Lake Balaton Offensive

[Marko]

Forum search will give you some good results, like this one -> http://www.feldgrau.net/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=4081

[Ron Klages]

Tolga Alkan,

I have Drama Between Budapest and Vienna by Georg Maier and I find it an excellent source for the fighting and final battles of the 6. SS Panzer-Armee. As Michael Kenny notes the book has no first hand accounts but it is loaded with detail. Maier was the Deputy Chief of Staff for Operations for the 6.SS PzAOK.
The book contains a total of 488 text pages including 130 appendicies, nearly 1000 footnotes. 16 pages of photos and a separate 34 page book with full color maps. The footnotes are small paragraphs themselves with much information. The book is printed on heavy glossy paper and is 9.75 inches by 12.25 inches in size. Typical JJ Fedorowicz publication.

Here are the chapter titles:

Leadin Items i-v
Table of contents vi-x
Foreward: 1-2
Part I: Setting the Stage
Chapter 1: Overview 3-11
Chapter 2: The Struggle for Budapest 12-111
Chapter 3: The struggle for "Daily Oil". 112-1212
Part II: The Attack
Chapter 4: The buildup in Hungary 123-147
Chapter 5: The "Paper War" Before the Fighting 149-162
Chapter 6: Unterrnehman "Frühlingserwachen" 163-218
Part III: The Final Fighting
Chapter 7: The Turning Point---The Russian Offensive is Launched 219-284
Chapter 8: The Red Flood 285-341
Chapter 9: The War's End in Austria. 342-379
Photographic Section 380-395
Appendicies 396-476
Bibliography 477-482
List of Maps 483
Tactical Symbols 484-485
Rank Comparisons 486-487
Cover Names for Military Operations 488
Index 489-507
Guide to Place Names 508-509
Separate book for 30 maps 34 pages

Just the appendicies are amazing since they are retypings of official reports of the time from letters from Hitler to unit status reports.

If you wish to understand this area and period of the war then this is a very necessary book. True it is expensive but it is a hifgh quality publication from J.J. Fedorowicz.

Best regards,

Ron Klages

[Jan-Hendrik]

Thanks for that valuable information , Mr. Klages !

Jan-Hendrik

[Tolga Alkan]

I agree with Jan,Thanks you Mr. Klages.

[FactsO'plenty]

In german language this book is nearly unaffordable

Jan-Hendrik

And the English translation is nearly unreadable.

[Igorn]

Guys,

On top of mentioned Michael Reynolds' books I highly recommend the following books:

1. The Battle of Lake Balaton 1945
http://www.ipmsnorge.org/hovedsider/art ... laton.html

2. Balaton Defensive Operation, 1945
http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?t=79581

3. Hermann Balck, Ordnung im Chaos: Erinnerungen 1893-1948 (Soldatenschicksale des 20. Jahrhunderts als Geschichtsquelle)


First two books were published in Russia and contain a lot of rare photographs from the the Russian military archives as well as a lot of documents from the Russian side. The third book gives a first-hand story from the German perspective.

As far as Georg Meier's Drama between Budapest and Vienna is concerned it really contains a lot of interesting primary sources and day by day situation reports of the 6 Panzer Armee (1 SS Panzer Corps, 2 SS Panzer Corps). Though this book is a must reading for the in-depth analysis of the Balaton Lake operation one should keep in mind that the author is very biased towards the glorificatin of Waffen SS and is keen to put all the blame for the failure of "Fruelingserwachen" operation on Hitler, General Hermann Balck and General Guderian.

Best Regards from Russia,

[Helmut]

Reb,

I'd like to own Tiekes book also. Amazon currently have a few copies for about $40.00.

Bittrich, Check the website of the Scholars Bookself @
http://www.scholarsbookshelf.com
They have the English translation on clearance right now for considerably less than I have ever seen it before. I have the German edition but just bought the English version since it's so much easier to work with.

Regards,

Helmut

[Bittrich]

Helmut,

Thanks for the tip. I'll have to check it out.

[Kelvin]

Guys,

On top of mentioned Michael Reynolds' books I highly recommend the following books:

1. The Battle of Lake Balaton 1945
http://www.ipmsnorge.org/hovedsider/art ... laton.html

2. Balaton Defensive Operation, 1945
http://forum.axishistory.com/viewtopic.php?t=79581

3. Hermann Balck, Ordnung im Chaos: Erinnerungen 1893-1948 (Soldatenschicksale des 20. Jahrhunderts als Geschichtsquelle)


First two books were published in Russia and contain a lot of rare photographs from the the Russian military archives as well as a lot of documents from the Russian side. The third book gives a first-hand story from the German perspective.

As far as Georg Meier's Drama between Budapest and Vienna is concerned it really contains a lot of interesting primary sources and day by day situation reports of the 6 Panzer Armee (1 SS Panzer Corps, 2 SS Panzer Corps). Though this book is a must reading for the in-depth analysis of the Balaton Lake operation one should keep in mind that the author is very biased towards the glorificatin of Waffen SS and is keen to put all the blame for the failure of "Fruelingserwachen" operation on Hitler, General Hermann Balck and General Guderian.

Best Regards from Russia,

The scale Hitler reinforced his four SS Panzer divison is signicantly smaller than his reinforcement in Ardennes offensive.