January, only 5 days into Operation Konrad III, the Germans had taken the towns of Dunapentele and Adony which are on the Western shore of the Danube. Their push resulted in the annihilation of the Soviet 7th Mechanized Corps. This sudden and savage push caused the Soviet command to actually contemplate an evacuation to the opposite shore. Before the end of the 4th day, the Germans had recaptured 400 square kilometers of territory, an achievement comparable to the initial German gains during the Ardennes offensive and the Western Front in December 1944. At the height of Operation Konrad III, February 26, the Axis front lines had reached within 20 km of Buda's Southern perimeter, and within about 10 km the Northern perimeter, but their forces were exhausted. From 27 January through 15 February, the Soviets conducted numerous successful counter-attacks, forcing the Germans to give up the greater portion of their territorial gains, pushing the front line back to the area between Lake Velence, the village of Csősz, and Lake Balaton. This area had the Margit Line running right through it, and would see more fighting in the upcoming Operation Spring Awakening. By mid-February, the Soviet bridgehead across the Garam River (Hron) north of Esztergom was identified as a threat. This bridgehead would jeopardize the upcoming Spring Awakening's South-Eastern push past Lake Balaton to secure the southern Hungarian oilfields while also exposing a straight route towards Vienna. Thus beginning on 17 February, Operation Southwind began the effort to secure the Garam bridgehead from the 2nd Ukrainian Front, and by 24 February the task was successfully achieved, proving to be the very last successful German offensive of the war. German plan Creation of Operation Spring Awakening During a Situation Conference on 7 January, 1945 at which both Hermann Göring and OB West Field Marshal Gerd von Rundstedt were present, Hitler proposed his intention of pulling the 6th SS Panzer Army to form a reserve due to severe Allied air attacks. Von Rundstedt received the withdrawal orders on January 8, and the Panzer Army's divisions began preparations to withdraw from the Front. The slow withdrawal was greatly hampered by Allied air superiority. On 12 January, the Soviet 1st Ukrainian and 1st Belorussian Fronts began their Vistula–Oder offensive with over 2 million men placing considerable new pressure on the Eastern Front. When this news reached Hitler, he immediately began to plan a major offensive