- Budapest Offensive
The Budapest Offensive was the general attack by Soviet forces to clear Germans and their allies from the territory of
Hungary . The offensive lasted from 29 October 1944 until the fall of Budapest on 13 February 1945. The German forces that were ordered by German dictatorAdolf Hitler to occupy Hungary (Operation Panzerfaust ), prevent its defection from the Axis camp, and protect Germany's southern flank were defeated.Prelude
Having secured
Romania in the summerIaşi-Chişinău Offensive , the Soviet forces continued their push in theBalkans . The Red Army occupiedBucharest on 31 August and then swept westward across theCarpathian Mountains intoHungary and southward intoBulgaria . In the process, the Red Army’s forces drew German reserves away from theWarsaw -Berlin central axis, encircled and destroyed the German Sixth Army (for the second time) and forcedArmy Group South Ukraine ’s shattered Eighth Army to withdraw westward into Hungary.The offensive
From October 1944, the 2nd, 3rd, and
4th Ukrainian Front s advanced into Hungary. After isolating the Hungarian capital city in late December, the Soviets besieged and assaulted Budapest. On13 February 1945 , the city fell. While this destroyed most of the German forces in the region, troops were rushed from the Western Front and, in March, the Germans launched the ill fated Operation Spring Awakening ("Unternehmen Frühlingserwachen") in the Lake Balaton area. The expansive goals of this operation were to protect one of the last oil producing regions available to the Axis and to retake Budapest. Neither goal was achieved.In that period in the nearby operations the Soviets also advanced into
Yugoslavia and liberated Belgrade in cooperation with Tito’s partisan forces.ee also
* Operation Spring Awakening ("Unternehmen Frühlingserwachen")
*Soviet occupation of Hungary Recommended reading
*
David M. Glantz , [http://www.strom.clemson.edu/publications/sg-war41-45.pdf The Soviet‐German War 1941–45] : Myths and Realities: A Survey Essay.
Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.