Operation Spring Awakening

March 6–16, 1945 · Lake Balaton

Result Allied victory

German forces attacked near Lake Balaton in Hungary to protect the last oil fields under their control. The Soviets stopped the offensive within ten days and then advanced on Vienna.

On the map Contemporaries

Axis

Allies

Germany

Hungary

Bulgaria

Soviet Union

Maximilian von Weichs military commander

Sepp Dietrich military commander

Hermann Balck military commander

Otto Deßloch military commander

Otto Wöhler military commander

Maximilian de Angelis military commander

Rodion Malinovsky military commander

Fyodor Ivanovich Tolbukhin military commander

Vladimir Stoychev military commander

Nikolai Alexandrovich Gagen military commander Nikanor Zakhvatayev military commander

Strength and losses

Strength: 260,000
Tanks: 650
Aircraft: 850

Strength: 465,000
Killed: 38,661
Tanks: 407
Tanks lost: c. 152
Aircraft: 965

Units

Army Group South 6th Army (Wehrmacht) 6th Panzer Army Army Group E Army Group F First Army (Bulgaria) Panzer Group 2 Third Army (Hungary) I SS Panzer Corps II SS Panzer Corps IV SS Panzer Corps 118th Jäger Division 11th Luftwaffe Field Division 12th SS Panzer Division Hitlerjugend 13th Waffen Mountain Division of the SS Handschar (1st Croatian) 1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler 2nd SS Panzer Division Das Reich 356th Infantry Division 3rd SS Panzer Division Totenkopf 44th Infantry Division (Wehrmacht) 5th SS Panzer Division Wiking 710th Infantry Division 9th SS Panzer Division Hohenstaufen Luftflotte 4