Trying to find information about a particular battle

[Lorenz]

There are quite a few books in German, Hungarian, Bulgarian and Serbo-Croatian that cover the fighting along the Drava (Drau) in March 1945 in considerable detail. Here are a couple:

Gosztony, Peter. Endkampf an der Donau 1944/45. (Wien, 1970).
Rauchensteiner, Manfried. Der Krieg in Österreich, 1945. (Wien, 1984).

HTH,

--Lorenz

[Lorenz]

How about in English? None of those others will be helpful.

Not that would give you any more detail than what you quoted in your first post, at least not that I know of. That area and time is just not well covered in English.

--Lorenz

[Lorenz]

Oops! There is one:

Muñoz, Antonio J. Göring’s Grenadiers: The Luftwaffe Field Divisions 1942-1945. Bayside: Axis Europa Books, 2002. ISBN: 1-891227-40-8. Hb (oversize). Dj. Illus. Maps. Dwgs. Charts. Color plates. Bibliography.

He has a chapter on the 11. Lw.-Felddivision, which fought in that exact area during March 1945.

--Lorenz

[sid guttridge]

Hi Jeff,

I have never found anything in English, but I have trawled through other sources.

From memory:

I think the attack you ask about was the southern arm of a larger German offensive to push the Red Army back over the Danube south of Budapest.
The Bulgarians actually faced two attacks: the river crossing you mention (by part of Army Group E?) and, further north, an overland attack by part of 2nd Panzer Army. If I remember rightly the first was at the Bulgarian junction with a Yugoslav army further south-east and the second was at their junction with a Soviet army further north.

Off hand I cannot remember the two German divisions that won the original bridgehead, but I do remember that an armoured battalion that included ex-Italian tanks was also used and a Cossack division was in the intended follow-up forces.

A bridgehead was established but the Bulgarians fought solidly and it was abandoned after a few days. Whether this was because of local difficulties or the defeat of the larger German offensive further north, I cannot remember. In any case, the withdrawal was skillfully conducted, leaving little by way of spoil or prisoners for the Bulgarians.

The Germans were able to find the forces for this operation locally because at the beginning of 1945 they had successfully defeated the first attempts by the new Yugoslav partisan armies at mounting a conventional attack in Srjem, south of the river.

I will try to dig out my notes on the subject and give you something more concrete in a few days.

Cheers,

Sid.

[Ron Klages]

Jeff,

For English lanuage you can find some information in the following book:

STALINGRAD TO BERLIN, The German Defeat in the East by Earl F. Ziemke. The book is part of the US Army Historical Series.

Armies-Bulgarian
pages 375 and 382

Drava River
pages 364, 382-383, 449, 450, 454-456

The Bulgarian forces were part of the Soviet 3. Ukrainian Front which had fought into Yugoslavia and then into Hungary along the Drava River.


Hope this helps. You should be able to find this book via a library.
Best regards and a happy new year,

Ron Klages

[Ron Klages]

Jeff,

I did a bit more trolling through my libray and found the following in the book DRAMA BETWEEN BUDAPEST AND VIENNA by Georg Maier.

The battle was code named Operation "Frühlingserwachen" which began on 6 March 1945.

The 3. Ukrainian Front consisted of the following OOB and locations:

4.Guards Army with 8 divisions from GANT (west of CSKVAR0---LAKE VELENCEI--SARVIZ CANAL; a frontage of 50 kilometers

26. Army with 10 divisions from SARVIZ CANAL--SE bank of LAKE BALATON--north of MARCZALI; a frontage of 50 kilometers

57. Army with 6 divisions from SW bank of LAKE BALATON--NAGYBAJOM area to the DRAVA(DRAU) River; a frontage of 80 kilometers

1. Bulgarian Army with 6 divisions continuing along the DRAVA(DRAU) River in the BARCS area; a frontage of 80 kilometers.

from another area of the book I found the following:

On the DRAVA(DRAU) Front the 11. Luftwaffen-Feld-Division was able to gain about 2 kilometers of ground. However, the enemy is attacking. The river crossing is progressing well with both 8ton ferries. The batteries threatening the crossing traffic could be eliminated, but the situation is still undecided. The XII. Partisian Corps and the Bulgarian 13. and 11 Infantry Divisions have been identified while the Bulgarian 12, Infantry Division has been moved 14 days earlier and is now in front of the German 2. Panzer-Army. The 16. Tito Division has taken its place. SCHEMNITZ was lost in the 8. Army sector. The enemy continiued his advance east of the city. Attacks on ALTSOHL were driven back. This data was from HG Süd daily report for 8 March 1945.

