Germany’s Last Offensive of World War II (1945)

Germany’s Last Offensive of World War II (1945)

Operation Spring Awakening

There is a misconception that by the start of 1945, Germany was incapable of launching large scale offensive and counteroffensive actions. This idea is born out of a focus on the Western Front, where Germany’s fighting capability was much diminished compared to the Eastern Front. The reason why Germany was so crippled in the West is that they had committed the vast majority of their forces in the East in a futile bid to slow down the Red Army juggernaut bearing down on Berlin.

The Germans launched their last major offensive in the West on the final day of 1944 and were only able to commit two armies to the fight. These armies consisted of roughly 100,000 men. Germany’s last offensive in the East was much larger and much later.

Operation Spring Awakening was launched on March 6th, 1945, and featured 260,000 German soldiers, 375 tanks, and over 3,000 pieces of heavy weaponry. The offensive was a failure, but it highlights how much strength Germany had put in the field in advance of the Red Army.

The goals of Operation Spring Awakening were twofold. First, the Germans wanted to block the Red Army’s advance toward Vienna in Austria. Second, they wanted to block the Soviets from capturing the last viable oil fields in German hands. The Germans failed at both, but it did not stop them from desperately trying to extend the war in the East.

The Plan

Hitler still erroneously believed that his armies stood a fighting chance against the Soviets. To bolster the offensive, Hitler pulled back large portions of men from the West where they were pinned down by absolute Allied air superiority. Elements of the 6th Army and 6th SS Panzer Army were pulled from the Ardennes in January and made the long, arduous trek toward Hungary, where they were supposed to help block the advances toward Vienna and toward the Hungarian oil fields.

The idea was for the German’s 260,000 men to be split into four groups. Three would attack the Soviet 3rd Ukrainian Front in an attempt to cave it in and advance…