October 26–27. Despite the resignation of Ernö Gerö the uprising spreads onto other cities. The Hungarian army units join the insurgents. The communist system ceases to exist in Hungary and the party disintegrates.

October 28. Premier Imre Nagy recognizes the uprising as a national democratic revolution and disbands AVH.

October 30. A Soviet delegation, which arrives in Budapest at night, agrees to the withdrawal of Soviet troops but, simultaneously, the Soviet side is secretly preparing another attack of its armed forces.

Ákos Engelmayer (high school senior):

A group of young insurgents gathered in Szen square near my home. I joined them.

We had to prepare weapons against the Soviet tanks – bottles with gasoline. We obtained the fuel from a drugstore in return for a receipt given to the salesman. Next, I spent some time knocking at the doors of flats in a house built before the war and asking the tenants to give me empty bottles. Every flat was shared by several families. I remember a woman with three children. They lived in poverty and the woman was crying while emptying the bottles that she wanted to give me. They were filled with tomato juice, which she had herself prepared for the winter.

Marian Bielicki (journalist):

After dusk we get to the house where we are to spend the night. [...] A grey-haired elderly lady living on the first floor has learnt about the arrival of Polish visitors and invites us to tea.

The elderly lady says: “Nobody is going to lay down arms until the time that it becomes certain that the Soviet troops will be withdrawn. Everyone says so, both the communists and non-communists. [...] These are Hungarian problems and only the Hungarians can resolve them.”

[...] Outside, in the dark behind our windows, which is swollen with October air, machine guns are cackling, bullets fired from machine carbines are whining and the ground is groaning with the hollow echo of cannon shots. Budapest is fighting; Budapest is bleeding; Budapest knows not the quiet of the night.