9th Army (Wehrmacht)

The9th Army(‹See Tfd›German:9. Armee) was aWorld War IIGerman field army. It was activated on 15 May 1940 with GeneralJohannes Blaskowitzin command.

9th Army
‹See Tfd›German:9. Armee
Active	15 May 1940 – 1 May 1945
Country	Nazi Germany
Branch	German Army
Type	Field army
Size	10 August 1942:352,867 1 July 1943:334,552 1 January 1945: 110,930
Engagements	World War II

History

1940

The 9th Army first saw service along theSiegfried Lineduring its involvement in the invasion of France. It was kept as astrategic reserveand saw little combat.

1941

By 1941, the 9th Army was heavily strengthened and was deployed withArmy Group Centerfor the invasion of the Soviet Union. During the initial phase ofOperation Barbarossathe 4th Army formed the Southern pincer of a massive encirclement of Soviet troops deployed atBiałystok,with the German 9th Army forming the Northern pincer.It continued its advance, and soon launched another pincer movement of Soviet troops atSmolensk.Even though successful in encircling Soviet troops, many Soviet troops escaped the pockets due to the large distances it had to secure.Hitlerthen sent the Panzer forces from Army Group Center to the northern and southern fronts to inflict severe economic damage to the Soviet Union. The 9th Army remained static from late July 1941 until October 1941 when Hitler finally decided to launch his long-awaited attack on Moscow.

In front of Moscow were two elaborate defensive lines: the first was 251 km long in front ofVyazmaand the second onMozhaysk.The 9th Army struck from the north, out-flanking the Vyazma defensive line and, along with the 3rd and 4th Panzer Armies, encircling Soviet forces at Vyazma. This would prove to be the last major encirclement operation launched by the 9th Army.

The 9th Army was placed on the northern flank as the German 2nd, 3rd and 4th Panzer Armies and the 4th Army would spearhead the offensive on Moscow. However, the attack failed due to the cold weather, a deteriorating supply situation, and stubborn Soviet resistance. The Germans suffered severe manpower losses and large parts of the 9th Army's troops were reallocated to the other depleted German Armies.

1942

The 9th Army remained in defensive positions in 1942, dug in 200 miles outside of Moscow as the Germans concentrated their offensive in Southern Russia. As the tide of the battle turned in Southern Russia, the Soviets launchedOperation Mars,a major offensive against Army Group Center. The well dug in positions of Army Group Center defeated the Soviet offensive with heavy casualties.

1943

The Germans tried again in 1943 to regain the momentum in the Eastern Front by launching amassive pincer movement at the Kursk salientwhere 1/6th of all Soviet forces were deployed. The spearheads would be the German 9th Army and the 2nd Panzer Army from the north and the 4th Panzer Army along with Army Detachment Kempf from the south. The Soviets believed the heaviest blow would come from the north and massively reinforced the sector directly opposite 9th Army. By July 1943, the 9th Army had become the largest army ever fielded by the Germans even surpassing the much vaunted 6th Army with 335,000 men along with 600 tanks.

Leading the advance from the north, the 9th Army ran into powerful Soviet defenses, and it gained no more than 10 km on the first day.Walter Modelordered the capture of the key and heavily fortifiedPonyrirailway station,which was needed to continue the advance towards Kursk. However, the Soviets had massively reinforced the town's defenses, which meant the attackers took very heavy losses. After a week of ferocious fighting, the 9th Army had gained just 20 km. After being unable to breach the enemy lines, the army was then forcedto deal with the Soviet counter-offensivewhich if not checked could have encircled the entire 9th Army. It fought a fighting withdrawal westwards throughout the remainder of 1943.

1944

Destroyed and abandoned vehicles of the 9th Army in Belarus, June 1944

By 1944, the 9th Army was exhausted, but it had received some badly needed reinforcements and was defending the area ofBobruiskin the first half of that year. On 22 June, the third anniversary ofOperation Barbarossa,the Soviets began their colossalOperation Bagrationwhose overall objective was the destruction of Army Group Center. The action against the 9th Army was called theBobruysk Offensive.The 9th Army suffered nearly 80,000 casualties during Bagration of which 65,000 were taken prisoner. Nearly 40% of the 9th Army was destroyed in the summer of 1944. The army was then rebuilt by German units redeployed from Italy and was involved in the defence ofWarsawin autumn and winter of 1944.

