The South-east wall (German: ''Südostwall'') (also known as Reichsschutzstellung) was a system of fortifications planned by

Nazi Germany Nazi Germany (lit. "National Socialist State"), ' (lit. "Nazi State") for short; also ' (lit. "National Socialist Germany") (officially known as the German Reich from 1933 until 1943, and the Greater German Reich from 1943 to 1945) was ...

in the late stages of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposing ...

to extend along the

Little Carpathians The Little Carpathians (also: ''Lesser Carpathians'', sk, Malé Karpaty; german: Kleine Karpaten; hu, Kis-Kárpátok) are a low, about 100 km long, mountain range, part of the Carpathian Mountains. The mountains are situated in Western Slov ...

and

Lake Neusiedl Lake Neusiedl (german: Neusiedler See), or Fertő ( hu, Fertő (tó); hr, Nežidersko jezero, Niuzaljsko jezero; sl, Nežidersko jezero; sk, Neziderské jazero; cs, Neziderské jezero) is the largest endorheic lake in Central Europe, strad ...

southwards to the River Drau. Not a wall in the true sense of the word, the South-east wall was rather a series of German batteries and anti-tank ditches built at strategic locations alongside the southeastern border of the German Reich in 1944/45 with the intention of stopping the

Red Army The Workers' and Peasants' Red Army ( Russian: Рабо́че-крестья́нская Кра́сная армия),) often shortened to the Red Army, was the army and air force of the Russian Soviet Federative Socialist Republic and, afte ...

. The defensive line was only partly finished when the Red Army reached the line in March 1945, and merely slowed the speed of their offensive. The Red Army broke through the line at the beginning of the

Vienna Offensive The Vienna offensive was an offensive launched by the Soviet 2nd and 3rd Ukrainian Fronts in order to capture Vienna, Austria, during World War II. The offensive lasted from 16 March to 15 April 1945. After several days of street-to-street f ...

. Vienna is located only west of the defensive line. Manfried Rauchensteiner, ed. ''Das Heeresgeschichtliche Museum in Wien''. Graz/Vienna: Verlag Styria, 2000, , p. 81

References

{{coord, 47, 17, N, 16, 12, E, region:AT-1_type:landmark_source:kolossus-dewiki, display=title Military installations of the Wehrmacht World War II defensive lines