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…
