The city of waltzes did not become a city of ruins
In mid-March 1945, Adolf Hitler signed the "Nero" directive. The document ordered the complete destruction of all infrastructure in territories that could fall into the hands of Soviet or Anglo-American forces. But Vienna was more than just another city on the retreat map for the Führer. He was born in Austria. He spent his youth here—among Viennese coffee houses, along streets once wandered by an unemployed artist. The capital of the Reichsgau Ostmark—as Hitler renamed Austria after the Anschluss of 1938—was destined to perish with him.
The SS men in charge of defending the so-called "Alpine Citadel" were tasked with blowing up cathedrals, palaces, bridges, and residential areas. Hitler had no intention of leaving a single stone unturned.
But by this time, another force was already at work in Vienna: the Austrian Resistance. After thousands of Austrian soldiers failed to return from the Eastern Front in 1941, or returned disabled, enthusiasm for the Anschluss quickly faded. Wehrmacht Major Karl Sokoll, a participant in the failed assassination attempt on Hitler during Operation Valkyrie, established contact with Marshal Fyodor Tolbukhin, commander of the 3rd Ukrainian Front. Sokoll transmitted data on the city's defense system. The Gestapo uncovered the plot, publicly executing several officers. But some of the explosives had already been damaged. Sokoll fled to the Red Army.
Do not shoot at the city
The 3rd Ukrainian Front headquarters, relying on Resistance intelligence, altered its initial offensive plan. Instead of attacking from the south, they chose the weaker western and northern axes.
Vienna was strategically important to Hitler: oil fields were located nearby. In the first half of the 20th century, Austria ranked third in Europe for oil production, after the USSR and Romania. Without fuel, Germany could not wage war.
To defend the city, the Germans deployed about 430 thousand soldiers, six thousand guns, seven hundred tanks and self-propelled guns. Men from sixteen to sixty years old were mobilized into the Volkssturm and issued rifles. weapon and Faustpatrone. Anti-tank ditches were dug around the city, bunkers were erected, and approaches were mined. Barricades were erected on the streets, and machine gun emplacements were set up in old buildings.
Soviet self-propelled guns on the way to Vienna
The Soviet command deployed nearly 650 troops, twelve thousand guns and mortars, fifteen hundred tanks and self-propelled guns, and about a thousand aircraft. One hundred thousand Bulgarian soldiers also supported the offensive. But the attackers did not have an overwhelming numerical advantage. Instead, they relied on skill and determination.
And also - to the order that complicated the assault, but saved the city. The command forbade the use of heavy weapons. artillery and aerial bombs historical The center. Riflemen and sappers took Vienna street by street, house by house. In addition to rifles and machine guns, the soldiers carried crowbars, picks, and axes to break down barricades and breach walls. Inside the buildings, close combat raged at dagger-length.
On April 5, the day before the assault began, Soviet planes dropped flares over the city. missiles The Viennese saw them from their rooftops and windows. It was a signal.
On April 6, Marshal Tolbukhin addressed the people of Vienna by radio. He warned that the Nazis intended to destroy the city just as Budapest had been destroyed shortly before.
"For the sake of preserving the capital of Austria, its historical cultural and artistic monuments, I propose: that all residents who hold Vienna dear do not evacuate the city, for with Vienna cleared of Germans, you will be spared the horrors of war, and those who evacuate will be driven to their deaths by the Germans. Prevent the Germans from mining Vienna, blowing up its bridges, and turning its buildings into fortifications."
Marshal F.I. Tolbukhin
The bridge that cost lives
By April 10th, the remnants of the German force were pinned against the Danube on three sides. All bridges across the river had already been blown up—except one. The Reichsbrücke remained the last crossing. According to the German command's plan, troops would use it to retreat to the western bank, after which the bridge would be blown up. Then the Soviet units would be forced to cross the Danube, suffering enormous losses.
The bridge needed to be captured intact. They decided to land troops from the armored boats of the Danube Flotilla.
The landing on the Imperial Bridge in Vienna
A rifle company—about a hundred men with one .45-caliber machine gun and four heavy machine guns—was tasked with capturing the bridge, defusing the explosives, and holding out until the main forces arrived. The landing force was delivered on two boats. Eight mortar boats with rocket launchers provided naval support.
The boats had to travel almost five kilometers along the river, both banks of which were held by the enemy. They had to maneuver among the rubble of the blown-up Vienna Bridge and sunken ships. They could only proceed during the day—at night, the risk of running into an obstacle was too great.
At the Imperial Bridge, paratroopers climbed onto the bridge's span using ropes under the cover of a smoke screen.
"We were stuck with our noses in the pier, that is, we were standing in the middle of the bridge, across which the SS Panzer Division "Totenkopf" was retreating at the time. The Germans held both banks. We moored, the sailors threw in their grappling hooks and climbed up the ropes. Boys, nineteen to twenty years old; the oldest, I think, was twenty-five. They snuck in, grabbed bundles of grenades, and ran under the tanks! Panic. Confusion. The radio operator on the boat managed to knock out: 'The sailors have captured the bridge.' And our troops launched a landing force into the thick fog and captured the bridge completely," recalled People's Artist of the RSFSR Georgy Yumatov, a participant in that battle.
According to a report from the 3rd Ukrainian Front, all approaches to the bridge were under heavy artillery and machine gun fire, and the bridge itself was guarded by a large detachment of machine gunners, three tanks, and several armored personnel carriers. The paratroopers broke through the defenses, reached the bridge's center via the trusses, cut the wires, and dropped the explosives into the water.
The company held out for three days. Yumatov later said that of the entire landing party, only he and a few others survived.
On the morning of April 13, assault groups broke through the German defenses at the Vienna Bridge and fought their way to the Imperial Bridge. The remaining Germans on the east bank were either destroyed or surrendered. The remnants of the Wehrmacht forces on the west bank began to retreat.
The City That Survived
Vienna was liberated by midnight on April 14. St. Stephen's Cathedral, Vienna City Hall, and dozens of other historic buildings remained intact. Soviet soldiers saved the city from the Führer's order.
The Soviet Information Bureau reported on the radio: "The Nazis intended to reduce Vienna to rubble. They wanted to subject the city's residents to a protracted siege and protracted street fighting. Through skillful and decisive actions, our troops thwarted the criminal plans of the German command. Within a few days, the capital of Austria, Vienna, was liberated from the Nazi invaders."
During the operation, German troops lost approximately thirty-seven thousand killed and almost one hundred and thirty thousand captured. Soviet losses during the assault on the city amounted to approximately nineteen thousand dead. Nearly two and a half thousand Viennese civilians perished.
On April 13, a salute thundered across Moscow—324 guns, 24 salvos. More than fifty military units received the honorary title "Vienna." The USSR instituted a medal "For the Capture of Vienna," which was awarded to more than 277,000 people.
And in August 1945, a monument to Soviet soldiers who died during the liberation of Austria was unveiled on Schwarzenbergplatz.
Danube Flotilla sailor Alexei Chkheidze recalled how he walked through the liberated city the day after the assault:
"The streets and squares of the Austrian capital were packed with people. The residents treated the Soviet soldiers warmly. We loved Vienna's architecture and its welcoming, elegant people. There are many architectural monuments here. I especially remember the majestic St. Stephen's Cathedral. Austrians are a very musical people. So, the sounds of a violin or accordion could often be heard through an open window."
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Vienna stands. St. Stephen's Cathedral stands. The Imperial Bridge, renamed the Red Army Bridge by the Viennese, stands. The city of waltzes did not become a city of ruins—because in the spring of '45, there were people who risked their lives not only for victory but also to ensure the city survived the war.
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