Operation Spring Awakening
Oil helped the town to survive. After successful exploration by the American corporation "Eurogasco", Hungarian-American Oil Inc. was formed. Nagykanizsa became the centre of the Hungarian oil industry. Near the end of World War II, the Nagykanizsa oil fields were the last remaining in German hands, and to protect these fields the last German offensive of the war, Operation Spring Awakening, was launched. This failed and the town soon fell to the Soviet Nagykanizsa–Körmend Offensive.