- 9th Parachute Division (Germany)
Infobox Military Unit
unit_name=9th Parachute Division
caption=
dates=1944-1945
country=Germany
allegiance
branch=Luftwaffe
type=Paratrooper
role=
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current_commander=
garrison=
ceremonial_chief=
colonel_of_the_regiment=
nickname=
patron=
motto=
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march=
mascot=
battles=Battle of Berlin
notable_commanders=
anniversaries=
decorations=
battle_honours=The German 9th Parachute Division was one of the final parachute divisions to be raised by Germany duringWorld War II . The division was destroyed during theBattle of Berlin in April 1945.The 9th Division was formed in December 1944 [Tessin, p.152] under the command of General
Bruno Bräuer with many Luftwaffe personnel transferred to combat duties for which they had no experience. [Beevor pp.159,236] In January 1945 two of his battalions were encircled by the1st Ukrainian Front inBreslau where they were destroyed. [Tessin, p.152]In the
Battle of the Seelow Heights the 9th Division was positioned betweenSeelow andNeuhardenberg , they received the full force of the first days artillery bombardment by Marshal Georgi Zhukov's1st Belorussian Front on16 April . Under this bombardment the 9th Division buckled. It rallied briefly on the morning of17 April , when it was given some armoured support, but collapsed again shortly afterwards. Bräuer suffered a nervous breakdown and was relieved of his command at the request of Goering, angry at the collapse of one of his Luftwaffe divisions. Bräuer was followed in command by Colonel Herrmann. [Le Tissier, p. 228] The SS "Nordland" Division rounded up some elements of the 9th Division and managed a temporarily successful counter attack. [Beevor pp.223 236-237,243,246-247]By the
19 April , the remnants of the 9th Division along with what remained of the rest of theLVI Panzer Corps were within the Berlin U-Bahn outer defensive ring. [Beevor p.286] During the attempted breakout on the night of1 May –2 May a small group of the 9th Division stormed the tower ofSpandau "Rathaus " (Town Hall) from which Soviet machine-gunners were decimating Germans attempting to break out of Berlin over the Haval using the "Charlottenbrücke" ('Charlotte Bridge'). [Beevor p.385] By the end of the2 May the 9th Parachute Division had ceased to exist.ee also
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Fallschirmjäger References
* Beevor, Antony. "Berlin: The Downfall 1945", Penguin Books, 2002, ISBN 0-670-88695-5
* Le Tissier, Tony. "Der Kampf um Berlin 1945", Bechtermünz Verlag, 1997, ISBN 3-86947-906-7.
* Tessin, Georg. "Verbände und Truppen der deutschen Wehrmacht und Waffen-SS", Vol. III, Biblio Verlag, 1974, ISBN 3-7648-0942-6.Footnotes
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