Hitler's dissatisfaction with the failure of the Hungarian operation and the hasty return to Austria was enormous. 6 SS Armored Division made a retreat contrary to Hitler's orders to even continue the offensive. The defeat of the Waffen-SS armored divisions, which were considered elite units, caused an outburst of anger at Hitler, who commanded the soldiers from all divisions of the two corps: Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler, Das Reich, Hohenstaufen and the Hitlerjugend to remove the SS straps with the names of these units from their own uniforms. All promotions have also been canceled. SS units refused to execute this command. Josef Dietrich was to say the following: "This is a thank you for what we have done for the last five years." With such an appreciation of their efforts, the soldiers and officers failed to do so.


"Mr. General
Your people are fighting great, despite the hopeless situation, morale is high and soldiers are fighting sacrificially. Now they are no longer doing this for the Fhrer, now they are fighting for their companions. After heavy delays we will try to stop the Russians in the vicinity of Vienna. We need time to withdraw as many of our soldiers and fleeing civilians to the left bank of the Danube. The last line of defense is chic around the old city.

Operational tasks:
- Keep the bridge on the Danube until the end of the evacuation.

Soviet armored forces reached the city from the east, south and south-west.

Generaloberst Lothar Rendulic"
