PS: My bad; Malinovsky commanded 2nd Ukrainian Front northwest of Budapest. Tolbukhin commanded 3rd Ukrainian Front from southwest of Budapest to the Yugoslav Border. Among the pecking order of Soviet generals, Malinovsky stands higher than Tolbukhin. I’m guessing that stripping Tolbukhin of his units is the Stavka’s way of telling Tolbukhin he’s not going to “liberate” Vienna, but instead it will be Malinovsky.
The Russians’ ability to compress their forces across a smaller front will make for a swift end when the final blows fall.