Operation Konrad III was a German military offensive on the Eastern Front of the Second World War. It was the third and most ambitious of the three Konrad Operations and had the objective of relieving the siege of Budapest and recapturing the entire Transdanubia region. Achieving complete surprise, the German offensive began on 18 January 1945. Supported by the Luftwaffe, the IV SS Panzer Corps, the principal German attack formation, overran the Soviet 4th Guards Army in two days, destroying hundreds of Soviet tanks along the way, reached the Danube river on 19 January and recaptured 400 square kilometers of territory in four days. After nine days of combat, and the destruction by the SS of two-thirds of Soviet tanks in the entire 3rd Ukrainian Front, the German offensive was stopped by Soviet reinforcements 25 kilometers short of Budapest on 26 January. Battle The Soviet 3rd Ukrainian Front bore the brunt of the attack of the German 6th Army. Leading the assault was the IV SS Panzer Corps, which with three armored divisions and together with the III Panzer Corps, had a complement of 376 operational AFVs at the start of the offensive. 4th Guards Army, with only 250 operational AFVs, had a poor intelligence staff that completely failed to detect the arrival of IV SS Panzer Corps in front of it. The intelligence sections of the 2nd and 3rd Ukrainian Fronts falsely believed the IV SS Panzer Corps was being redeployed to western Hungary. Enjoying the support of German airpower, the attack of the IV SS Panzer Corps achieved complete surprise, the Soviet 4th Guards Army being overrun in less than two days as the 3rd and 5th SS Panzer Divisions, well-equipped with Panther tanks qualitatively superior to the T-34s of the Soviets, destroyed many Soviet tanks in quick succession. The Soviet 18th Tank Corps and 130th Rifle Corps were encircled and a counterattack by the 7th Mechanized Corps was crushed by the SS tanks. The Germans lacked the infantry to quickly reduce the pockets and much of the Soviet forces were able to break out. By the end of the first day, a breach 30 kilometers wide and 60 kilometers deep was created in the Soviet front line and the SS tanks reached the Danube on 19 January, splitting in two the Soviet forces in Transdanubia. By 21 January, the Germans had captured 400 square kilometers of territory,