9th SS Panzer Division Hohenstaufen
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SS-Panzergrenadier-Division 9
SS-Panzergrenadier-Division 9 Hohenstaufen
9. SS-Panzer-Division Hohenstaufen
The 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.
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[edit] Formation / Eastern Front
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 RAD conscripts. Originally, 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. 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 A.D.. It is believed that the division was named specifically after Friedrich II, who lived from 1194-1250.
After the encirclement of Generaloberst Hans-Valentin Hube's 1.Panzerarmee near Kamenet's 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.
Arriving in the east in late March 1944, the divisions were formed into the II. SS-Panzerkorps and were sent into the attack near the town of Tarnopol. After heavy fighting in the horrible conditions caused by the rasputitsa ("mud season"), the division effected a linkup 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 Panzerkorps 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-Panzerkorps, including Hohenstaufen, was sent west on 12 June to defend Caen in Normandy.
[edit] Western Front - Normandy
Hohenstaufen suffered losses from Allied Jabos (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-Panzerkorps 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 British Operation Totalise, 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. SS-Obersturmbannführer Walter Harzer was now placed in command of the division. The division fought several rear-guard 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. By this time Hohenstaufen was down to approximately 7,000 men, from 15,900 at the end of June.
[edit] Arnhem
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 British 1st Airborne Division was dropped in Oosterbeek, to the west of Arnhem. Realising 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 panzers' treads, which had been removed for transportation. Of the division' armoured 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 Paras. The Aufklärungs Abt, commanded by SS-Hauptsturmführer Paul 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 Aufklärungs Abt 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 his reconnaissance unit 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 Aufklärungs Abt was virtually annihilated, losing 22 vehicles and around 70 men, including Gräbner. This action is depicted in the film A Bridge Too Far.
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 was only lightly armed (as all airborne units are because cargo aircraft can't carry tanks and heavy artillery). Despite the intensity of the fighting, the soldiers of Hohenstaufen and Frundsberg treated the captured Paras courteously, and Bittrich remarked that the tenacity and fighting prowess of the Red Devils was not to be matched, even by the Soviets.
[edit] Refitting and the Ardennes Offensive
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 21st the entire division was committed.
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 Jabos. 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.
[edit] Hungary - Operation Frühlingserwachen
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 Kaufenheim-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. 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 8 May 1945, the survivors of Hohenstaufen surrendered to the Americans.
[edit] Commanders
- SS-Obergruppenführer - Willi Bittrich (15 Feb 1943 - 29 June 1944)
- SS-Oberführer - Thomas Müller (29 June 1944 - 10 July 1944)
- SS-Brigadeführer - Sylvester Stadler (10 July 1944 - 31 July 1944)
- SS-Oberführer - Friedrich-Wilhelm Bock (31 July 1944 - 29 Aug 1944)
- SS-Standartenführer - Walter Harzer (29 Aug 1944 - 10 Oct 1944)
- SS-Brigadeführer - Sylvester Stadler (10 Oct 1944 - 8 May 1945)
[edit] Order of battle
- SS-Panzergrenadier Regiment 19
- SS-Panzergrenadier Regiment 20
- SS-Panzer Regiment 9
- SS-Panzer Artillerie Regiment 9
- SS-Panzer-Aufklärungs-Abteilung 9
- SS-Panzerjäger-Abteilung 9
- SS-Flak-Abteilung 9
- SS-Panzer-Pioneer-Abteilung 9
- SS-Panzer-Nachrichten-Abteilung 9
- SS-Sturmgeschütz-Abteilung 9
- SS-Beoachtungs-Batterie 9
- SS-Nachschubtruppen 9
- SS-Sanitäts-Kompanien 9
[edit] References
- Herbert Fürbringer - 9 SS Panzer Division: Hohenstaufen
- Wilhelm Tieke - In the Firestorm of the Last Years of the War
- Cornelius Ryan - A Bridge Too Far
- Hans Wijers - Memories of the fight in the Ardennes 1944/45: The battle for Grand-Halleux, Vielsalm, Bra and Vilettes
[edit] See also
- Panzer, Panzer Division, Waffen-SS
- Division (military), Military unit
- Wehrmacht, List of German military units of World War II
