December 1944

Eastern Front

The 6th Guards Tank and 7th Guards Armies reach the Danube north of Esztergom, narrowing the corridor out of Budapest still further. A fierce attack finally brings the leading units of the 3rd Ukrainian Front up to join the 2nd Ukrainian to the north, trapping the XI SS Mountain Corps inside the city together with other Hungarian and German divisions deployed to secure the so-called fortress. A force of 5 divisions (4 German, including the 13th Panzer, Feldherrnhalle, SS Horst Wessel and SS Florian Geyer and the 10th Hungarian Division) is isolated, some 188,000 Hungarian and German soldiers.

Hitler orders Wohler to leave these forces inside the city, proposing that Gille's IV SS Panzer Corps relieve them. Gille, with the SS Totenkopf and SS Wiking Divisions, is currently deployed around Bratislava.

The long Soviet drive to capture Budapest has finally resulted in the isolation of the city and encirclement of sizeable German and Hungarian forces. Stalin's insistence that the 46th Army make an early drive on the city has resulted in a protracted battle of attrition as Hitler continues to throw forces into this theater. The protection of Hungarian oil will prove of major importance to Hitler during the final months of the war, drawing forces away from the defense of Germany itself.