Tigers of the Death's Head

One of Nazi Germany’s most famous -- and most feared -- units of World War II was the 3rd SS Panzer Division, known as the “Totenkopf” or “Death’s Head.” Initially formed from a cadre of concentration camp guards, the division saw combat service starting with the campaign for France in 1940 and the invasion of the Soviet Union in 1941 and continuing through the end of the war. This brand-new look at the division focuses on the 9th Company of the Totenkopf’s 3rd Panzer Regiment, the only unit in the division to be equipped with massive Tiger tanks. The men of the company were experienced tankers and used their Tigers to devastating effect starting with the Battle of Kursk. The Tiger company fought on the bloody Eastern Front through war’s end, experiencing heavy losses against Soviet forces that increasingly outnumbered them. This fresh look at tank combat on the Eastern Front presents a combat history of the Totenkopf’s Tiger company, taking readers inside its battles against enemy T-34s. About the Author Michael Wood, a veteran of the British Army who served in the Persian Gulf War, is a lifelong student of World War II. He lives near Manchester, England.