Apparently the preview won’t let me see anything from page 19 to 164.
I’m not seeing anything that contradicts the idea that the Soviets would simply cut the corridor off again in short order. Certainly nothing that’d keep the Soviets out of Austria and Vienna all the way well into April. Even if the Germans successfully eliminate
all the bridgeheads south of Budapest (and that’d require them to aim their offensive to do so instead of relieving Budapest, which isn’t happening IATL, so the Soviets would at least keep the swathe of territory south of Simontornya), the Soviets would still be able to attack the corridor from the northwest without having to recross the Danube.
We're dealing with an alternate history wherein the Ardennes is not launched so infantry slated for that is available elsewhere.
And the fact German infantry has been insufficient to contain Soviet armored formations even in times when it had been much stronger then those sent into the Ardennes suggests that whatever portions (keeping in mind that the bulk of the Ardennes infantry would still be needed in the West just to hold the line) get sent to Hungary would still likely be insufficient to contain a Soviet tank corps. If German Panzer Forces couldn’t cope with the task, then expecting German infantry forces to do better is very much the sort of thinking that was rampant in the Fuhrerbunker in 1945.
Okay, for one, it doesn't flat out say that all:
Quite a bit of nuance there. Further, I should note this refers to Konrad II, not Konrad III which is what the above citations are about.
Yes it does flat out say that. Anyone looking at that second paragraph would be able to see that. It even says the German officers involved in the operation themselves acknowledged they wouldn’t have been able to hold a corridor open for any longer then the time it would take for the forces in the city to escape, hence why they interpreted the operation in those terms instead of the terms that Hitler did (that is, the real terms of the operation). And I don’t see why this would suddenly stop being the case for Konrad-III.