On the 12th first cases of looting and raping by russian troops are reported. At Palais Auersberg Austrian Patriots meet to organize an administration for the city. On Schwarzenbergplatz a russian company cook gives out some sort of porridge to amazed and half starved children coming ot of their shelters. The SS in the inner city still shoots a few unlucky prisoners. On the 11th of April the Russians take the central Danube Bridge, the Reichsbrücke, in a daring coup, Germans retreat north. Schirach and the Nazi Mayor of Vienna, Blaschke, flee to Linz. On the 10th of April the german front in the MArchfeld area collapses. On 9th of April Red Army reaches the inner city, german troops retreat and blow up all bridges over the danube channel. In Floridsdorf three austrian officers are hanged on public lanterns for leading the military resistance inside the wehrmacht in vienna. The CO, Hauptmann Klinkicht, declares he will not follow this order and saves the heart of vienna, anyhow the roof catches fire three days later. On the 8th of April a german artillery battery at Bisamberg Hill gets order to shell St.Stephens cathedral (!), because a white flag was raised there. On the 7th of April Resistance Fighters raise the Austrian flag on the Rathaus heavy fighting in the Prater, where SS has digged in, destroys the Riesenrad and the historic fun fair. Red Army blocks the retreat to the west by seizing the Wientalbundesstraße. On the 6th of April the Russians approach Hütteldorf, the Nazis evacuate all Firefighters and fireengines (!!!) from thecity, showing that they dont care about the population of Vienna. On the 5th of April Red Army reached Neu-Erlaa and Simmering, suburbs of vienna. There was heavy fighting in Vienna, despite the attempts from the austrian resistance movement and some saner officers of the wehrmacht to save the city. forces on and handed over to the Russians three days later. Stechbarth broke out from Vienna with other German troops and reached the front lines in Czechoslovakia. Transferred to a recovery unit in Vienna, he took part in the failed attempt via assault boats to destroy the Reichs Bridge over the Danube. An Unteroffizier in Panzer Grenadier Regiment 394 of the 3rd Panzer Division, he was wounded near the end of the war and treated at St. Horst Stechbarth of the East German NVA fought in the Battle of Vienna. For instance, General der Infanterie Rudolf von Bünau personally led the defense of the Floridsdorf Bridge over the Danube. Yes, there was fighting in the city proper. Sons of the Reich: The History of the II SS Panzer Corps in Normandy, Arnhem, the Ardennes and on The Eastern Front. Men of Steel: The I SS Panzer Corps in the Ardennes and Eastern Front, 1944-45. There are brief sections in these two books regarding the Battle of Vienna:
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