Vienna offensive

• 1. Strategic Context And Prelude

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  Joseph Stalin reached an agreement with the Western Allies prior to April 1945 concerning the relative postwar political influence of each party in much of Eastern and Central Europe. These agreements said virtually nothing about the fate of Austria, then officially considered to be merely the Ostmark area of Greater Germany after the Anschluss. The success of a Soviet offensive against Austria would have been very beneficial for subsequent postwar negotiations with the Western Allies. After the failure of Operation Spring Awakening, Sepp Dietrich's 6th SS Panzer Army retreated in stages to the Vienna area. The Germans desperately prepared defensive positions in an attempt to guard the city against the rapidly arriving Soviets. Vienna had been bombarded continuously for the year before the arrival of Soviet troops, and many buildings and facilities had been damaged or destroyed.

• 2. The Advance Into Austria

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  In the spring of 1945, the advance of Soviet Marshal Fyodor Tolbukhin's 3rd Ukrainian Front through western Hungary gathered momentum on both sides of the Danube. They took Sopron and Nagykanizsa before crossing the border between Hungary and Austria. On the 25th of March, the 2nd Ukrainian Front launched the Bratislava, Brno offensive by crossing the Hron river. On the 30th of March the Front crossed also the Nitra river and quickly rushed across the Danubian Lowland towards Bratislava. Having secured his right wing by 2nd Ukrainian Front, Tolbukhin was now ready to advance into Austria and take Vienna. Romanian troops, that were on the Allied side since King Michael's Coup, also took part in the offensive. By the 4th of April, Baden and Bratislava were overrun as Soviet forces approached from the south after they overran Wiener Neustadt, Eisenstadt, Neunkirchen and Gloggnitz.

• 3. Urban Combat And Siege Tactics

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  On the 2nd of April, Vienna Radio denied that the Austrian capital had been declared an open city. The only major German force facing the Soviet attackers was the German II SS Panzer Corps of the 6th SS Panzer Army, along with ad hoc forces made up of garrison and anti-aircraft units. Declared a defensive region, Vienna's defense was commanded by General Rudolf von Bünau, with the II SS Panzer Corps units under the command of SS General Wilhelm Bittrich. Defending in the Prater Park was the 6th Panzer Division, along the south side of the city were the 2nd and 3rd SS Panzer Divisions, and in the north was the Führer-Grenadier Division. On the night of the 11th of April, the 4th Guards Army stormed the Danube canals, with the 20th Guards Rifle Corps and 1st Mechanized Corps moving on the Reichsbrücke Bridge. In a coup de main on the 13th of April, the Danube Flotilla landed troops of the 80th Guards Rifle Division and 7th Guards Airborne Division on both sides of the bridge, cutting demolition cables and securing the bridge.

• 4. Post-War Chaos And Occupation

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  By the 15th of April, armies of the Soviet 3rd Ukrainian Front pushed even further into Austria. The completely exhausted remnants of what had been the 6th SS Panzer Army were forced to flee to the area between Vienna and Linz. Some of Vienna's finest buildings lay in ruins after the battle. There was no water, electricity, or gas , and bands of people, both foreigners and Austrians, plundered and assaulted the helpless residents in the absence of a police force. While the Soviet assault forces generally behaved well, the second wave of Soviet troops to arrive in the city were reportedly badly undisciplined. A large number of lootings and cases of rape took place in a several-week long violence that has been compared to the worst aspects of the Thirty Years War. Austrian politician Karl Renner set up a Provisional Government in Vienna sometime in April with the tacit approval of the victorious Soviet forces, and declared Austria's secession from the Third Reich.

• 5. Commanders And Military Leadership

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  Like Bittrich, General von Bünau left Vienna before it fell to avoid capture by the Soviets. From the 16th of April until the war's end, he led Generalkommando von Bünau, surrendering to the Americans on VE Day. Von Bünau was held as a POW until April 1947. Bittrich also surrendered to U.S. forces and was held as a prisoner by the Allies until 1954. Fyodor Tolbukhin went on to command the Soviet Southern Group of Forces and the Transcaucasian Military District until his death in 1949. The battle for the Austrian capital was characterized in some cases by fierce urban combat, but there were also parts of the city the Soviets advanced into with little opposition. The German defenders kept the Soviets out of the city's southern suburbs until the 7th of April. However, after successfully achieving several footholds in the southern suburbs, the Soviets then moved into the western suburbs of the city on the 8th of April with the 6th Guards Tank Army and the bulk of the 9th Guards Army.

• 6. Order Of Battle And Force Composition

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  On the 30th of April, the following order of battle was recorded by the German Army High Command (Oberkommando der Wehrmacht, or OKW). From the 20th of April-the 2nd of May, OKW moved from Zossen (near Berlin) to Mürwik (part of Flensburg in north Germany, near Denmark). This order of battle shows what remained on paper of the German armies that fought in Hungary and Austria. The German 6th Panzer Army included units such as the 1st SS Panzer Division, 12th SS Panzer Division, and 3rd SS Panzer Division. The Soviet forces included the 4th Guards Army, 6th Guards Tank Army, and 9th Guards Army. The 57th Army and the Bulgarian 1st Army advanced towards the area south of Graz just behind the retreating 2nd Panzer Army. None of these German armies were in any shape to do more than temporarily stall the advancing Soviet forces.