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The German 9th Panzer Division (Neunte
Panzerdivision) came into existence after 4th Light
Division was reorganized in January 1940.
The 4th Light Division (sometimes described as Light
Mechanized or Light Panzer to distinguish it from the
later Light infantry divisions) was created in April 1938 by converting a mobile division
of the former Austrian army
after the Anschluss. In
1939 it fought in the Invasion of Poland. Due to shortcomings
that the campaign revealed in the organization of the Light
Divisions, then part of the Cavalry, it was reorganized as the 9th
Panzer Division afterward, in January 1940.
As the 9th Panzer Division it fought in the 1940 Battle of
France (relieving airborne units at Rotterdam in the Battle of the Netherlands)
and the Balkans Campaign of spring 1941, then took part in Operation
Barbarossa starting in the summer. During the Battle of
Kursk, the 9th Panzer was subordinate to the 9th Army and fought as part of the 47th
Panzer Corps. Fighting alongside the 2nd, 4th and
20th
Panzer divisions and the 6th
Infantry Division, it tried unsuccessfully to break through the
Soviet defensive belt. After an advance of only 15 km and suffering
heavy casualties, it abandoned its attempt to reach Kursk. It
fought under Army Group South and Army Group Center until the spring of 1944, when it was withdrawn to France for rehabilitation after
great losses. In France it absorbed the assets of the 155th Reserve
Panzer Division to recover full strength. Thereafter it fought in
the Battle
of Normandy and the Falaise Pocket. In
October 1944 it absorbed the 105th Panzer Brigade to recover its
losses. It then defended the West Wall at Aachen and participated in the Battle of
the Bulge. It was eventually trapped in the Ruhr Pocket and
surrendered to the Americans there in April 1945.
Commanding
officers
- Generalleutnant Alfred Ritter von Hubicki, 3
January 1940 – 14 April 1942
- Generalleutnant Johannes Baeßler, 15 April 1942 – 26
July 1942
- Generalmajor Heinrich-Hermann von Hülsen, 27 July 1942
– 3 August 1942
- Generalleutnant Walter Scheller, 4 August 1942 – 21
July 1943
- Generalleutnant Erwin Jollasse, 22 July 1943 – 20
October 1943
- Generalmajor Dr. Johannes Schulz, 20 October 1943 – 27
November 1943
- Oberst Max Sperling, 27 November 1943 – 28 November
1943
- Generalleutnant Erwin Jollasse, 28 November 1943 – 10
August 1944
- Oberst Max Sperling, 10 August 1944 – 2 September
1944
- Generalmajor Gerhard Müller, 3 September 1944 – 16
September 1944
- Generalleutnant Harald Freiherr von Elverfeldt, 16
September 1944 – 28 December 1944
- Generalmajor Friedrich Wilhelm von
Mellenthin, 28 December 1944 – February 1945
- Generalleutnant Harald Freiherr von Elverfeldt,
February 1945 – 6 March 1945
- Oberst Helmut Zollenkopf, 6 March 1945 – 8 May
1945
See also
References
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follow links to cover the unit's entire history.
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