Editing Operation Spring Awakening (section)

=== Interrupted Soviet offensive preparations ===
On 17 February 1945, the [[Stavka of the Supreme High Command]] instructed the 2nd and 3rd Ukrainian Fronts to prepare for an offensive towards Vienna which would begin on March 15.{{sfn|Számvéber|2017|p=21}} However, from 17 to 18 February, the 2nd Ukrainian Front noticed the 1st SS Panzer division Leibstandarte and the 12th SS Panzer division Hitlerjugend fighting at the Garam River during the German Operation Southwind.<ref name=":3" /> Knowing that German [[Panzer division]]s were not created for defensive purposes, the Soviet Fronts in Hungary became suspicious of the enemy's intentions. Prisoners taken during Operation Southwind testified that the Germans were in fact preparing to gather a large offensive force.<ref name=":3" /> By 20 February, the Soviet fronts in Hungary began to understand what the Germans planned to do.{{sfn|Számvéber|2017|p=21}} The security of the lands west of the Danube, particularly in the south which held the Hungarian oil fields, was the Germans' main priority at this stage of the war.