On March 16, 1945, the Vienna offensive operation of Soviet troops began. Thanks to the actions of the Red Army, it was possible to liberate the western part of Hungary and the eastern regions of Austria. In addition, Austrian statehood was restored, and the Nazis finally expelled from Vienna.

Prerequisites for the operation

“Austria has always occupied a special place in Hitler's plans, and the Nazi Fuhrer looked at her not only rationally, inextricably linking this country with the ideas of German unity. In addition, Austria was his homeland, ”military historian Yuri Knutov told RT.

On March 12–13, 1938, as a result of the so-called Anschluss, Hitler included Austria in the Reich. According to historians, its accession allowed the Nazis to create a strategic bridgehead for the annexation of Czechoslovakia and the offensive in Southeastern Europe.

A significant part of the inhabitants of Austria were loyal to Hitler. Almost 700 thousand of them (about 17% of the adult population of the country) joined the NSDAP. Although the share of Austrians in the population of "Great Germany" was only 8%, immigrants from Austria provided 14% of SS personnel and 40% of the death camp staff. About 1.2 million Austrians fought on the side of Nazi Germany. At the same time, about 120 thousand inhabitants of Austria died as a result of Nazi repression. Many were sent to prisons and concentration camps, local communists actively resisted Nazism.

The leaders of the Anti-Hitler coalition, in their assessments, separated Austria from the rest of the Reich and considered the Anschluss as a violent occupation. In the Moscow Declaration, signed on October 30, 1943, by the foreign ministers of the allied countries, Austria was described as the "first victim" of Nazi Germany.

The entry of the Red Army in early 1945 into the western regions of Hungary adjacent to the Austrian border caused, according to Yuri Knutov, a panic in Berlin.

“Hitler, on the one hand, was worried about oil supplies and the work of industrial enterprises, and on the other, he was painfully worried about the approach of the Soviet troops to the places with which his youth was connected,” Knutov explained.

On March 6, 1945, selected units of the Wehrmacht and the SS launched a counterattack in the area of ​​Lake Balaton. Historians note that the Nazis planned to push the Red Army beyond the Danube and use this as an excuse to start intense negotiations with the United States and Britain. However, despite some tactical successes, the Nazis could not reach the Danube: already on March 15 they were forced to go on the defensive.

On March 9, 1945, at the height of the fighting near Lake Balaton, Joseph Stalin specified the tasks for the Soviet troops stationed in Hungary. On March 15-16, units of the 3rd Ukrainian Front, without an operational pause, were supposed to go from defense to offensive. On March 17-18, the troops of the 2nd Ukrainian Front and the forces of the Danube Flotilla were ordered to take active action. Their common goal was to expel the Nazis from the western regions of Hungary and eastern Austria.

  • Technique abandoned by the Nazis in the area of ​​Lake Balaton
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  • © Evgeny Chaldey

According to Yuri Knutov, the total number of Soviet troops involved in the Vienna offensive operation was about 640 thousand people. They were opposed by the Nazi group, numbering about 410 thousand military personnel.

“One and a half superiority in manpower and about two-fold superiority in armored vehicles and artillery was not enough for attacking well-prepared defensive positions, taking into account the difficult terrain, by all the standards of military science. Therefore, the art of military leaders, as well as the training and courage of Soviet soldiers, were of great importance, ”the historian stated.

Vienna operation

In the afternoon of March 16, 1945, after a powerful artillery bombardment, the offensive of the 3rd Ukrainian Front attack group began. Soviet troops broke through the enemy’s defenses, but were unable to complete the tasks of the first day to the end.

“The offensive at first went hard, the Nazis fiercely resisted,” said Yuri Knutov.

During the first spurt, units of the 3rd Ukrainian Front managed to advance 3–7 km. Despite the difficulties, the Soviet troops pushed Hitler units for several days. On March 21, the main core of the 6th SS Panzer Army was blocked in the cities of Szekesfehervar, Berhida and Polgardi. The SS men managed to break through to the west with heavy fighting.

Units of the 2nd Ukrainian Front went on the offensive on March 17, 1945. They immediately broke through the enemy’s defenses, and by March 20 had deeply covered the enemy’s Esztergom-Commodity group.

By March 25, troops of the 2nd and 3rd Ukrainian fronts broke the resistance of the German-Hungarian group between the Danube and Lake Balaton. Having advanced about 80 km, they created the prerequisites for a successful attack on Vienna.

  • Artillery crews are fighting in Vienna on Maria Theresa Square
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  • © Semen Raskin

Before entering the territory of Austria, the Soviet command prepared a special appeal to the population of the country. It began with the words: "The Red Army entered Austria not with the goal of capturing Austrian territory, but with the goal of defeating the enemy Nazi troops and freeing Austria from German dependence." The Austrians were reminded that the Nazis deprived them of their independence and brought the horrors of war to the country. A leaflet printed in millions of copies was scattered from planes over the territories occupied by the Nazis.

