ACKNOWLEDGMENTS
This book came about after an introduction to Wolfgang Barth and the surviving veterans of 9. Kompanie/SS-Panzer-Regiment 3. Before the current work came into being, I had decided to write a book covering the operational life of IV. SS-Panzer-Korps. This very quickly became a very lengthy process as I tried to find research material on the 3. SS-Panzer-Division Totenkopf.
After eight years, I had amassed a great deal of material covering the tank regiment and 9. Kompanie. Herr Barth allowed me the use of his personal collection of photographs, and I was fortunate enough to have the assistance of three fellow researchers Dietrich Wolf and Markus Reisner in Austria and Rüdiger Warnick in Germany. Dietrich Wolf drove all over the countryside north of Krems an der Donau and interviewed one of the last surviving company commanders. Dietrich was able to locate and photgraph the last wreck sites of the Tigers from 9. Kompanie. Markus Reisner kindly provided me with his own research notes on the fighting around Ofenbach–Lanzen Kirchen and took photographs of the of the site where a Tiger I was abandoned on 1 April 1945. Rüdiger Warnick took time out from his busy schedule to interview the last veterans of 9. Kompanie during the latter half of 2011 and the early part of 2013.
I would like to thank especially Kamen Nevenkin, who put me in contact with Mike Olive, who agreed to take on the project on behalf of Stackpole Books. Kamen also provided the necessary guidance and knowledge when it came to searching Russian archives and contacting private archives in Moscow. I also owe much to Oliver van Hettinga, who managed to find out that Totenkopf veterans still meet every year.
I would also like to thank the following: Mirko Bayerl (Sweden), Stephan Cazenave (France), Robert Wroblewski (Poland), Wojciech Grzegorz Stanczyk (Poland), Sebastian Remus (Germany), Otto Josza (Hungary), Sigrid Kleinschmidt (Germany), Peit Duits (Holland), Charles Trang (France), Hans Weber (Switzerland), Jeff Dugdale (United Kingdom), Jon Koser (United Kingdom), Paul Turner (United Kingdom), Herr Kalt (Krems), Herr Hollwirth (Austria), Margarette Pfahnl (Austria), Simon Vosters (Belgium), Frau Ebeling, widow of Kurt Ebeling (Germany), Kuno Ther (former 9. Kompanie commander), Ludwig Buss (9. Kompanie), and Erich Lehmkuhl (9. Kompanie).
All interviews with former veterans were conducted between September 2011 and March 2013. Unfortunately, Gustav Krippl died before an introduction could be made; he died in late 2011.
