The attack in the Heinrich Major area was continued but cost several tanks and self-propelled guns. Technology By 15 April, the depleted German 6th Army was north of Graz, facing the Soviet 26th and 27th Armies. Italy (Spring 1945) Seven infantry divisions were holding the front line between the lakes and four more, one of which was in Army reserve, were sited in depth between Sarbogard, Mezkomarom, and the southeast edge of Lake Balaton. In early 1945, the Fhrer launched his final offensive operationin Hungary. The II SS Panzer Corps final assembly area was just to the south of Szkesfehrvar and its initial mission was to establish a bridgehead over the Danube between Dunaujvaros and Dunafldvar, some 60 kilometers away. Territorial changes of Germany [26] Almost all support units of the 6th SS Panzer Army were pulled from the Ardennes by 22 January, while the 9th SS Panzer Division was the last to leave on 23 January. Behind them stood the Sixth Guards Tank Army, and on their northern flank another army waited to join in the offensive. Meanwhile, the 23rd Panzer Division had managed to clear Saregres on the Sarviz River, but a subsequent attempt to force a crossing of the canal near Cece failed in the face of tenacious resistance. [23], Tolbukhin's 3rd Ukrainian Front had 5 Armies plus 1 Air Army, in addition it also had the 1st Bulgarian Army[56] with the 3rd Yugoslav Partisan Army also partaking in the defense. [61] Each anti-tank position had 8-16 artillery guns and a similar number of anti-tank guns. Project Hula Syria and Lebanon [23] On 20 January, Hitler ordered Von Rundstedt to withdraw forces from the ongoing Battle of the Bulge; the 1st SS, 2nd SS and 12th SS Divisions managed to disengage and withdraw the same day. Prisoners taken during Operation Southwind testified that the Germans were in fact preparing to gather a large offensive force. Budapest [30] The commander of Army Group South, Otto Whler, chose Lsung B. Artillery Regiment (SU-100), 1821st Self-prop. white, 135th Tank Brigade (T-34/85, markings: -in diamond- and xx, e.g. Manchuria Lend-Lease Lots of variety in German divisions; King Tigers, Waffen SS, Panzer Grenadier, Mark IV, Stug III, Motorized infantry, Mountain Infantry, as well as Hungarian and Croatian Infantry. [41] Some units necessary for the major offensive did not arrive in Hungary until just a few days before its start, the last being the 9th SS Panzer Division Hohenstaufen arriving in Gyr at the beginning of March. On 19 March, the Red Army recaptured the last territories lost during the 13day Axis offensive. It took place in Hungary on the Eastern Front. [43], Prior to these measures, on 30 January, 1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte was ordered to follow many of the same secrecy measures, including the temporary removal of their cuff titles.[44]. Conducted from March 6-16, 1945, Spring Awakening's objective was to secure oil fields southwest of Lake Balaton. Warsaw, Lodz, and Cracow had fallen, and a Soviet Army had entered East Prussia. Turning fuel on, makes the game logistically more difficult, and more historically accurate. The entire landscape was a morass of mud, and it was soon clear that it would be impossible to launch the divisions panzer regiment. Spring evokes this moment of helplessness during puberty that it is also the time of discoveries. When withdrawing from the Western Front, elements of the III. Utilizing the last of the panzer divisions, Operation Spring Awakening will try to drive the Red Army back over the Danube and secure Germany's remaining oil supply; without it, the war will be over. Comparative military ranks The Third Ukrainian Front commander reasoned that if and when the Germans attacked they would be sufficiently weakened by the depth of his defenses for him to launch his own offensive as originally planned, using the reserve armies and any forces unaffected by the fighting. Ichi-Go Despite early gains, the operation was a prime example of Hitler's reckless military judgement towards the end of the war; its key flaw was that the offensive was too ambitious in scope. Crete It seems that detailed orders for the attack were not received until around midday on the 5thonly 16 hours before H-hour and when the leading grenadiers were still over 20 kilometers away from their final jumping-off points. [36], For Operation Spring Awakening, the