A strategic offensive operation has begun in Vienna

On March 16, 1945, the Red Army launched the Vienna Strategic Offensive Operation. Its original goal was to defeat the Wehrmacht units in western Hungary. Soviet troops sought to deliver a decisive blow to the Wehrmacht troops in the western part of the country, after which it was planned to capture the Austrian capital, Vienna.

The main strike force of the 3rd Ukrainian Front launched an offensive after intensive artillery and aviation training in the afternoon of March 16. Units of the 9th and 4th Guards armies were able to successfully capture the enemy's initial lines of defense.

This was preceded by fighting in the Hungarian Lake Balaton area, where the Red Army first repelled a German counteroffensive. They became known as the Balaton Defensive Operation. This is exactly what Izvestia reported in the March 16 issue.

"In Hungary, northeast of Lake Balaton, attacks by German tank units, which suffered heavy losses in previous battles, have significantly weakened," the newspaper says.

There were exactly 54 days left until the Great Victory.

The March 16 edition also wrote about the successes of the Soviet army southwest of Konigsberg, where our troops occupied several cities, the battles in the Danzig area, as well as the actions of aviation. "On the night of March 16, our heavy bombers struck the Veszprem railway junction in Hungary again. As a result of the bombing, fires broke out at the railway junction, accompanied by explosions," the publication says.

The material was published as part of the Izvestia special project "80 days to Victory."

All articles of Izvestia during the Great Patriotic War can be found in the electronic archive.