Austrian Operation

The Austrian Operation formed part of the Bulgarian First Army's participation in the Patriotic War against the Third Reich in 1944–1945. It took place from 30 April to 9 May 1945. Following the political changes in Bulgaria in the second half of 1944, the country's new leadership decided to join the anti-Hitler coalition. After the Mur Operation, conducted from 29 March to 13 April 1945, the Bulgarian First Army and the Soviet Army's Third Ukrainian Front proceeded to the Vienna offensive, within which the Bulgarian army's Austrian Operation also took place. In late April and early May 1945, the Bulgarian First Army successfully routed the German troops in Hungary, pursued the remnants withdrawing into Austria, and entered Carinthia.

The fighting along Austria's roads involved the Bulgarian 12th and 16th Infantry Divisions, the 1st Army Motorised Battalion and the 1st Army Armoured Battalion, as well as other First Army units and services. These forces successfully completed the defeat of the Nazi formations. On 8 May 1945, the Bulgarian army was in the small town of Leibnitz, while a reconnaissance platoon reached the vicinity of Völkermarkt, near Klagenfurt. There, the commander of the Bulgarian First Army, General Vladimir Stoychev, the deputy commander-in-chief at the Ministry of War, General Ferdinand Kozovski, and representatives of the Soviet army met the commander of the British Third Army, General William Keightley.

Nazi Germany surrendered and capitulated.