area for the new offensive was set on the borderline between OKW (Army Group F) and OKH (Army Group South), and this would cause troubles. The developer provided this information and may update it over time. Both Dietrich and General Heinz Guderian, the Army chief of staff, had wanted the Sixth Panzer Army deployed behind the Oder River to protect Berlin and northern Germany, but Hitler would have none of it. Tempest U.S.A. 679183 at Simontornya), 13th Guards Air-landing Self-prop. By 30 March, the Soviet 3rd Ukrainian Front crossed from Hungary into Austria. The scene was being set for the final destruction of the Sixth Panzer Army. By 4 April, the 6th SS Panzer Army was already in the Vienna area desperately setting up defensive lines against the anticipated Soviet Vienna Offensive. This attack was designed primarily to cut off and destroy all Soviet troops north of a line drawn from Lake Balaton through Szkesfehrvar (known to the Germans as Stuhlweissenburg) to Budapest, and secondly to liberate that citythe Pest garrison had in fact withdrawn across the Danube to the hills of Buda the night before. Lining up plans in Falls Church? Sepp Dietrich, commander of the Sixth SS Panzer Army tasked with defending the last sources of petroleum controlled by the Germans, joked that 6th Panzer Army is well namedwe have just six tanks left.[74]. The Red Army was now a mere 200 kilometers from Prague and, worst of all for the German people, it had crossed the Oder River and was only 70 kilometers from Berlin. Ardennes If successful, the meeting of the southern spearhead and of Army Group E would encircle both the Soviet 26th Army and the Soviet 57th Army. 1202nd Self-prop. The depth of the defense zone reached up to 2530km. When one considers that the normal ratio expected for a successful attack is three to one in favor of the attacker, it becomes clear that the Sixth Panzer Army in general, and II SS Panzer Corps in particular, had been given formidable tasks. G, Pz.IV Ausf. red. Sepp Dietrich recommended an immediate withdrawal to a suitable defensive line in the north, but this was ruled out by his superior, General Otto Whler, the commander of Army Group South. Two of the frontline divisions were to the east of Lake Balaton, immediately in front of I Cavalry Corps, two faced I SS Panzer Corps, two more were opposite II SS Panzer Corps, and a divisional equivalent was in front of III Panzer Corps. Download Operation Spring Awakening Now Description + Dugouts will from now on be available via Build Dugout action by a general (this option alternates by turn/general with Operation Movement action on the menu) To save them and secure the borders of . Yugoslavia [37] The chosen course of action on 25 February, "Lsung C2", favored the quicker and farther-reaching joint operation of the 2nd Panzer Army and 6th SS Panzer Army, while "Lsung B" opted to first secure the left flank of the main thrust "Frhlingserwachen" (between Lake Velence and the Danube) before moving south toward the 2nd Panzer army. . The Russians viewed the events of March 9 with some alarm. Heeresgruppe Sd lost 15,117 casualties in the first eight days of the offensive. red, 181st Tank Brigade (T-34/85, markings: 6xx, e.g. Iraq Lots of variety in German divisions; King Tigers, Waffen SS, Panzer Grenadier, Mark IV, Stug III, Motorized infantry, Mountain Infantry, as well as Hungarian and Croatian Infantry. On 10 March, the Axis forces fighting under Operation Spring Awakening around Lake Balaton had a total of 230 operational tanks and 167 operational assault guns between their 17 divisions. Add to Want List. The offensive failed in the face of Soviet resistance, and the ensuing Red Army offensive . Whler estimated it would take four days to complete the necessary regrouping. In eight days Hermann Priesss I SS Panzer Corps, with valuable assistance from Panzer Corps Feldherrnhalle, recaptured over 400 square kilometers of territory, inflicted 8,800 casualties on the Red Army, and cleared seven infantry divisions and a Guards Mechanized Corps (equivalent to a German Panzer division) from west of the Granall for the loss of only 2,989 casualties. The Deutschland Regiment and elements of the 44th Panzergrenadier Division were just to the north of the small town, and the armored group continued to beat off repeated attacks on its positions at Heinrich Major. 