According to Yuri Knutov, representatives of both the civilian population of Austria and the military units staffed by the Austrians began to enter into negotiations with the Soviet troops, promising the Red Army assistance.

As General Ivan Anoshin, who at that time held the post of head of the political department of the 3rd Ukrainian Front, writes in his memoirs, in early April 1945, in the vicinity of the positions of the 103rd Guards Rifle Division, intelligence detained an elderly gray-bearded man, who was first mistaken for a clergyman. However, it soon became clear that this was the former Federal Chancellor and chairman of the Austrian National Council, Social Democrat Karl Renner. In a conversation with Soviet officers, he called Stalin a big man and asked to be reported to Moscow about him.

“I could be useful in building a new Austria,” Ivan Anoshin quotes Renner in his memoirs.

  • Austrian leader Karl Renner
  • © Wikimedia Commons

“Moscow did not keep waiting long with an answer. In a telegram addressed to Tolbukhin and Zheltov, Stavka ordered Karl Renner to be informed that the Soviet command would support him in the interests of restoring democracy in Austria. The headquarters demanded that Mr. Renner be explained that our troops entered his country not to seize its territory, but solely to expel the Nazi occupiers, ”Anoshin writes.

The Austrian population mobilized by the Nazis as part of the militia (Volkssturm) massively sided with the Red Army. Locals often met Soviet troops with hastily made welcome banners. Many, according to the memoirs of veterans, were very scared, because Nazi propaganda promised that the Red Army, having entered the territory of the Reich, would begin massacres.

By early April, Hungary was completely liberated from the Nazis. Only in March 1945 the Soviet government transferred 15 thousand tons of bread, 3 thousand tons of meat, 2 thousand tons of sugar to the Hungarian population.

The next target of the Soviet troops was Vienna. In the capital of Austria, eight tank and one Nazi infantry divisions, about fifteen separate battalions, and also units formed from the local police and Volkssturm fighters occupied the defense. April 5 began fighting on the outskirts of the city.

“On the southern approaches to the city, the Germans built a powerful fortified area, consisting of anti-tank ditches, a well-developed system of trenches and trenches, and a large number of bunkers and bunkers. The Germans mobilized the entire able-bodied population of Vienna to build defensive structures. Barricades and anti-tank obstacles were erected on the streets. In the parks and on the outskirts, trenches were torn off, wire fences were installed, tank-dangerous directions were heavily mined, ”Ivan Anoshin writes in his memoirs.

At the same time, according to Yuri Knutov, the Soviet command sought to minimize the use of aircraft and artillery in Vienna in order to save the capital of Austria.

“The main burden of fighting for Vienna fell on the infantry and paratroopers,” the historian said.

The assault groups, which included rifle units, tanks and sappers, fought hard battles for each quarter of the Austrian capital. On April 10, the Red Army was able to take control of the city center and drive the enemy off the Danube Canal. On April 11, Soviet troops forced him too.

  • Austrian girl and Soviet officer dance on the streets of Vienna after liberation
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  • © Anatoly Grigoriev

The Nazis destroyed all bridges in Vienna, with the exception of two, which were used to withdraw their own units. To prevent their undermining, the Soviet command conducted complex operations involving fighters of the Danube Flotilla and airborne units. On April 13, the city was completely cleared of Nazi troops.

“On April 15, 1945, the Vienna offensive operation was completed. The capital itself and the most powerful Vienna industrial area passed under the control of Soviet troops. The irretrievable losses of the Soviet troops in these heavy battles amounted to about 38 thousand people. The system for calculating the losses by the Nazis by this time had almost ceased to function. Therefore, it is impossible to say exactly how many Nazis died. During the fighting in the Vienna area, about 130 thousand Germans surrendered, while 45 thousand Hungarians surrendered at the initial stage of the operation, ”Knutov said.

The Soviet authorities allocated 45 thousand tons of grain, 4 thousand tons of meat, a ton of fats, 2.7 thousand tons of sugar, 1.8 tons of salt, 225 tons of coffee to the population of Vienna. In Austria, the formation of national authorities began. In 1945, Karl Renner was elected federal president. Ten years later, in 1955, the Soviet Union completely withdrew its troops from Austria.

“The Vienna operation is a fiasco of the idea of ​​the Reich. The Austrians, whom Hitler considered his compatriots, massively refused to fight for him. Soviet troops came to the homeland of the Nazi Fuhrer, inflicting a severe moral blow on him and depriving him of access to an important industrial and raw material region, ”summed up Yuri Knutov.