The 31st SS Volunteer Grenadier Division was formed from Germans, Hungarians and Volksdeutsche, mostly from the Bačka in September 1944. The division is sometimes given the title Batschka. By November 1944 it was in action on the Hungarian Front In January 1945 it was sent to Austria and reformed as a type 45 Division; only two Battalions in each Regiment and only three platoons in each Company. It then joined the 17th Army in Silesia where it was surrounded by the Red Army and surrendered near Hradec Králové in May 1945.