6th Panzer Army The 6th Panzer Army ( 6 . Panzer - Armee ) was a formation of the Wehrmacht Heer , formed in the Autumn of 1944 . The 6th Panzer Army was first used as an offensive force during the Battle of the Bulge , in which it operated as the northernmost element of the German offensive . The army was subsequently transferred to Hungary in early 1945 and used in both offensive and defensive actions there . The final battles of the 6th Panzer Army were fought in Austria until the collapse of Nazi Germany , at which point the remnants of the army surrendered to the United States Army . Army commander throughout the army ' s existence was SS - Oberstgruppenführer Josef Dietrich , from October 26 , 1944 . Dietrich was captured by the Americans on May 12 , 1945 . Unit history . The 6th Panzer Army is best noted for its leading role in the Battle of the Bulge ( December 16 , 1944 – January 25 , 1945 ) . On April 2 , 1945 , it was transferred to the Waffen - SS . The 6th Panzer Army then became known as " 6th SS Panzer Army " ( 6 . SS - Panzerarmee ) . Although it didn ' t receive the SS designation until after the Battle of the Bulge , the SS designation came into general use in military history literature after the Second World War for the formation as assembled prior to that campaign . After the Ardennes Offensive , the 6th SS Panzer Army was transferred to Hungary , where it fought against the advancing Soviet Army . The attack of the 6th Panzer Army into the Ardennes in December 1944 failed to swiftly break the American defensive line and lost valuable time because of U . S . defensive efforts at locations like Monschau . Despite the allocation of SS panzer divisions , the 6th Panzer Army only managed a minor penetration into the northern defensive sector of the U . S . VIII Corps and its advance was thereafter checked by U . S . reinforcements arriving on the northern flank of the offensive . After the Ardennes Offensive , the 6th SS Panzer Army was transferred to Hungary , where it fought against the advancing Soviet Army . In March 1945 , after the fall of Budapest , the 6th SS Panzer Army launched one of the final German offensives of the war , Operation Frühlingserwachen around Lake Balaton . This was an attempt to protect the last sources of petroleum controlled by the Germans . The offensive took the Red Army by surprise and made an impressive advance for such a late stage in the war . However , once the Soviets became aware of the presence of elite SS units ( Hitler ' s personal unit , the 1st SS Panzer Division took part in the operation ) they counterattacked in strength . By March 14 , the operation was in serious trouble with Joseph Goebbels admitting in his diary that failure was likely ; three days later , the Germans were back at their original starting positions . The commander of the 6th Panzer Army , General Dietrich , joked that " 6th Panzer Army is well named – we have just six tanks left " . Among the 1st , 2nd , 9th , and 12th SS Panzer Divisions , each division still had 31 or more operational armored fighting vehicles on March 15 , 1945 , while Army Group South as a whole still had 772 operational tanks and assault guns as of March 16 , 1945 . The remaining German forces withdrew under Soviet pressure into Austria in order to defend Vienna . In April 1945 , the 6th SS Panzer Army defended Vienna against the advancing Soviets , but was unable to prevent Soviet conquest of the city . When the war ended on May 8 , 1945 , the 6th SS Panzer Army was in Austria between Vienna and Linz , in which area it subsequently surrendered to forces of the U . S . Army . < br >