Orders for the next day to the 2. Panzer-Army were:
Expand the basis for friendly attacks by enveloping the flank of the 1. Bulgarian Army as far south as possible.

On 9 March 1945 the 2. Panzer-Army reported its intention of beginning the attack south through KUTAS and KISBAJOM on NAGYKORPAD at 1100 hours on 10 March 1945 with the 16. SSPGD on the right and elements of the 71. ID on the left

On 11 March 1945 he 2. Panzer-Army reported that the ground gained by the 16. SSPGD could not be held when new Soviet forces were brought in to support the Bulgarians. The attack by the Germans came to a halt south of the creek just outside NAGYKORPAD. Afurther attack was planned firther to the south toward NAGYPAD aganist NAGYVATAD and then turn to the east to keep the advance moving. Instead the attack was redirected nw of NAGYBAJOM to the east.

On 12 March 1945 the 2. Panzer Army suspended its advance and went over to the defensive. The enemy remained quiet during the day, so that repositioning for the attack from the areas of MARCZALI (16.SSPGD0 and KETHELY (1. Volks-Gebirg-Division) was able to proceed according to plan. It was intended t begin this attack on 14 March 1945 in an eastward direction. From the starting point to SIO River was still about 70-80 kilometers.



I should note that the attacks by the 2. Panzer-Army were coming from south of Lake Balaton ,

The OOB for the 2. Panzer Army on 5 March 1945 was:

XXIII Army Korps with
118. Jager Div with 7 StuGs
92 PG Brigade

LXVIII Army Korps with
13 SS Gebirgs Div
71.ID with 20 StuGs and 7 Jagpz. IVs
1. Volks Gebirg Div with 12 StuGs
16. SSPGD with 24 StuGs


That should give you a feel for the actions.

best regards,

Ron Klages

[sid guttridge]

Hi Jeff,

I don't think it was particularly costly. I have the Bulgarian losses somehere and they are not particularly high. None of the troops on either side were of the highest quality and their actions were only secondary to the fighting nearer Budapest. Besides, the action was soon broken off by the Germans.

To my mind it has two significances. Firstly, it shows how resilient and aggressive even second rate German forces could be on minor fronts, late in the war and with limited resources at their disposal. It is no surprise that Germany could still pull off a major offensive by concentrating its best remaing equipment in the Ardennes or opposite Budapest, but it is something of a surprise that the poverty stricken forces of Army Group E could still mount fairly substantial and ambitious offensive operations on a shoestring.

Secondly, it shows that although they lacked much battle experience, the Bulgarian presence was more than symbolic and they could perform solidly in defence, if without obvious flare. By contrast, the new Yugoslav conventional forces seem not to have performed that well.

Cheers,

Sid.

[Lorenz]

The following relates to that time and place and was part of the fighting that encompassed the ground activity in that area during the first half of March 1945:

Operation “Waldteufel”


Dates: 6 – 8 March 1945.

Objective: To cross the Drava River and create bridgeheads on the eastern side at Donji Miholjac and Valpovo, and then advance toward Mohács in South Hungary.

Enemy Forces: 12th, 16th, 36th and 51st Assault Divisions JA.

Axis Forces Deployed
German
1. Kosaken-Kav.Div.
11. Feld-Div. (L)
104. Jäger-Div.
297. Infanterie-Div.
Croatian
- none -

Conduct of Operations and Results: “Waldteufel” was the “Croatian” part of a larger offensive involving 2. Panzerarmee in Hungary because it was launched from Croatian soil and took place there. After crossing the river in small boats, both bridgeheads were established to a depth of up to 8 kilometers but then came under intense attack in the afternoon by Soviet ground-attack aircraft. Consequently, both bridgeheads were withdrawn and the operation called off. No casualty reports have been found.

© "Lorenz", 2005