German 9th Army

[dphillipsd]

Hi,

Does anyone have any information, or know where I can find some, relating to the German 9th Army for the period of July 1943, particularly Septeber until 1945?

Thanks in advance for your help.

[Gary T]

What do you want to know? Maps? Commanders?

[dphillipsd]

Hi,

I would like to know the following:

Commanders
Where it was situated through the period 1940-45
Maps for battles in Russia during 1943

Thanks.

[David S]

Re: 9. Army (formed in April 1940)

I can give you Commanders and some locations but little else.

30 April 1940 to 14 May 1940 GO Adolf Strauss
14 May 1940 to 29 May 1940 GO Johannes Blaskowitz
29 May 1940 to 15 Jan 1942 GO Adolf Strauss
15 Jan 1942 to 01 Sep 1942 GFM Walter Model
01 Sep 1942 to 01 Dec 1942 GO Heinrich von Viettinghoff-Scheel
01 Dec 1942 to 30 Nov 1943 GO Josef Harpe
30 Nov 1943 to 09 Jan 1944 GFM Walter Model
09 Jan 1944 to 20 May 1944 GO Josef Harpe
20 May 1944 to 27 Jun 1944 Gen d' Inf Hans Jordan
27 Jun 1944 to 21 Sep 1944 Gen d' PzT Nikolaus von Vormann
21 Sep 1944 to 09 Jan 1945 Gen d' PzT Smilo Freiherr von Luttwitz
09 Jan 1945 to 08 May 1945 Gen d' Inf Theodor Busse

Area of Operations:

May 1940 to Jun 1941 France
Jun 1941 to Jul 1944 Central Sector, Eastern Front
Jul 1944 to Mar 1945 Poland
Mar 1945 to May 1945 Berlin

[NavyFCO]

In September 43, the 9th Army was situated on the Desna River, near the city of Briyansk (which was the Front HQ). They were faced by the 50th, 11th and 11th Guards Armies of the Soviets.

The Soviets began their offensive and the 9th Army found itself fighting to the southwest, over the Sozh and Dnepr Rivers (at Rogachev). By June 1944, they were at the Dnepr facing the 3rd and 48th Soviet Armies. They were pushed over the Dnepr by 22 June, and on 29 June found themselves on the Berezhina River at Bobrusk, surrounded by the 65th Army (which had come up from the south) and the 3rd Army. (They happened to be right in the front of the 'steamroller' for Operation Bagratian, which destroyed more Germans than any other action of the War.)

Part of the 9th Army was cut off and destroyed at Bobrusk, the others broke out and continued moving southwest.

By 4 July 1944, the 9th was in the vicinity of Nesvikh and by the 8th they had already rolled past Baranovichi, crossing the Shara River. By the 28th, they had been pushed through Brest (a full 150 km southwest of Baranovichi), with another portion of the Army being wiped out in an encirclement by the 70th and 61st Soviet Armies.

After Brest, they crossed back into Poland, and the 29th of August found them holding the line along the Visla River, south of Warsaw, in the vicinity of Radom, and just north of the 4th Panzer Army. There was some really nasty fighting in this area (the Pulavi Bridgehead being one of them) that fairly stopped the Soviet operation. Fighting here lasted well into the early winter.

The Soviets regrouped for the Berlin Offensive, allowing the 9th Army a bit of respite until January 1945.

The Visla-Oder Operation started on 12 January, and the 9th was hit by the full force of the 1st Belorussian Front (MSU Zhukov) aimed straight for Berlin.

They attempted to defend Lodz, even armored reenforcements sent from 150km north ("Grossdeutschland" Panzer Division) but were crushed here by 19 January.

(One note here is that, during this operation, the 9th Army was paired against units which were veterans of Stalingrad, and by this time, were the most well armed, most highly trained units in the Soviet Army, not to mention with extremely high morale.)

By late January, they had been pushed back a further 150km, and were fighting by the fortress-city of Posnan (which fell on 23 February). The frontlines of 3 February 1945 found the 9th Army less than 50 km from Berlin, between Furstenburg and Frankfurt.

Unfortunately, the 9th Army never made it into Berlin. They were shoved to the southwest of Berlin, and were encircled, along with remnants of the 4th Panzer Army just south of Gross-Koris, about 45km southeast of Berlin center on 25 April. A small remnant that broke out of this encirclement carried on a further 30km to the west, only to be wiped out near Lukenvald on 1 May. Soviet accounts of from each of the 'encircler' units note killing upwards of 2500-3000 Germans each day of this week, the remants of the 9th Army that refused to surrender.

Recommended further reading is Werner Haupt's "Army Group Center".

Hope this helps!

--Dave

[dphillipsd]

Thanks Dave, as I mentioned in the PM this is very useful!

[NavyFCO]

Glad to have been of service!

--Dave

[Endzeit]

Hi

See you here!
The great Site.

http://www.diedeutschewehrmacht.de/9%20armee.htm

Cheers Jan