The 9. Infanterie-Division or 9. Volksgrenadier-Division as it was known as of 1944 was an Infantry Division that was in the Wehrmacht during World War II. It was first formed in 1934 but was reformed into the 9. Volkgrenadier Division after being destroyed on the Eastern Front in 1944.
Commanders[]
The first divisional commander of the 9. Infanterie Division was German major general Erich Lüdke who commanded from 1934 to 1936. Following major general Lüdke was lieutenant general Erwin Oßwald who then commanded from 1936 to 1938. Following was lieutenant general Georg von Apell who himself commanded from 1938 to 1940.[1] Next was Erwin Vierow who commanded only for a year from August to December 1940. The next commander, lieutenant general Siegmund Freiherr von Schleinitz commanded for the longest during the wartime, from 1941 to 1943. Friedrich Hofmann then took command from late 1943 to 1944. From that point on, command of the division switched frequently in the month of June before the division's destruction.
Structure[]
The 9. Infanterie was made up of three Infantry Regiments that each had basic components such as artillery, pioneer, and engineer units. The regiments were the 36. Infanterie Regiment, the 57. Infanterie-Regiment, and the 116. Infanterie-Regiment. The 9. Volksgrenadier however was made up of the 9. Volks-Flak Battalion, the 36. Volksgrenadier Regiment, the 116. Volksgrenadier-Regiment, the 57. Volksgrenadier-Regiment, the 9. Volks-Artillerie Battalion, the 9. Volks-Panzerjager Battalion, the 9. Volks-Pioneer Battalion, and the 9. Volks-Fusilier Battalion.
Unit History[]
As mentioned above, the 9. Infanterie-Division was first formed in 1934, but similarly to other infantry divisions formed in Germany at the time, it was codenamed to hide Germany's secret intentions. The codename given to the 9. was the Infanterieführer V. Also similarly to other divisions of the time, the 9. was formed from remnants of previous divisions of the now dissolved Reichswehr. The 9. first served in combat during the invasion of Poland in limited service guarding German flanks. Quickly following in 1940, the 9. Infanterie Division took a more leading role during the Battle of France, in fact, the 9. was the first infantry division to enter Paris.[2] After Paris, the division took the on the role of occupation duty but was quickly sent to cross the border into the Soviet Union during Operation Barbarossa. Here, the division stayed, fighting in Kiev, the Kuban, the Caucasus, etc. However, the division was eventually destroyed fighting in Romania in 1944. The remaining units were then compiled into the 9. Volksgrenadier-Division. From then on, the newly reformed volksgrenadier division fought in the Battle of the Bulge until they were captured in the Eifel forest.
References[]
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