9th Flak Division

The 9th Flak Division was a major unit of the German Air Force in World War II .

Formation and sinking in Stalingrad

Set up on July 10, 1940 as Air Defense Command 9 under the command of Major General Gerhard Hoffmann in Amiens , the later division took over the northern French airspace defense in the Luftgau Belgium - northern France . On March 8, 1941, the later Lieutenant General Otto Wilhelm von Renz became the new commander. On June 19, 1941, Air Defense Command 9 relocated to Western France, with a command post in the Rambouillet area , and subordinated to the Luftgau Command Western France . In August 1941 it was moved to the Channel coast of Normandy , where its command post was in Beauregard. On September 1, 1941, the command was renamed the 9th Flak Division. In January 1942 the divisional headquarters were transferred to the Eastern Front , where on February 22, 1942, he took over the command of all flak forces in the area of Army Group South and was involved in the German summer offensive in 1942 . The division was subordinate to Luftflotte 4 ; their command post was in Poltava .

In April / May 1942, their command post was relocated to Kharkov , where the division of the 2nd Army and the 6th Army was assigned. In the Battle of Kharkov , the associations of the 9th Flak Division distinguished themselves, so that they were named in the Wehrmacht report on May 21, 1942 . On June 29, 1942, Colonel Wolfgang Pickert became the new division commander. At the end of July 1942 the division was finally assigned to the 6th Army and swung with it towards Stalingrad . At that time you were under the following regiments:

Flak Regiment 12
37th Flak Regiment
91st Flak Regiment
Flak Regiment 104 (detached a little later)

With the beginning of the Battle of Stalingrad , individual batteries of the division reached the northern part of the Volga on August 23, 1942 . Involved in the toughest skirmishes with Soviet units, the batteries succeeded in shooting down 122 aircraft and 299 tanks in ground combat. In addition, eight ships, one gunboat , 20 small boats and two pontoons were sunk by the end of September 1942. The division's heavy batteries were then used in the street fighting in Stalingrad. When the Red Army closed the pocket around Stalingrad , 12 heavy and 13 medium and light anti-aircraft batteries of the 9th Flak Division were enclosed, along with parts of the division command and their commander Pickert.

The Division received in the wake of Colonel General Friedrich Paulus to the order, the airport Pitomnik to protect, to ensure the supply flights of the Air Force. Pickert himself was appointed "General of the Air Force at AOK 6" (Army High Command), whereby his division was assigned exclusively to the 6th Army. On November 26, 1942, 30% of the 9th Flak Division's guns had already failed. Due to a lack of fuel, all transport options for the guns were no longer available until the end of December 1942, so that they could only be used stationary. On January 15, 1943 Pickert was flown out of the boiler to report to Wolfram von Richthofen , Commander in Chief of Air Fleet 4, and Field Marshal Erich von Manstein about the situation in the boiler. On the night of January 16, 1943, Pickert flew back into the boiler. However, the current situation at the front was unclear at the designated landing site. The pilot had previously received clear instructions from Richthofen not to land in unclear conditions, but to return, which he finally did, despite Pickert's energetic protests. The 9th Flak Division remained in the pocket without its division commander. The last message from Flak Regiment 37 was intercepted on January 28, that of Flak Regiment 104 on January 30, 1943. On February 2, 1943, fighting in the pocket was stopped. The remnants of the division were taken prisoner by the Soviets.

While the 9th Flak Division was in existence, its regiments destroyed 600 aircraft and 913 tanks from July 10, 1940 to February 2, 1943.

Reorganization and end of the war

In February 1943 Pickert received the order to reorganize a 9th Flak Division, which in turn was subordinate to Luftflotte 4. The 9th Flak Division, consisting of flak regiments 27, 42 and 77 (detached a little later), was deployed from the beginning of April 1943 in the Crimea , the Kerch peninsula and in the Kuban bridgehead .

The division was named in the Wehrmacht report on November 8, 1943 and May 8, 1944 for its heavy fighting in the retreat battles on the Kuban bridgehead and the retreat battles in the Crimea . Then the division came with the almost broken remains of the flak regiments 27 and 42 to freshen up to Romania and then to Silesia , where the division headquarters was stationed in Wroclaw . On May 27, 1944, Pickert was replaced by Colonel Wilhelm von Koolwiyk , who only held command as a temporary commander until June 22, 1944. His successor on June 23, 1944, was later Lieutenant General Adolf Pirmann , who led the division until the end of the war .

At the beginning of September 1944, the 18 heavy and 18 medium and light batteries were relocated to the Western Front, where they took part in the battles for Metz . She was subordinate to the IV Flak Corps . Their command post was in Bolchen . Once in the Metz area, the division was reinforced again. In November 1944 it was broken down as follows:

Flak Regiment 27
Anti-aircraft regiment 42
Anti-aircraft regiment 45
Flak Regiment 86
169 Flak Regiment

The withdrawal of the German troops led the 9th Flak Division first to Saarbrücken , then Neunkirchen and Kaiserslautern . In March 1945 the command post was in Germersheim and on April 3, 1945 in Göppingen . On May 4, 1945, the command post was at Neudorf near Rosenheim , where he was taken prisoner by the Americans that day.

The whereabouts of the regiments under her control were as follows:

19th Flak Brigade : destroyed in the Frankfurt am Main area by April 27, 1945
Flak Regiment 27: at the end of the war in Rosenheim, then American captivity
Flak Regiment 42: at the end of the war in Rosenheim, then American captivity
Anti-aircraft regiment 45: unknown
Flak Regiment 86: at the end of the war in the Rosenheim area, then American captivity
Flak Regiment 169: at the end of the war in Rosenheim, then American captivity

Individual evidence

^ Karl-Heinz Hummel: The German flak cartillery 1935-1945. Your major formations and regiments . VDM, Zweibrücken 2010, ISBN 978-3-86619-048-1 , p. 64-66 .
^ Karl-Heinz Hummel: The German flak cartillery 1935-1945. Your major formations and regiments . VDM, Zweibrücken 2010, ISBN 978-3-86619-048-1 , p. 66-67 .
^ Karl-Heinz Hummel: The German flak cartillery 1935-1945. Your major formations and regiments . VDM, Zweibrücken 2010, ISBN 978-3-86619-048-1 , p. 159, 234, 256, 260, 299, 370 .

[1] Karl-Heinz Hummel: The German flak cartillery 1935-1945. Your major formations and regiments . VDM, Zweibrücken 2010, ISBN 978-3-86619-048-1 , p. 64-66 .

[2] Karl-Heinz Hummel: The German flak cartillery 1935-1945. Your major formations and regiments . VDM, Zweibrücken 2010, ISBN 978-3-86619-048-1 , p. 66-67 .

[3] Karl-Heinz Hummel: The German flak cartillery 1935-1945. Your major formations and regiments . VDM, Zweibrücken 2010, ISBN 978-3-86619-048-1 , p. 159, 234, 256, 260, 299, 370 .