Tomb of the Panzerwaffe: The Defeat of the Sixth SS Panzer Army in Hungary 1945

by Aleksei Isaev

  Considering that the enemy, having seized Heinrich, might encircle units of the 36th Guards Rifle Division, the Front commander ordered it to withdraw from the Aba area. At the same time, the commander of the 1st Guards Mechanized Corps received an order: “By the morning of 12 March, assemble [your] main forces on the line Sárosd – Sárkeresztúr, where in cooperation with the rifle divisions, organize a firm defense and don’t permit an enemy breakthrough to the southeast.”

  All this time, artillery units had been moving up to the area of the Heinrich Estate. They were all grouped together under the direction of the commander of the 170th Light Artillery Brigade, which had arrived from the Front reserve. The commander of this brigade was ordered to take command of all the anti-tank artillery units in the 68th Guards Rifle Division’s sector and to create a strong anti-tank area there.

  As a result, by the morning of 12 March, a powerful artillery grouping, which numbered more than 400 guns and mortars, was ready to meet the German units that had broken through at Heinrich. In the fighting on 12 and 13 March, this grouping, exploiting its advantageous position for conducting flanking fire, inflicted heavy losses to the units of the II SS Panzer Corps, as a result of which all the attempts to penetrate the defenses on this axis had no success.

  On 14 and 15 March, the command of Armeegruppe Balck made one more attempt to breach our defenses in the Sándor area. For this purpose, the 6th Panzer Division was thrown into the attack on a narrow sector of 2 kilometers after a preparatory artillery barrage and air strikes. However, units of the 3rd Guards Airborne Division and the 18th Tank Corps managed to repulse three German attacks in succession. Once again, the main role in this success belonged to the artillery units that had been shifted to this sector. As a result of the adopted measures, in the sector of the 3rd Guards Airborne Division, the density of anti-tank artillery guns alone on 14 March amounted to 35 guns per kilometer.

  On the morning of 15 March, the Germans made their final attempt to attack the positions of the 35th Guards Rifle Corps with major panzer forces. However, this attack brought no success, and by the evening, the enemy attacks on the entire front of the 27th Army were halted.

  In the sector of the 26th Army in the period of fighting between 11 and 15 March, the main events unfolded in the triangular area between Sáregres, Simontornya and Cece, where units of the 11th Guards Cavalry Division were holding a small bridgehead across the confluence of the Sárviz and Kapos Canals. Striving to seize crossings in this area, the I SS Panzer Corps relentlessly attacked both day and night. In the course of 48 hours alone – 10 and 11 March – the Germans undertook up to 20 attacks with the involvement of major tank and infantry forces.

  The situation of the units of the 26th Army from the very beginning was complicated by the fact that the enemy had launched its attack against the bridgehead on the night of 10 March at a time when units of the 202nd Rifle Division were in the process of replacing the units of the 11th Guards Cavalry Division in the bridgehead. With a sudden attack, the Germans broke into the northern outskirts of Simontornya, and with the coming of dawn, after a strong artillery preparation attempted to break through to a bridge across the Kapos Canal. In the repulse of this attack, Guards Major Mrukalo’s 227th Separate Anti-aircraft Artillery Battalion, which was equipped with 85mm anti-aircraft guns, played the decisive role. Engaging the attacking enemy tanks and infantry, it knocked out 10 armored vehicles.

  Considering the situation that had emerged the 26th Army command decided to leave the units of the 11th Guards Cavalry Division within the bridgehead. In fighting on 11 March, these units restored the situation in northern portion of Simontornya; the group of German infantry from the 1st SS Panzer Division’s 2nd Panzer Grenadier Regiment that had broken into the town was encircled, and the Germans were either killed or taken prisoner. The M-13 rocket launchers of the 45th Guards Mortar Regiment played a large role in this. Their fire blanketed the bulk of the enemy’s tanks and infantry that had broken through.

  The SU-100 tank destroyers operating in this sector were particularly effective. Concealed in ambush positions, they inflicted large losses on the German tanks with their surprise fire. For example, in combat on 11 March, the 2nd Battery of the 1953rd Self-propelled Artillery Regiment, which had taken up firing positions in a densely wooded area southeast of Sáregres, repelled an attack by 14 German tanks, of which three were knocked out by six shots from a range of 1,500 meters.

