On March 6, 1945, in western Hungary, German armored soldiers passed by the bodies of dead Soviet soldiers without paying any attention to them. Unlike the fanatical volunteers, the reinforcements consisted of conscripted new recruits, remnants of defeated units, and ground personnel from the German Air Force.

   In the final stages of World War II, on March 6, 1945, when Operation Spring Awakening was launched on the Eastern Front in western Hungary, German forces initially achieved some success with localized attacks. The morale of the German 6th SS Panzer Army remained intact. German tank crewmen ignored the bodies of Soviet soldiers lying nearby as they passed by.Unlike the fanatical volunteers who had once formed divisions, the reinforcements consisted of conscripted new recruits, remnants of defeated units, and large numbers of ground personnel from the German Air Force. 

   Operation Spring Awakening was the German Army's final offensive of World War II. The operation took place from March 6 to March 15, 1945, in the western part of Hungary around Lake Balaton on the Eastern Front.The objective was to secure the Axis powers' last oil reserves and halt the Red Army's advance toward Vienna. The operation erupted after German forces were secretly moved to the Balaton Lake region. Many German units participated, including the 6th Panzer Army and its subordinate Waffen-SS divisions. These units had withdrawn after the failure of the Ardennes Offensive on the Western Front.The German forces launched attacks from three directions but were forced to retreat by March 15. On March 16, the Soviet Red Army and Allied forces began their delayed advance on Vienna. 

   By spring 1945, the situation for German forces on the Eastern Front was catastrophic. The Soviet Red Army was just 70 kilometers from the capital, Berlin.The final spring offensive of the Third Reich, known as the “Spring Awakening,” erupted on March 6, 1945. Despite the collapse of the German military and war economy, the German army once again mobilized a massive force. The Spring Awakening operation involved 430,000 German soldiers, approximately 800 tanks and assault guns, and 6,000 heavy artillery pieces and mortars.Some 800 aircraft were also mobilized. In the Spring Awakening operation, approximately 12,358 German soldiers were wounded, while the Soviet Red Army suffered 32,899 casualties. The casualties among the Axis-aligned Hungarian forces were extremely high, with approximately 350,000 military personnel killed and an estimated 590,000 civilians killed.