One of Bory Jenő’s most important military memorials is the ‘69th Forward!’ Memorial in Székesfehérvár, erected in memory of soldiers of the Imperial and Royal 69th Infantry Regiment (popularly known as the 69th Hindenburg Infantry Regiment) who fell in the First World War. It is one of the city’s most important war memorial sites, preserving both the history of the Székesfehérvár regiment and the memory of fallen honvéd soldiers.
The idea of erecting the memorial arose directly after the war, but financial difficulties impeded its realisation for many years. Former comrades and the memorial committee organised a nationwide collection and charitable events to raise the necessary sum. The statue was finally unveiled in 1931, on the anniversary of the Battle of Montello, at a large ceremony attended by military, political and diplomatic dignitaries.
The one-and-a-half-times-life-size bronze statue depicts a honvéd charging forward. The soldier’s advancing movement expresses the strength and momentum of attack, while he passes a fallen comrade. The regiment’s former war badge provided the basis for the composition, so the work is not merely a general military memorial but directly relates to the unit’s traditions and identity. Its brief but highly expressive inscription, ‘69th Forward!’, evokes the regiment’s battle cry.
The work is notable not only for its sculptural figure. Bronze reliefs and inscriptions on the two sides of the base list the regiment’s principal theatres of war and battles. A longer commemorative text on the reverse dedicates the work to comrades fallen in the war of 1914–1918 and records the regiment’s history. Particularly interesting is the time-capsule-like set of documents placed inside the base: the regiment’s diary, an account of the Battle of Montello and a register containing more than 3,600 names of fallen soldiers. These documents reappeared when the memorial was moved in 1975.
The memorial has had a turbulent history. It was first moved from its original site in the early 1940s because of the construction of Balatoni út and utility works, and moved again in 1975 owing to increased traffic. The front of the base originally bore a bronze portrait relief of Field Marshal Hindenburg, removed in 1949. The missing relief was remade by sculptor-restorer Balázs Kocsis and returned to the memorial in 2010. The entire work was restored for the First World War centenary and ceremonially unveiled again in 2017.
Art-historically, the ‘69th Forward!’ Memorial exemplifies a characteristic feature of Bory Jenő’s memorial sculpture. The sculptor put not grief or loss but heroic steadfastness and the will to advance at its centre. Its dynamic movement, monumental scale and emphasis on military virtues make it a characteristic work of Hungarian memorial sculpture between the two world wars. At the same time, the list of names and documents hidden in the base recall that behind the heroic ideal lay the personal sacrifice of thousands.
Today this memorial is not only one of Bory Jenő’s most important First World War works, but also one of Székesfehérvár’s most significant public memorials of its military past. A plaster relief version (23 × 34 cm) can also be seen at Bory-vár.