On 2 April, Vienna Radio denied that the Austrian capital had been declared an
open city. On the same day, Soviet troops approached Vienna from the south after they overran
Wiener Neustadt,
Eisenstadt,
Neunkirchen and
Gloggnitz.
Baden and
Bratislava were overrun on 4 April. After arriving in the Vienna area, the armies of the Soviet 3rd Ukrainian Front surrounded, besieged, and attacked the city. Involved in this action were the
Soviet 4th Guards Army, the Soviet
6th Guards Tank Army, the
Soviet 9th Guards Army, and the
Soviet 46th Army. The "
O-5 Resistance Group," Austrians led by
Carl Szokoll, wanting to spare Vienna destruction, actively attempted to sabotage the German defenses and to aid the entry of the Red Army. The only major German force facing the Soviet attackers was the German
II SS Panzer Corps of the 6th SS Panzer Army, along with
ad hoc forces made up of garrison and anti-aircraft units. Declared a defensive region, Vienna's defense was commanded by General
Rudolf von Bünau, with the II SS Panzer Corps units under the command of SS General
Wilhelm Bittrich. The battle for the Austrian capital was characterized in some cases by fierce
urban combat, but there were also parts of the city the Soviets advanced into with little opposition. Defending in the
Prater Park was the 6th Panzer Division, along the south side of the city were the 2nd and 3rd SS Panzer Divisions, and in the north was the
Führer-Grenadier Division. The Soviets assaulted Vienna's eastern and southern suburbs with the 4th Guards Army and part of the 9th Guards Army. The German defenders kept the Soviets out of the city's southern suburbs until 7 April. However, after successfully achieving several footholds in the southern suburbs, the Soviets then moved into the western suburbs of the city on 8 April with the 6th Guards Tank Army and the bulk of the 9th Guards Army. The western suburbs were especially important to the Soviets because they included
Vienna's main railway station. The Soviet success in the western suburbs was followed quickly by
infiltration of the eastern and northern suburbs later the same day. North of the Danube River, the 46th Army pushed westward through Vienna's northern suburbs. Central Vienna was now cut off from the rest of Austria. By 9 April, the Soviet troops began to infiltrate the center of the city, but the street fighting continued for several more days. On the night of 11 April, the 4th Guards Army stormed the Danube canals, with the
20th Guards Rifle Corps and
1st Mechanized Corps moving on the
Reichsbrücke Bridge. In a
coup de main on 13 April, the
Danube Flotilla landed troops of the
80th Guards Rifle Division and
7th Guards Airborne Division on both sides of the bridge, cutting demolition cables and securing the bridge. However, other important bridges were destroyed. Vienna finally fell when the last defenders in the city surrendered on the same day. Bittrich's II SS Panzer Corps, however, pulled out to the west on the evening of 13 April to avoid encirclement. The same day, the 46th Army took
Essling and the Danube Flotilla landed naval infantry up the river by
Klosterneuburg. While the street fighting was still intensifying in the southern and western suburbs of Vienna on 8 April, other troops of the 3rd Ukrainian Front by-passed Vienna altogether and advanced on
Linz and
Graz. On 10 April, all but two of the bridges in the city had been destroyed. The
Floridsdorf bridge had been left intact by a
Führer Order dictating that the bridge be held at all costs. The 2nd SS Panzer
"Das Reich" left a dozen artillery pieces including 37mm anti-aircraft guns to hold off enemy attacks. That night, the "Das Reich", including their last remaining three dozen armored vehicles, pulled out of the city for the last time. Vienna had fallen, and the Germans now moved northwest to hold the next defensive line. ==Aftermath==