| 9th SS Panzer Division Hohenstaufen | |
|---|---|
 Insignia of 9th SS Panzer Division Hohenstaufen |
|
| Active | February 1943 - May 1945 |
| Country |  Nazi
Germany |
| Allegiance | Adolf Hitler |
| Branch |  Waffen-SS |
| Type | Panzer |
| Size | Division |
| Engagements | Falaise
pocket Operation Market Garden Battle of the Bulge Operation Frühlingserwachen |
| Commanders | |
| Notable commanders |
Willi Bittrich Sylvester Stadler |
| Insignia | |
| Identification symbol |
 |
The 9. Waffen SS Panzerdivision "Hohenstaufen", also known as SS-Panzergrenadier-Division 9, SS-Panzergrenadier-Division 9 Hohenstaufen or 9. SS-Panzer-Division Hohenstaufen, was a German Waffen-SS Armoured division which saw action on both the Eastern and Western Fronts during World War II. The division was activated on the 31 December 1942. The men of the division were German conscripts aged 18, with a cadre of experienced staff from the Leibstandarte SS Adolf Hitler. Their first action was in March 1944, in Poland they were then moved to Normandy in June 1944. After the retreat from France they were moved to Arnhem in September 1944, to rest and refit and became involved in the Allied parachute landings. Their next action was the German advance in the Ardennes in the winter of 1944–1945. After the defeat in the Ardennes they were then moved to Hungary, and took part in the fighting to the west of Budapest in February and March. Falling back into Austria the division surrendered to the advancing United States Army on the 5 May 1945, at Steyr.[1]
Contents |
The 9. SS-Panzer-Division Hohenstaufen was formed, along with its sister formation 10. SS-Panzer-Division Frundsberg, in France in February 1943. The division was mainly formed from Reichsarbeitdienst (RAD) conscripts. Originally,[1] Hohenstaufen was designated as a Panzergrenadier division, but in October 1943 it was promoted to full Panzer Division status. At its formation, Hohenstaufen was commanded by SS-Obergruppenführer Willi Bittrich.[1] The title Hohenstaufen came from the Hohenstaufen dynasty, a Germanic noble family who produced a number of kings and emperors in the 12th and 13th centuries AD. It is believed that the division was named specifically after Friedrich II, who lived from 1194-1250.[2]
After the encirclement of Generaloberst Hans-Valentin
Hube's 1.Panzerarmee near Kamenets Podolsky in Ukraine, Generalfeldmarschall Erich von
Manstein requested that the Hohenstaufen and
Frundsberg divisions be sent to attempt to link up with
the trapped force.[3]
Arriving in the east in late March 1944,[1]
the divisions were formed into the II.
SS-Panzerkorps and were sent into the attack near the town
of Tarnopol.[4] After
heavy fighting in the horrible conditions caused by the rasputitsa ("mud
season"), the division effected a link up with Hube's forces near
the town of Buczacz. During these battles,
Hohenstaufen had suffered heavy casualties, and in late
April was pulled out of the line to refit. The II SS Panzer
Corps was to act as reserve for Heeresgruppe
Nordukraine, performing "fire brigade" duties for the Army
Group. After the Allied invasion of France on 6 June 1944, the II.
SS-Panzer Corps, including Hohenstaufen, was sent west on
12 June to defend Caen in Normandy.[1]
Hohenstaufen suffered losses from Allied fighter bombers during its move to Normandy, delaying its arrival until 26 June 1944. The original plan for Hohenstaufen to attack towards the Allied beachhead was made impossible by a British offensive to take Caen. The II. SS-Panzer Corps was instead put into the line to support the weakened forces defending Caen. Hohenstaufen was involved in ferocious fighting until early July, suffering 1,200 casualties. On 10 July, the division was pulled back into reserve, to be replaced by the 277 Infanterie-Division.
After the launching of another British offensive aimed at taking
Caen, Hohenstaufen was again put back into the line, this
time defending Hill 112, taking over the positions of the
battered Frundsberg. After more heavy fighting,
Hohenstaufen was again pulled out of the line on 15 July.
The division's depleted Panzergrenadier regiments were merged to
form Panzergrenadier Regiment Hohenstaufen. The division
saw heavy action defending against British armour during Operation
Goodwood, suffering heavy losses, but succeeded in holding the
line.
After the launch of the Canadian Operation Totalize,
Hohenstaufen performed a fighting withdrawal, avoiding
encirclement in the Falaise pocket, and fighting to keep the
narrow escape route from this pocket open. By 21 August, the battle of
Normandy was over, and the German forces were in full retreat.
Obersturmbannführer Walter Harzer was
now placed in command of the division. The division fought several
rearguard actions during the retreat through France and Belgium, and in early September 1944, the
exhausted unit was pulled out of the line for rest and refit near
the Dutch city of Arnhem.[1] By
this time Hohenstaufen was down to approximately 7,000
men, from 15,900 at the end of June.