  In order to illuminate the battlefield during night actions, anti-aircraft searchlights that were deployed on the eastern bank of the Sárviz Canal in the Cece area were successfully used. Acting in concert with the searchlights, the artillery of the 26th Army successfully repulsed four German night attacks with the participation of tanks in the Sáregres area. In one of these attacks, three tanks that were caught in the beam of a searchlight were destroyed by several artillery rounds. Flares, as well as fires lit from flammable materials, were used to illuminate the ground when repelling German night attacks in the Simontornya area.

  With the onset of darkness on 12 March, units of the I SS Panzer Corps again drove out the Soviet elements that were defending the northern portion of Simontornya, and that night they forced a crossing of the Kapos Canal and passed up to two companies of infantry over to the southern bank. That same night, up to two battalions of German infantry with 14 tanks outflanked the anti-tank area from the south and penetrated into the southwestern section of Simontornya.

  The 2nd Battalion of the 407th Light Artillery Regiment, which had taken position on the northern outskirts of Simontornya on 9 March, fought heroically on these days. On the night of 10 March, the battalion had fought for the northern portion of the town, and in the daytime had taken part in repelling three German tank attacks. By the evening of 12 March, the battalion had 10 knocked out or destroyed tanks to its credit.

  In the evening twilight on 12 March, a group of German submachine gunners numbering up to 100 men infiltrated along a balka and closed upon the positions of the 2nd Battalion’s 5th and 6th Batteries. That night, fighting without infantry protection, the battalion knocked out 7 tanks, but lost all of its materiel in return. The battalion’s survivors swam across to the southern bank, because the bridge had already been blown up.

  On 12 March, the 11th Guards Cavalry Division was withdrawn from the bridgehead. The artillery that had been attached to it, which was in defensive positions on the line Sáregres – Simontornya, was subordinated to the commander of the 202nd Rifle Division.

  Simultaneously with the attacks in the Sáregres – Simontornya sector, the enemy also launched attacks against the bridgeheads at Ozora and Mezökomárom on the right flank of the salient they had created in the Soviet defenses, in the sector of the 104th Rifle Division. Units of the 104th Rifle Division in the course of 11 March alone repelled 17 German attacks, but were nevertheless compelled to fall back to the southern bank of the Sió Canal. On the morning of 12 March under the cover of a smokescreen, and the suppressing fire of tanks and artillery as well, the enemy forced a crossing of the Sió Canal in the sector of the 74th Rifle Division and crossed up to a battalion of infantry to the southern bank, where it dug in. The struggle for the bridgeheads on both sides of the canal became savage.

  In the fighting on 13 March, the main forces of the I SS Panzer Corps concentrated on liquidating the Soviet bridgehead on the northern bank of the Kapos Canal and on expanding its own bridgehead on its southern bank. The combat was extremely fierce; on the Soviet side, every artillery unit, including the anti-aircraft artillery, was drawn into the struggle against the German tanks and infantry. Thus, the 227th Separate Anti-aircraft Battalion of 85mm guns alone on 12 and 13 March repelled six tank attacks, destroying 14 tanks and self-propelled guns in the process. By the end of 13 March, only three guns remained in the battalion.

  On the afternoon of 13 March, after 20 aircraft twice bombed the positions of the 26th Army’s 202nd Rifle Division up to two regiments of German infantry with 25
tanks attacked elements of the rifle division on the Sáregres axis from the west and north. The struggle for this village continued until nightfall and didn’t cease even then. In order to facilitate the conducting of fire at the German tanks, Soviet aircraft every 20-30 minutes dropped illuminating flares, while the infantry and artillery set fire to previously prepared piles of flammable materials and structures. However, the dense fog that developed that night strongly reduced the effect of the attempts to illuminate the area, and hindered the artillery fire. In the end, the Germans managed to fight their way into Sáregres, after which the units of the 202nd Rifle Division at the order from command withdrew to the Cece area, having first blown up the bridge across the Sárviz Canal.

