Operation Spring Awakening

Operation Spring Awakening
	Part of the Eastern Front of World War II
	; German advances during the operation
Date	6–15 March 1945
Location	Lake Balaton, Kingdom of Hungary46°59′N 18°21′E
Result	Allied victory
Belligerents
Germany; Hungary	Soviet Union; Bulgaria; Yugoslav Partisans
Commanders and leaders
Otto Wöhler Hermann Balck; Max de Angelis; Sepp Dietrich; József Heszlényi; Otto Deßloch; Max von Weichs Alexander Löhr;	Fyodor Tolbukhin Nikanor Zakhvatayev; Nikolai Gagen; Sergei Trofimenko; Mikhail Sharokhin; Vladimir Stoychev; Kosta Nađ; Vladimir Sudets; Rodion Malinovsky Sergei Goryunov;
Units involved
Army Group South: 6th Army; 6th SS Panzer Army; 2nd Panzer Army; 3rd Army; Luftflotte 4; Army Group F: Army Group E;	3rd Ukrainian Front: 4th Guards Army; 26th Army; 27th Army; 57th Army; 1st Army; 3rd Army; 17th Air Army; 2nd Ukrainian Front: 5th Air Army;
Strength
5 March (for the offensive): 25 divisions; 260,000 men (max); 650 tanks (376 operational); 3,200 assault guns and mortars; 850 aircraft (entire Luftflotte 4 for entire Army Group South);	5 March: 37 divisions (discounting air armies and the Yugoslav 3rd Army); 465,000 men; 407 tanks (398 operational); 6,597 assault guns and mortars; 293 rocket launchers; 965 aircraft (17th Air Army only – 3rd Ukrainian Front);
Casualties and losses
German offensive (6–15 March 1945):; Germany Army Group South: 12,358 men; 31 tracked AFVs destroyed; 1 APC destroyed; Army Group F: Unknown; : Unknown; Soviet counter-offensive (16 March–15 April 1945): ~210,000 combat casualties 30,000 killed; 125,000 captured; 1,345 tanks/assault guns lost; 2,250 guns and mortars lost; 446 armour personnel carriers; 200+ aircraft;	German offensive (6–15 March 1945): 32,899; 8,492 killed or missing; 24,407 wounded & sick; 152 tracked AFVs destroyed; 415 anti-tank guns destroyed; Soviet counter-offensive (16 March–15 April 1945): 38,661 killed; 129,279 wounded & sick; 167,940 overall (including ~135,000 combat casualties); Bulgarian casualties: 9,805 men; 2,698 killed; 7,017 wounded & sick;

Operation Spring Awakening (German: Unternehmen Frühlingserwachen) was the last major German offensive of World War II. The operation was referred to in Germany as the Plattensee Offensive and in the Soviet Union as the Balaton Defensive Operation. It took place in Western Hungary on the Eastern Front and lasted from 6 March until 15 March, 1945. 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. The Germans failed in their objectives.

The operation, initially planned for 5 March, began after German units were moved in great secrecy to the Lake Balaton (Plattensee) area. Many German units were involved, including the 6th Panzer Army and its subordinate Waffen-SS divisions after being withdrawn from the failed Ardennes offensive on the Western Front. The Germans attacked in three prongs: Frühlingserwachen in the Balaton-Lake Velence-Danube area, Eisbrecher south of Lake Balaton, and Waldteufel south of the Drava-Danube triangle. The advance stalled on 15 March, and on 16 March the Red Army and allied units began their delayed Vienna offensive.

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