, because it was almost completely destroyed in the Disaster of Don (new recruits, the lack of supply, constantly changing the officers, counter operation Uranus, Saturn, little Saturn). this was the biggest military loss in the history of Hungary.

despite that the soviet regime prohibited the mourning of the soldiers for the next 50 years, every soldier who died in the Don was declared a war hero, and statues were erected in their honor in every single village and city in Hungary with all the names of the soldiers who never got home.

after the breakthrough on the eastern front Hungary ordered the 1st Army's leaders to start planning the defense of Hungary and the Carpathians along the newly built Árpád-line. The soviet forces were unable to breach through this line - and later historians testified it was unbreachable - however Romania's defeat made the Soviet army possible to go around and get behind the Árpád-line with little resistance. so the 1st Army disbanded and regrouped in the western parts of Hungary.

with all their allies gone, fearing that Hungary will switch side aswell, the German Army occupied Hungary (operation Margarethe) in the last year of war and gained control of the remaining army. this made Hungary the last ally of Germany, what lasted to the end of WWII.

during this occupation Hungary witnessed its biggest tank battle, the Battle of Debrecen. the Red army won, but the Germans - with hungarian help - successfully delayed the offensive of the 2nd Ukranian front, and won some time to prepare for the Siege of Budapest. a book in this topic.

the Red Army arrived to Budapest and encircled the capital, sealed the ~35.000 german and ~35.000 hungarian soldiers and 800.000 civilians. and so began one of the longest and deadliest siege in WWII, the Siege of Budapest. during this time the Hungarian Army was led by german commanders, it lost its original formation and was used to fill up holes in the German Army defending Budapest. the battle was fierce and the defending forces were eliminated. in their last effort to break out from the siege more thousand soldiers died in a single day. to remember their efforts we have the Day of Honor on the 12th of february.

edit: will remove typos someday