  On 14-15 March, units of the 1st SS Panzer Division Leibstandarte Adolf Hitler made a last attempt to expand the division’s bridgehead on the southern bank of the Kapos Canal at Simontornya. They managed to make some progress, but this was the only achievement by the I SS Panzer Corps. By the evening of 15 March, the German offensive on the front of the 26th Army was halted.

  15

  Combat Operations in the Sector of the 57th Army

  The offensive of Army Group South’s Second Panzer Army against the forces of the 3rd Ukrainian Front’s 57th Army began on 6 March 1945 at 6.00 after a 45-minute artillery preparation. The German units attacked north and south of Nagybajom with three divisions of the LXVIII Army Corps on one side, and one division of the XXII Gebirgs Corps on the other. It should be said that in distinction from the other sectors of the 3rd Ukrainian Front, in the sector of the 57th Army a preemptive artillery barrage was conducted in 3-kilometer-wide sector with 145 Soviet guns and mortars. Due to it, German units even before the start of the attack suffered losses, and the offensive jumped off 15 minutes late.

  Initially, the attack in the sector of the 73rd Guards Rifle Division met with success: units of the 118th Jäger Division, supported by 20 assault guns, managed by 9.30 to drive one of the regiments of the 73rd Guards Rifle back 1.5 kilometers, and seized the first and second line of trenches. However, 30 minutes later, following a softening-up artillery barrage, a Soviet counterattack threw the enemy back.

  The German command directed the main attack to strike south of Nagybajom following a powerful artillery preparation, which began at 6.45. Here, the 57th Army command was unable to conduct a preemptive barrage, because the bulk of the army’s artillery was already firing on the enemy north of Nagybajom.

  At 7.30, German units in strength of up to five infantry regiments supported by 30 tanks and assault guns struck the boundary between two defending regiments of the 299th Rifle Division on the Jákó axis. Advancing along communication trenches into the depth of the defenses, German infantry infiltrated into the rear and attacked the artillery’s firing positions. For example, the 1st Battery of the 299th Rifle Division’s 843rd Artillery Regiment was simultaneously attacked from the front, the flank and the rear, and after several hours of fighting in encirclement, it was virtually wiped out in hand to hand combat. Several German self-propelled guns even succeeded in breaking through to the Nagybajom – Kaposvár road, but here they ran into fire from one of the Soviet anti-tank regions and were destroyed.

  At 10.00 the enemy succeeded in taking Kutas, and then Jákó as well. By the middle of the day, the real threat of a German breakthrough of the main belt of defenses on the boundary between the 73rd Guards Rifle and 299th Rifle Divisions emerged. Soviet aerial reconnaissance reported the movement of major enemy motorized columns toward the breakthrough sector from the area of Beleg.

  With the authorization of the 57th Army command, the commander of the 64th Rifle Corps threw his second echelon into the fighting – the 113th Rifle Division. It moved up under the covering fire of the 1201st and 864th Self-propelled Artillery Regiments. The counterattack was preceded by a strike delivered by Soviet bombers and a 15-minute barrage delivered by more than 250 guns and mortars, which targeted aggregations of enemy personnel and equipment. With the coordinated attacks of infantry, artillery and aviation, the Germans were stopped, and then even forced to yield some of the ground they had gained. After a succession of attacks and counterattacks, after the day of combat on 6 March the enemy only managed to make a 2- to 4-kilometer advance.

  By evening, the German attacks ceased, which allowed the 57th Army command to reshuffle its forces in order to strengthen the defense. Several artillery and mortar battalions were hastily moved up to the breakthrough sector. In the conditions of the poorly developed road network in the area and the spring thaw, the artillery formations were only able to move at an average speed of 25-30 kilometers per hour during the daytime, and 15-20 kilometers per hour at night.

  The 3rd Ukrainian Front command, which was attentively following the course of the combat here, decided to transfer the 184th Destroyer Anti-tank Artillery Regiment and the 12th Destroyer Anti-tank Artillery Brigade to the control of the 57th Army. In their ensuing move to the new sector, the 184th Regiment in the muddy conditions of the spring thaw traveled 85 kilometers in six hours, while the 12th Brigade covered 190 kilometers in ten hours.

