A Sd.Kfz. 251/3 Ausf.D in the livery of 12.SS-Panzer-Division “Hitlerjungund” in retreat during Unternehmen Frühlingserwachen (Operation Spring Awakening) disastrous end.
Unternehmen Frühlingserwachen
The division was next to take part in Operation Frühlingserwachen (Spring Awakening), the operation to retake the Hungarian oilfields. Adolf Hitler, desperate to keep the operation a secret, had ordered that no reconnaissance of the battlefield was allowed before the attack began. The attack got underway on 6 March 1945, in atrocious conditions. The spring thaw meant that the German attack was confined to a few narrow roads and, after initial successes, the offensive was aborted after a Soviet counterattack threatened to encircle the German forces. After the failure of “Frühlingserwachen”, Hitler lost faith in the Waffen-SS and ordered that the honorary cuffbands issued to the divisions involved in the attack be returned. Outraged at the order, Dietrich refused to pass it on to his men.