The 9th Guards Army was a field army of the Red Army during World War II, which fought in the Vienna Offensive and the Prague Offensive at the end of the war. The army was formed in January 1945 and included airborne divisions converted into infantry. Postwar, the army headquarters became Soviet airborne headquarters.
Soviet troops during 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 fighting, the Soviet troops captured the city.
Soviet troops on Studebaker US6 trucks during the Vienna offensive
Vienna offensive
Stalin's gratitude to one of the participants of the offensive
Stalin's order congratulating the units that had participated in the Vienna offensive is engraved on the Red Army Monument (Heldendenkmal der Roten Armee) that was erected by the Soviet authorities later in 1945.