ABSTRACT
The Führer was dead, Berlin had fallen, and in Austria the remnants of the four German armies that made up Heeresgruppe Ostmark (now incorporated into Heeresgruppe Süd) were compressed into an ever-shrinking space. The formation of Heeresgruppe Süd, under the supreme command of Kesselring, was itself an admission that the south-west (Italy) and the south-east (Balkans) fronts had collapsed. Of the four armies, two (the 8th Army and the 6th Panzer Army) were to the north of the Danube, and two (the 6th Army and the 2nd Panzer Army) were to the south. The propinquity of two armies numbered 6th confused Allied intelligence, and even after the German surrender the US reports show errors.