  Simultaneously with the redeployment of the artillery units, measures were undertaken to mine the area. For this purpose, soon after the German offensive against the 57th Army began on 6 March, mobile blocking detachments of the 64th Rifle Corps and the 57th Army moved out to the Balázska area and got to work. Over the first few days of the offensive, these detachments emplaced more than 6,600 anti-tank mines and 1,300 anti-personnel mines. By the morning of 7 March, the entire sector of the enemy’s penetration was saturated with minefields, and the density of mines in the depth of the main belt of defenses in the sector of the 113th Rifle Division reached 1,000 anti-tank mines per kilometer of front.

  On the following days, the Germans didn’t cease their attempts to breach the defenses of the 64th Rifle Corps, and on 7 March they introduced the 16th SS Panzer Grenadier Division Reichsführer-SS into the fighting. Units of the 57th Army put up stubborn resistance – the 113th Rifle Division alone on 7 March repulsed 15 German attacks. The fighting continued both day and night. Both the nighttime and daytime German attacks were faltering under concentrated artillery fire.

  At 15.00 8 March, the Germans hurled all of the available serviceable tanks and self-propelled guns of the Second Panzer Army into the fighting, trying to break through in the direction of Balázska. However, the attack was repulsed with heavy casualties for the enemy. In this battle, the 4th Battery of the 113th Rifle Division’s 872nd Artillery Regiment (the battery’s commander was Lieutenant Selishchev), which was positioned northeast of Jákó, fought heroically. The artillerymen together with the infantry repelled an attack by two German battalions and 10 tanks and self-propelled guns, knocking out several armored vehicles in the process. Guns of the 872nd Artillery Regiment that were concealed in ambush positions were also effective.

  Here is one example: At the foot of a nameless height, on a road that was the most likely path of advance of the German tanks, dummy minefields and dummy firing positions had been created. Only a narrow sector running alongside a swampy stream, fringed with sparse bushes, was left to the German tanks in order to bypass the dummy strongpoint. Two guns had been deployed in ambush behind a bush on the opposite bank of the stream. If the enemy tanks had managed to get around them, they would have wound up opposite an anti-tank region positioned on the height’s reverse slopes. Atop the hill, one gun had been positioned, which gave credence to the dummy positions, in order to induce the German tanks to go around them.

  After artillery preparation, up to a battalion of German infantry, with the support of several armored vehicles, moved off into the attack. Four self-propelled guns and two tanks were taking the lead. Indirect Soviet artillery fire managed to separate the German infantry from the armor. The enemy armor, approaching the dummy positions as they fired on the height, turned to the right and moved to bypass the false node of resistance. There they were met by the guns concealed
in ambush, which with flanking fire from a range of 250-400 meters knocked out three self-propelled guns and one tank with 18 shots. Only the two armor vehicles bringing up the rear managed to escape.

  In the sector of the 20th Guards Rifle Division, guns concealed in ambush were used in conjunction with decoy guns. The latter would open fire and force the German tanks to alter their direction of advance, which would place them under the flanking fire of the concealed guns.

  For example, on 10 March in the area of Szenna, 10 enemy tanks were advancing along a road. Guards Sergeant Iakushev’s decoy 76mm ZIS-3 anti-tank gun opened fire at them from a range of 500 meters. It caught the Germans’ attention, and the German tanks moved to attack it, thereby exposing their flanks to a gun concealed in ambush, which from a range of 200 meters knocked out one tank. While the armored vehicles were pivoting to escape the ambush, the gun crew managed to torch another enemy tank, and the remainder fled.

  Having met frustration in their attack against the center of the 64th Rifle Corps’ defensive belt, on the night of 9-10 March, the enemy shifted the 16th SS Panzer Grenadier Division and the 1st Volks-Gebirg Division from the Jákó area to the Ötvöskónyi – Beleg area, opposite the boundary between the 64th Rifle Corps and the Bulgarian First Army. On the afternoon of 10 March, after a 40-minute artillery preparation and accompanying air strikes, with the forces of up to five infantry regiments and the support of 50 tanks and self-propelled guns, the Germans launched an attack that targeted the boundary between the 64th Rifle Corps’ 299th Rifle Division and the Bulgarian 10th Infantry Division.