SS-Panzer-Regiment 3’s 9. Kompanie had an operational life of just over two years, fighting mainly on the Eastern Front and ending World War II in Perg, Austria, on 8 May 1945. The company’s personnel then spent a number of years in American or Russian confinement; only a handful managed to escape and make it home.
During the 1950s the Russians started releasing captured German military personnel and allowed them to return home. In 1959 the first veterans meeting took place, and former 9. Kompanie soldiers spent many hours recounting their experiences. It was from this first meeting that Wolfgang Barth gathered and recorded individual reports and learned the fate of other company members. Barth permitted me to use this huge collection of records as the basis for this book. Other veterans gave me their time for interviews or questionnaires, allowing me to assemble a more coherent picture of the events during March–April 1945. Between 2010 and 2013 I visited the battlegrounds in Poland, Hungary, and Austria, where I found many old people who still remembered their own wartime experiences.
Many of the photographs in this book will already be known to the reader, but there are new ones which have never been published before, along with new details on the former soldiers and officers of 9. Kompanie. These provide insight into the operational and working life of the unit during World War II. This book is my contribution to the ever-growing field of knowledge of the Panzerwaffe from World War II and is meant for novice and aficionado alike. Any mistakes are mine alone.