363rd Guards Heavy Self-prop. Artillery Battalion (SU-76M), 122nd Separate Self-prop. Gothic Line (Pz)/SG 2), JGr.101 Royal Hungarian Air Force (Bf 109G, Fi 156), 102 Royal Hungarian Air Force (Fw 190F), 1951st Self-prop. Conditions were very similar to those experienced in the Ardennes only three months earlier. [36] This operational overlap caused by the centralized command led to disagreements, shortages, waste, inefficiencies, and delays, often escalating to the point where Hitler himself would have to give the final ruling on a matter. The southern thrust was designed to cut off and destroy Dietrichs Sixth Panzer Army. In addition to the Sixth Guards Tank Army already assembled just west of Budapest, another 24 rifle divisions, a tank corps, and a guards mechanized corps were being made ready for the strike across the rear of Sepp Dietrichs command. Total war Hong Kong Not only were the Germans supposed to retake Budapest, but the Nagykanizsa oil fields south of Lake Balaton were to be defended. [49] On 5 March, the 6th SS Panzer Army took over command of the Hungarian II Corps, along with its 20th Hungarian Division and 9th replacement Division, hereby becoming responsible for the northern shore of Lake Balaton. Warsaw Last major German offensive on the Eastern Front of World War II, Interrupted Soviet offensive preparations. Baltic States It looked the same in the enemy area, as far as the terrain permitted observation. A Panzer attack in open terrain under these conditions is out of the question.. [73], On 22 March, the remnants of the 6th SS Panzer Army withdrew towards Vienna. Forty-two percent of these vehicles were, however, under short- or long-term repair. Last day of refitting is 30th January. Indeed, in view of the massive, and by now almost continuous, Allied air onslaught, the general state of the German war economy and not least, the appalling casualty rate sustained in five and a half years of war, it is astounding that Dietrichs formation was made ready for an offensive action at all in such a short time, actually less than a month. [55] Other minor differences included the lack or limited use of barbed wire installations, anti-tank obstacles, and bunkers,[55] although the 4th Guards Army command did suggest to place the burnt out wrecks of 38 previously destroyed German tanks into advantageous positions; it is unclear how many were actually set up. 303 (StuG III, e.g. The OKW and OKH did not use common terminology for parts of the offensive, as OKH referred to the entire offensive as Frhlingserwachen, while the OKW referred to the operation attacking north of the Drava as "Waldteufel". Philippines (19441945), VistulaOder Artillery Regiment (SU-76M), 1201st Self-prop. Moscow On the 15th, Das Reich continued to beat off repeated Soviet counterattacks. [56] The 4th Guards Army's three Guards Rifle Corps and one Guards Fortified District would be spread out over a 39km front and reach 30km deep, broken into two belts with one behind the other. Artillery Regiment (SU-100), 1922nd Self-prop. A, -D, Pz.IV Ausf. A motorized rifle brigade had reinforced the hard-pressed infantry division in this sector, and the only real success came just after dark when some fortified farmsteads were captured to the northwest of Sarosd. The objective was to secure the last significant oil reserves still available to the European Axis powers and prevent the Red Army from advancing towards Vienna. tax increases, it is understood that these policies have never had any positive effect! Over 400 square kilometres of ground had been recaptured from the Soviets in Operation Southwind. Atomic bombings Mar 16, 2015 #1 hasdrubal barca Decision on the Danube: Operation Spring Awakening ATL Part 1: Off to Budapest! On the eastern flank there was some success. The SS Panzergrenadiers, struggling forward on their feet, were therefore without effective armored support. white, new, 39th Tank Brigade (T-34/85, markings: -in diamond- and xx, e.g. It was spearheaded by the German Sixth SS Panzer Army. The German plan of attack against Soviet General Fyodor Tolbukhin's 3rd Ukrainian Front was ambitious. For Operation Spring Awakening (Unternehmen Frhlingserwachen) you have been given third of all the Panzer formations on the Eastern Front: two Panzer Armies strengthened with King Tiger battalions to launch two spearheads from both sides of Lake Balaton, while