Operation Radetzky

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Operation Radetzky was the code name of an action organized by a group of Austrian opponents of the National Socialist regime to surrender the city of Vienna to the advancing Soviet army without a fight at the end of the Second World War in April 1945. The name was a tribute to the former Austrian military leader Josef Wenzel Radetzky von Radetz (1766-1858).

prehistory

After the Red Army , coming from Hungary via the area between Lake Balaton and the Danube , in the direction of Austria, which at that time belonged to the " Greater German Empire " , had crossed the border at Klostermarienberg on March 29th, the troops reached the surrounding area on April 6th from Vienna (see Vienna Operation 1945 ).

Adolf Hitler had declared the city a "defense area". The struggle should be fought to the end by all means, regardless of the loss of life or buildings. Before infrastructure facilities could fall into the hands of the enemy, they should be destroyed (" Nero order "). Some of these were already equipped with explosive charges and intended for destruction, mainly stations, trains, bridges, signal boxes, oil tanks, electrical and gas works, technical equipment and food supplies.

To prevent this, a resistance group made up of Austrian Wehrmacht members contacted the leadership of the Soviet army. The group was headed by Major Carl Szokoll , who had already been involved in the failed assassination attempt on Hitler on July 20, 1944 as a contact person in Vienna , but who was then able to remain undetected. Afterwards he had worked with the resistance group O5 and formed a group of officers within the military district command XVII who were ready to work against the regime.

execution

On April 2, 1945 Oberfeldwebel Ferdinand Käs and Lance Corporal Johann Reif succeeded in contacting the High Command of the 3rd Ukrainian Front under Marshal Fyodor Tolbuchin in Hochwolkersdorf . The army command was interested in the plans and information about the distribution of German troops in Vienna was transmitted in order to open a gap in the defensive ring and thus pave the way for the Soviets to Vienna. Vienna was to be bordered in the west, as the attack was expected from the east and less resistance was to be expected in the western districts . It was also agreed to protect the civilian population as much as possible. After the start of the Soviet attack, flares were supposed to signal the start of active resistance inside the city on the following day, but this should not happen any more.

Shortly after Käs and Reif returned to Vienna on April 4, Major Karl Biedermann , commander of the army patrol in Greater Vienna , was betrayed and arrested. As part of "Operation Radetzky", which was now partially uncovered, it would have been his job to secure the city's bridges.

In the night of April 5th to 6th, "Operation Radetzky" started as planned. But when members of the group wanted to take over the Bisamberg transmitter on the northern outskirts of the city, an officer became aware of them, whereupon the operation had to be stopped. The plan was uncovered and the officers Captain Alfred Huth and Lieutenant Rudolf Raschke arrested by an SS - state court convicted and, as well, Major Karl Biedermann on April 8 in Floridsdorf publicly street lamps hung . Szokoll was warned, managed to avoid arrest and fled to the command post of the 9th Guards Army in Purkersdorf , where he informed the Soviets of the failure of the operation.

Although it was partially possible to prevent the planned destruction in the city and the "western enclosure" was successful, the fighting lasted from April 6th to 13th. Around 19,000 German and 18,000 Soviet soldiers lost their lives.

Commemoration

A plaque at Floridsdorfer Spitz has been commemorating the execution of the three resistance fighters since 1964. In 1967 the “Kaiser-Franz-Joseph-Kaserne” in the 14th district of Penzing in Vienna was renamed “ Biedermann-Huth-Raschke-Kaserne ”. In the 21st district of Floridsdorf, Karl-Biedermann-Gasse , Ferdinand-Käs-Gasse , Rudolf-Raschke-Gasse and Alfred-Huth-Gasse were named after those involved in the "Operation Radetzky". Biedermann, Huth and Raschke rest in Vienna in the Hietzinger Friedhof in an honorary grave (group 66, row 19, number 5).

literature

  • Carl Szokoll : The rescue of Vienna in 1945. My life, my part in the conspiracy against Hitler and in the liberation of Austria. Amalthea Signum, Munich, Vienna 2001, ISBN 3-85002-472-5 . (Parallel edition: Molden, Vienna 2001, ISBN 3-85485-062-X ).

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