1945

On 1 January 1945, the 9th Army (then underArmy Group A) had a total strength of 110,930 soldiers, spread across four infantry divisions (17th,73rd,214th,251st), three Volksgrenadier divisions (6th,45th,337th), two panzer divisions (19th,25th), the German garrison in Warsaw and an autonomous blockade brigade.

The Red Army crossed Germany's border on January 12, 1945, and forced the 9th Army to retreat all along the front until it was deployed westward to the riverOder.Three of the 9th Army's formations were tasked with defending theSeelow Heights,which was the last defensible region before Berlin. To the north was theCI Army Corps,in the centre GeneralHelmuth Weidling'sLVI Panzer Corps,and to south of the Heights was theXI SS Panzer Corps.In addition south ofFrankfurt(which was defended by theFrankfurt Garrison) was theV SS Mountain Corps.In total the 9th Army was reduced to 100,000 men and 800 tanks and assault guns against which the Soviets had over 1,000,000 men and 10,000 tanks and assault guns.

TheBattle of the Seelow Heightsstarted on 16 April 1945 when MarshalGeorgy Zhukov's1st Belorussian Frontattacked across the Oder. The 9th Army held the line for about three days. After heavy fighting Weidling's LVI Panzer Corps was driven back towards Berlin. Most of the CI Army Corps divisions, now north of the salient created by the 1st Belorussian Front were reassigned along with LVI Panzer Corps toArmy Detachment Steinerwhich was tasked with counter-attacking and pinching off the salient in an unrealistic plan conceived by Hitler. In the end Weidling's corps was driven back into Berlin and he was promoted to commander of the Berlin Defensive Area, reporting directly to Hitler.Theodor Busseand the rest of the 9th Army were driven into a pocket in theSpreeForestsouth of the Seelow Heights and west ofFrankfurt an der Oder.

From inside the pocket west of Frankfurt Busse attempted a breakout to the west to join up with the12th Army.The breakout, known as theBattle of Halbe,resulted in the destruction of the Ninth Army as a coherent force. Troops that were not captured or killed by the Soviets crossed the Elbe atTangermündeand surrendered to the US Army.

Commanders-in-chief

No.	Portrait	Commander	Took office	Left office	Time in office
1		Blaskowitz, JohannesGeneraloberst Johannes Blaskowitz (1883–1948)	15 May 1940	29 May 1940	14 days
2		Strauß, AdolfGeneraloberst Adolf Strauß (1879–1973)	30 May 1940	14 January 1942	1 year, 229 days
3		Model, WalterGeneralfeldmarschall Walter Model (1891–1945)	15 January 1942	3 November 1943	1 year, 292 days
4		Harpe, JosefGeneraloberst Josef Harpe (1887–1968)	4 November 1943	20 May 1944	198 days
5		Jordan, HansGeneral der Infanterie Hans Jordan (1892–1975)	20 May 1944	26 June 1944	37 days
6		Vormann, NikolausGeneral der Panzertruppe Nikolaus von Vormann (1895–1959)	27 June 1944	31 August 1944	65 days
7		Lüttwitz, SmiloGeneral der Panzertruppe Smilo Freiherr von Lüttwitz (1895–1975)	1 September 1944	19 January 1945	140 days
8		Busse, TheodorGeneralleutnant Theodor Busse (1897–1986)	20 January 1945	2 May 1945	102 days

See also

• 9th Army (German Empire)for the equivalent formation inWorld War I
• Army Group Centre
• Order of battle of the German Ninth Army, October 1941
• German Panzer Division Kurmark

References

Citations

Bibliography

• Beevor, Antony.Berlin: The Downfall 1945,Penguin Books, 2002,ISBN0-670-88695-5