Battle for Alland (1945)
During the fighting for Alland in April 1945 , the area around the Lower Austrian municipality of Alland in the Vienna Woods was captured by Soviet troops in the final phase of World War II . The beginning of the fighting was marked by a pincer movement to encircle Vienna and prepare for the battle for Vienna .
Troops in the Alland area
German Reich : The left wing of the 1st SS Panzer Corps of the 6th Panzer Army under Sepp Dietrich of Army Group South , consisting of the remnants of the 12th SS Panzer Division , alarm units and the 1st SS Panzer Division .
On April 5, 1945, all troop units had only 52 intact tanks and assault guns and only about 30% of the nominal strength. On the German side, around 20 heavy equipment and a maximum of 8,000 men were used in the area of Klausen-Leopoldsdorf , Alland, Hoher Lindkogel , Triestingtal , Piestingtal .
Soviet Union : parts of the Soviet 6th Guards Armored Army of the 9th Guards Army of the 3rd Ukrainian Front under Marshal Fedor Tolbuchin , consisting of the 38th Guards Rifle Corps and the 5th Guards Armored Corps; The 4th Guard Army at the end of April.
chronology
The following description is based on the source given below, which in turn refers to the presentation of the events in the German front reports.
April 4th and 5th, 1945
In the Baden area , the Soviet troops advanced with one or two battalions through the Helenental in the direction of Sattelbach - Heiligenkreuz - Sittendorf through the barriers built in the valley, allegedly under the leadership of civilians. At first there was no significant fighting there. Only the German troops to the west of Heiligenkreuz and Mayerling stopped the breakthrough to Alland, but were pushed back to the eastern edge of Alland and heights to the north and south of it. Soviet gun batteries took up position at the high-altitude cemetery of Heiligenkreuz and shot at Alland. As a result, the Carmel Church in Mayerling and the Alland Church were badly damaged. During this time, the tombs of the cemetery of Heiligenkreuz, including those of Mary von Vetsera , were broken into and searched for jewelry. Probably on this day the Wehrmacht blew up the bridges over the Schwechat in Mayerling and Alland. Most of the Soviet troops turned north in the direction of Sittendorf - Pressbaum - Tulln and were thus able to carry out the planned western enclosure of Vienna. Some attacked the defensive positions of the Germans at Klausen-Leopoldsdorf from Gruberau .
April 6th and 7th
The German troops attacked from the Pottenstein area to the north and occupied the area between Großau and Groisbach and the Gainfarn - Raisenmarkt road . The weak security line between Alland and Neulengbach could only be held with difficulty by the German troops against the Soviet units advancing from the northeast.
The German troops succeeded in recapturing the castle ruins of Merkenstein and the Hohen Lindkogel on April 7th . The German troops in Alland and north of it, on the other hand, were pushed back by one or two Soviet regiments and their remnants were thrown back as far as the Schöpfl near Laaben .
April 8th and 9th
On April 8, the mountains east of the Raisenmarkt - Schwarzensee road , the Buchberg and the area around the rehabilitation center in Groisbach were recaptured by German troops. Five Russian tanks were destroyed in the process. Another attack shocked a combat group of an alarm unit, which had been northwest of Klausen-Leopoldsdorf - near Weidenbach - all day long.
The Soviet troops captured Schwarzensee with tanks on April 9, while the German troops attacked to the north to consolidate the main line of battle between Alland and Klausen-Leopoldsdorf.
April 10-13
The 12th SS Panzer Division was able to recapture Groisbach and Untermeierhof on April 10th .
A Soviet offensive on April 12 in a company - up to battalion strength on a broad front with a focus on Alland, Klausen-Leopoldsdorf in a south-west direction threw the German troops back on the Dörfl line - north of Großer Hollerberg .
The next day, parts of the Soviet troops withdrew to the Alland - Klausen-Leopoldsdorf line, while a Soviet regiment from Hochstraß advanced south through the confusing forest area to St. Corona .
April 14-16
On April 14th, Soviet troops advanced from Schwarzensee to the Neuhaus - Nöstach road (now the B 11 ). In return, German troops launched a counter-offensive from the area west of Neuhaus. Advancing north of St. Corona, the Soviet troops managed to conquer the mountains between Schöpfl and the road Wöllersdorf (near Laaben) - Hainfeld (today L 119, formerly part of the B 19 ). On the same day, the German troops set up a new, weak security line between Brand-Laaben and Stössing .
April 15th brought only a few attempts at reconnaissance by the Soviet Army.
On April 16, the 1st SS Panzer Division clashed with Soviet troops in battalion strength in the Peilstein - Neuhaus area. The German troops holed up at the fork in the road 500 m north of Neuhaus, north of Nöstach the 12th SS Panzer Division succeeded in pushing back two battalion- strong attacks by the Soviet troops.
April 17th to 19th
Battles took place that day in the hills east and northeast of Neuhaus, in St. Corona and south of Fahrafeld . The Soviet troops advanced with a large number of infantry and tank units via Heiligenkreuz to Alland and the Triestingtal . The German troops then withdrew from their positions at the lung sanctuary, leaving several tanks behind due to lack of fuel. Counterattacks by the Germans took place from the Kranleiten homestead on a hill down to Groisbach, where two Stalin organs were stationed. SS troops in ambush were also pushed back. The population of Alland hid from the Soviet troops in an abandoned mine tunnel near Groisbach and in the Arnstein cave at the foot of the castle rock near Raisenmarkt.
The Schöpfl was taken several times by both sides.
On the evening of April 19, the 1st SS Panzer Corps stood north or east of the line: Rothenau im Traisental - Schwarzenbach - Hainfeld - St. Corona - Alland - Maria Raisenmarkt - Weissenbach - Pottenstein - east of the Hohen Lindkogel - Markt Piesting - Hohe Wall - Grünbach - Puchberg .
April 21st and 22nd
The Soviet troops advanced from Berndorf in a further south-westerly direction and across the Hainfeld - Traisen road (now the B 18 ) to the west and to St. Corona . The Soviet 4th Guard Army stepped up its attacks in the Vienna Woods and pushed the 1st SS Panzer Corps back from the line it had held since April 3rd. German troops gathered in Pernitz on the same day .
On April 22nd, the front had moved from the municipality of Allands to the Altenmarkt - Traisen road (now the B 18), Klein-Mariazell , Kaumberg and Hainfeld. In Hainfeld, the houses on Triestingtalstrasse were set on fire by SS units , according to Hitler's Nero order .
Web links
See also
source
- Manfried Rauchsteiner : The War in Austria 1945 . In: Writings of the Heeresgeschichtliches Museum in Vienna (Military Science Institute). Österreichischer Bundesverlag, Vienna 1984.
Individual evidence
- ↑ Kapuzinergruft Vienna : Mary Freiin von Vetsera , accessed on March 20, 2020.