The Germans succeeded in eliminating the Soviet bridgehead on the west bank of the river Hron in preparation for Operation Spring Awakening.

By that time, in Hitler’s estimation, the Nagykanizsa oilfields in Hungary were the most strategically valuable oil reserves on the Eastern Front.

The main threat, the 6th Guards Tank Army, had been withdrawn to the east bank of the Hron for reconstitution.

[5] According to German air reconnaissance, the Soviets had established a deeply echeloned system of defenses, based on trenches supported by anti-tank block positions.

A relative small amount of Soviet tanks (26) and self-propelled guns (5) was available in the bridgehead,[6] but some reinforcements were to come in later.

The divisions from the I. SS Panzerkorps were then to take over, cross the Párizs Canal, and drive further via Muzsla towards the end-target Esztergom.

Reichsgrenadier-Division "Hoch- und Deutschmeister" attacked the positions of Soviet forces in the sector around the villages of Für and Kürt against heavy resistance of 6th Guards Airborne Division.

[9] After initially suffering heavy casualties (mostly due to the deadly Soviet artillery), the Soviets were defeated in this sector thanks to strong support of the Tiger IIs of the Schwere Panzer Abteilung (sPzAbt) "Feldherrnhalle" and the division advanced toward the villages of Magyarszögyén en Németszögyén, and further reached the Párizs Canal late afternoon.

Infanterie Division in the centre of the attack surprised the Soviet units and made good headway towards the Párizs Canal.

[11] The SS-grenadiers of Kampfgruppe Hansen joined then and tanks plus halftracks firing with everything they had overrun the Soviet positions.

In the evening of 17 February, the Germans took advantage of the fact that the Soviets had ordered the 93rd Guards Rifle Division, until then in defense on the northern bank of the Danube, to launch a counterattack against the German forces that had broken through, and, thereby, weakened their defense in that area.

Kampfgruppe Staubwasser, on the right flank of Panzerkorps Feldherrnhalle, occupied Óriás-Puszta ad advanced towards Bátorkeszi.

SS-Panzer-Division expanded its bridgeheads at Gyiva in the morning and at 12.50 h, armoured vehicles started crossing the canal, then the SS-Panzers rounded Béla from the left and dug in hedgehog style around the roads Köbölkút to Párkány.

Volksgrenadier Division was not able to move further towards Bart and was even heavily attacked by the 36th Guards Tank Brigade, knocking out several panzers.

In the early morning Kampfgruppe Staubwasser captured Búcs and Bátorkeszi and cleaned up this area of the remnants of Soviet forces.

Infanterie Division seized the heights in the southeast from Libád in a perfect maneuver and gained observation on the Hron river.

Panzer-Abteilung 208 attacked towards Kéménd, but got into troubles around Bibit-Puszta, lost most of its armour and played no further part in the operation.

Despite problem with mines, attacking Soviet planes and T-34 tanks (all causing considerable losses), the Kampfgruppe reached the railway station of Párkány around 13.00 h.[11] In the meantime, the 12.

[20] The troops of the completely smashed 25th Guards Rifle Corps fled to the east bank of the Hron, leaving the majority of their heavy weapons behind.

In order to quickly clean up the situation west of the Hron, three Kampfgruppen attacked the southern portion of the bridgehead still during the night of 19 to 20 February.

None of the attacks were successful due to heavy resistance from 24th Guards Rifle Corps, artillery and planes.

[24] Weather: frost at night, temperature 7 °C during the day, slightly cloudy, sunny, fog in certain areas.

Infanterie Division pushed into the southern and western sectors of Kőhídgyarmat, suffering high losses, and captured the town only after fall of darkness around 21.00h.

Heavy fighting took place, but a dashing advance of the halftracks (especially thanks to firepower of the single and triple barreled 2 cm guns in a part of them) got the grenadiers into the town.

An “ace”, Hauptmann Helmut Lipfert, was just appointed as Gruppenkommandeur (group commander) of I./JG 53, based at Veszprém, on 15 February 1945.

[23] The attack was set for 02.00 h. Weather: frost at night, temperature 6°C during the day, thick layers of clouds, rain in certain places.

The unpaved roads and the open terrain were muddy and hardly passable even for the tracked vehicles because of the sudden melting.

In the perimeter of Kéménd, the Soviets constructed a deeply echeloned defensive system which included a pakfront with thirty-seven heavy anti-tank guns.

House-to-house combat erupted in Kéménd, which did not end until late that afternoon with the final capture of the town.

Their artilleries put down heavy harassing fire during the whole day from the eastern bank, concentrating on the area of Kéménd and Bény, without regard for their own retreating troops, in order to impede the attempts of the Germans to cross.