Upon arriving in the Arnhem area, the division began the task of refitting. The majority of the remaining armoured vehicles were loaded onto trains in preparation for transport to repair depots in Germany. On Sunday 17 September 1944, the Allies launched Operation Market-Garden, and the division would become heavily involved in the subsequent Battle of Arnhem.[1] The British 1st Airborne Division was dropped in Oosterbeek, to the west of Arnhem. Realizing the threat, Bittrich (now commander of II. SS-Panzerkorps) ordered Hohenstaufen and Frundsberg to ready themselves for combat. The division's armour was unloaded from the trains and workshop units worked frantically to replace the tanks tracks, which had been removed for transportation. Of the division's armored units, only the division's reconnaissance battalion, SS-Aufklärungs-Abteilung 9, equipped mostly with wheeled and half tracked vehicles, was ready for immediate action.
Bittrich ordered Hohenstaufen to occupy Arnhem and secure the vital Arnhem Bridge. Harzer sent the division to the city, encountering stiff resistance from the Roten Teufel (Red Devils), as the Germans came to call the British paratoopers. The Reconnaissance Battalion, a 40-vehicle unit commanded by Hauptsturmführer Viktor Eberhard Gräbner, was sent south over the bridge to scout the area around Nijmegen. Gräbner had that day received the Knight's Cross for his actions in Normandy.
While the Reconnaissance Battalion was scouting to the
south of Arnhem, Colonel John Frost's 2nd Battalion of the
British 1st Airborne Division had advanced into Arnhem and prepared
defensive positions at the northern end of the bridge. Gräbner
returned from his scouting mission to the south on the morning of
18 September, and ordered about half of his reconnaissance unit,
numbering about 22 armored cars, half-tracks, and a few trucks, to
attack north across the bridge. Gräbner's exact intentions remain a
mystery, but he apparently either hoped to recapture the bridge or
to race through the British defences to assist the rest of the
division in its defence of Arnhem. Either way, the attack was a
complete disaster. The Paras were ready, and after allowing the
first four vehicles to pass, they opened up with PIAT anti-tank launchers, flamethrowers and small arms fire. In two
hours of fighting, the Reconnaissance Battalion was
virtually annihilated, losing 12 vehicles out of 22 in the assault
and around 70 men killed, including Gräbner. This action is
depicted in the film A
Bridge Too Far.[5]
Throughout the eight-day battle, the division operated mostly in
and to the west of Arnhem, fighting with Frost's battalion and
reducing the pocket containing the remainder of the 1st Airborne,
which had become encircled near Oosterbeek. The battle of Arnhem
was a victory for Hohenstaufen. With the assistance of
other German units, the division had destroyed an elite British
airborne unit, which was badly outnumbered and only lightly armed.
Despite the intensity of the fighting, the soldiers of
Hohenstaufen and Frundsberg treated the captured
paratroopers courteously, although there are reports of
cold-blooded executions by some SS members, and Bittrich remarked
that the tenacity and fighting prowess of the Red Devils was not to
be matched, even by the Soviets.
After the battle of Arnhem, Hohenstaufen moved to Paderborn for a much-needed
rest and refit. On 12 December, 1944, the division moved south to
the Munstereifel. It was to act as a reserve for Sepp Dietrich's 6.Panzerarmee, a part of the Ardennes offensive
(Unternehmen: Wacht am Rhein). 6.Panzerarmee was tasked
with attacking in the north, along the line St. Vith - Vielsalm. Initially, only the divisional
reconnaissance and artillery units were involved in fighting, but
on the 21 December the entire division was committed.[1]
When the attack in the north stalled, the division was sent south
to assist in the attacks on Bastogne. Hohenstaufen was involved
in the fighting around Bastogne, taking heavy casualties from the
American defenders, and losing much equipment to the incessant
attacks of Allied ground attack aircraft. On 7 January 1945, Hitler
called off the operation and ordered all forces to concentrate
around Longchamps, and the division was involved
in holding this area, as well as keeping lines of communication
open with the 5.Panzerarmee to the south.
Throughout the rest of January 1945, Hohenstaufen was
involved in a fighting withdrawal to the German border. At the end
of the month, the division was transferred to the Kaifenheim-Mayen
area to be refitted. At the end of February, the division was sent
east to Hungary as a part of
the reformed 6.SS-Panzerarmee under Sepp Dietrich.[1]
The division, along with the majority of the SS Panzer units
available, was to take part in Operation Frühlingserwachen
("Spring Awakening"), the offensive near Lake Balaton aimed at securing the
Hungarian oilfields and relieving the forces trapped in Budapest by the
Soviets.
The attack got under way on 6 March 1945, despite the terrible
ground conditions. Due to the condition of the roads, the division
had not reached its jump-off position when the attack began. A
combination of mud and stiff Soviet resistance brought the
offensive to a halt, and on 16 March a Soviet counter-offensive
threatened to cut off the 6.SS-Panzerarmee. Hohenstaufen
was involved in the ferocious fighting to escape the Soviet
encirclement, and on 6 April, the tattered remnants of the division
emerged from the trap.
On 1 May, the greatly depleted division was moved west to the Steyr-Amstetten area. It was ordered to stop the American advance without using force, and not to endanger the ongoing negotiations between the Germans and the Western Allies. On 5 May 1945, the survivors of Hohenstaufen surrendered to the Americans.[1]
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