When news reached Hitlers bunker about the retreat of the waffen SS (from their assault near Budapest) the Fuhrer flew into rage, the failure of the precious SS was all the more hard to bear due to the faithhe had previously had in their ability in Nazi ideological zeal. He sent signal to Dietrich ordering the soldiers of the Sixth SS Panzer Army to remove their honourific Nazi armbands.
The effect on the morale of the Waffen SS division in Austria was catastrophic, Senior commanders ripped off their medals in disgust and ordinary granadiers started to desert in large numbers.
The futile assaults in Hungary and the subsequent Soviet offensive had reduced the Waffen SS divisions to only a few thousand men each, the survivors were the Hardcore veterans.