the third weaker attack will be launched from the South. At 1:45 am, in spite of Hitlers refusal to allow any changes to his master plan or any major redeployments without his personal permission, the Chief of Staff Army Group South, Lt. Gen. von Grolmann, instructed Dietrich to prepare I SS Panzer Corps for just such an attack. IL-2m3. The XVIII Tank Corps, with about 75 tanks and armored assault guns, provided a mobile reserve in the area of Sarosd, directly in the path of II SS Panzer Corps, and four more rifle divisions and a guards mechanized corps were situated just to the west of the Danube directly covering II SS Panzer Corps objectives of Dunaujvaros and Dunafldvar. Operation Spring Awakening 2020, 328 Cedar Forest Rd, Friday, 06. There the attack involved Sepp Dietrichs Sixth Panzer Army and the III Panzer Corps of the Sixth Army, with some 300 tanks and Sturmgeschutze self-propelled assault guns. Although Szkesfehrvar and the ground between it and Lake Balaton were held by February 3, the Germans were more or less back to their original positions. 20th Royal Hungarian Sturm. Fresh in the mind of Speer was Hitler's thinking behind Operation Spring Awakening. By Shane Quinn Region: Europe, Russia and FSU Global Research, January 29, 2020 Theme: History It is often thought that the Third Reich's nal major oensive of World War II comprised the Battle of the Bulge, which was launched in mid-December 1944 against the western Allies through Belgium, France and . App activity and App info and performance. Complaints by both divisional commanders and the corps chief of staff that there was no possibility of II SS Panzer Corps being ready at H-hour were to no avail. [18] Their push resulted in the annihilation of the Soviet 7th Mechanized Corps. 951st Ground Attack Regiment (IL-2m3 Sturmovik) White diagonal tail-cap with 1 short diagonal stripe, e.g. Artillery (Jagdpanzer 38(t) Hetzer, e.g. By 15 April, the remnants of the German Sixth Army were north of Graz, facing the Soviet 26th and 27th Armies. Romania Greece [70] The reason for not relaying this order was twofold; firstly the order had already been partially previously completed as cuff tiles were already removed from the uniforms as per a secrecy measure ordered on 30 January 1945,[44] secondly there was no need to further disgrace his men beyond the fatal loss they had just suffered. Another factor complicating Hitlers plan was that by mid-February 1945, the Red Army was holding a considerable bridgehead in Hungary across the Gran River north of Esztergom. ( , . Gagyen also placed his reserve rifle division under the command of the XXX Corps. Iwo Jima Artillery Regiment (SU-76M). On average for every kilometer of Front, 700+ anti-tank and 600+ anti-infantry mines were placed, with these numbers rising to 2,700 and 2,900 respectively in the 26th Army's sector. This was a major understatement. They were to destroy the Soviet forces in the region bounded by Lake Balaton and the Danube and Drava Rivers, secure the Hungarian oil deposits, and establish bridgeheads over the Danube with a view to further offensive operations. [24], On 12 January, the Soviet 1st Ukrainian and 1st Belorussian Fronts began their VistulaOder offensive with over 2 million men[25][circular reference] placing considerable new pressure on the Eastern Front. The German attacks were centred in the Lake Balaton area which had massive logistical importance as it held . [17], The Soviet Forces, contrary to the Germans, did not have such odd structural complications as the Soviet Armies could make independent decisions while the Stavka could intervene when asked or if necessary;[62] a much more straight forward military structure with clear boundaries. Lapland Marshal Tolbukhin, however, was not slow to recognize the operational opportunities offered by this situation, and on the same day he requested the release of one reserve army to his control and the use of another. Brig. Almost inevitably, Operation Spring Awakening was a failure for Germans. Sure 5 stars! In the text Preface to Spring Awakening, Lacan, (2003a) states that "what Freud demarcated from what he calls sexuality makes a hole in the real, this is what is perceived by the fact that, Dietrich and the trusted divisions of the Waffen SS were to be given responsibility for Spring Awakening. 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