Rongyos Gárda

The "Rongyos Gárda" (Hungarian pronunciation: [ˈroɲɟoʃ ˈɡaːrdɒ], Scrubby or Ragged Guards) were a non-regular paramilitary unit in Hungary, active in 1921 then reestablished in 1938.

The Treaties of Trianon and Saint-Germain, which concluded the First World War, awarded a stretch of land (Burgenland) with mixed Hungarian but mainly ethnic German population to Austria.

However, during August 1921 when Austrian police and customs officers attempted to occupy the area, their efforts were thwarted by armed resistors organised by the Rongyos Gárda.

The Guards were a militia of Hungarian volunteers, many of them former soldiers of the anti-communist detachments that fought alongside Horthys National Army.

Since then Sopron has been called Civitas Fidelissima ("The Most Loyal Town", Hungarian: A Leghűségesebb Város), and the anniversary of the plebiscite is a city holiday.