Mountain Division 9

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Room Mountain Division 9 (Fortress Brigade 23 and Border Brigade 9) in the 1992 basic disposition

The Mountain Division 9 (Geb Div 9) was with the troops order 1938 newly created, bilingual division of the Swiss army as the southern pillar (Gotthard, Ticino) of the Mountain Army Corps 3 . It was disbanded in 2003 with the Army XXI and in 2004 transferred to the Mountain Infantry Brigade 9 (Geb Inf Br 9).

prehistory

A IX. Division with Ticino and Central Switzerland troops existed from 1850 to 1874. The unit was dissolved and integrated into what was then the 8th Division . The first four mountain brigades were formed with the 1911 troop order (TO 11). In the Gotthard / Ticino area it was the 15th Mountain Brigade that was subordinated to the 5th Division . Gotthard's crew remained responsible for the Gotthard fortress. The mountain troops proved themselves during the border occupation 1914-1918.

With the troop order of 1938 (TO 36/38) three new divisions (7, 8, 9) and 11 border brigades (Gz Br) were created and the Gotthard fortress troops were integrated into the 9th division as mountain brigade 9.

From the 5th Division, the 9th Division emerged, which had to hold the Gotthard (Mountain Brigade 9) and fight in Ticino ( Border Brigade 9 ).

  • Fortress battery II / 9 during gun transport, 1916

  • Fortress Artillery Company 1 in front of Forte Airolo, 1916

  • Sled column in the Urnerloch 1914–1918

  • Saurer truck on Gotthardstrasse 1914–1918

Second World War

After the mobilization, the 9th Division under Colonel Division Edouard Tiss was subordinated to the 1st Army Corps and deployed in the area north (Reuss Valley) and south (Leventina) of the Gotthard Pass. The mountain brigade 9 (later fortress brigade 23) moved into the old, partially modernized Gotthard fortresses. The mountain infantry regiment 12 (Geb Inf Bat 10, 87, 109) was used to support the group Dietikon in the Limmat position , the Geb Inf Rgt 29 (Bat 72, 86, 108) as an army reserve after Rothenburg LU and the severity of motor cannon regiment 11 (Dept. 9, 10) posted to Entlebuch . With the remaining two Inf Rgt 65 (Bat 145, 219, 228, Gotthard Pass south) and 78 (Bat 144, 229, Biasca), the 9th Division was dependent on fire support from the Gotthard fortresses .

According to TO 38, the 9th Division had 17,970 men, 516 light machine guns, 129 machine guns on mounts, 264 heavy machine guns, 48 ​​8.1 cm mine throwers, 36 4.7 cm infantry cannons, 8 7.5 cm field cannons, 16 10 , 5 cm heavy motor cannons and 16 12 cm field howitzers.

When the withdrawal into the Reduit began in July 1940, the outsourced units came back. In 1940 the previously independent Gotthard garrison (Mountain Brigade 9 with Mountain Frontier Regiment 65, Territorial Regiment 78, Mountain Frontier Battalion 229, Fortress Divisions 5 and 6) was placed under the command of the 9th Division.

The order of the 9th Division and the 9th Mountain Brigade was to hold the Gotthard with its heavyweight in the Bedretto-Airolo section by securing Val Bedretto, Airolo, upper Leventina, Val Piora and the Lukmanier Pass with forward forces, the Galenstock-Muttenhörner line. Passo di Lucendro -Fort Airolo-Piz Borel-Scopi holds as the main line of defense.

A fifth army corps was created for the 9th Division and the 11th and 12th Mountain Brigades, which was designated as the 3rd Army Corps (Operation Order No. 13 of May 1941) and had to defend the Upper Valais and the Gotthard in the Reduit. With the advance of the Allies in 1944/45, some of the division troops were assigned to the north-western border.

  • San Giacomo lockout, customs house

  • Military barrack Manegorio Piansecco

  • Sasso da Pigna artillery plant, crew bedroom

  • Forte Airolo

Cold war and army reforms

After the Second World War (TO 47 and 51) the 9th Division was definitely part of the newly organized 3rd Army Corps. In 1947 an independent association was established around the Gotthard fortress with the Reduit Brigade 23, the "Gotthard Brigade" (Reduit Brigade 23, Fortress Artillery Regiment 23, Infantry Regiment 65, Territorial Regiment 81). In 1951 (TO 51) it was renamed Fortress Brigade 23 .

With Army 61 , the 9th Division became Geb Div 9 under the renamed Mountain Army Corps 3. In the bilingual division, soldiers from 14 cantons performed their service.

The four mountain regiments consisted of the Bernese Oberland, Upper Valais / Bern, Schwyzer / Zug and Ticino. An artillery regiment, a mobile light anti-aircraft division, a genie battalion, a transmission division, a training division and the 9th staff battalion supported the combat troops.

The operational area of ​​the reinforced Division 9 was in the Gotthard area (Fortress Brigade 23) and the canton of Ticino (Border Brigade 9) with the Gotthard and San Bernardino traffic axes.

The 9th Division was disbanded in 2003 with the Army XXI together with the Fortress Brigade 23. The task of defending the Gotthard axis was assigned to the newly formed Mountain Infantry Brigade 9 (Br fant mont 9).

The Mountain Infantry Brigade 9 was dissolved as part of the further development of the army (WEA) on December 31, 2017.

Operation area fortress brigade 23 with artillery works, barriers and section boundary to border brigade 9

Fortifications and barriers of the mountain division 9

The fortresses and blocking points of Mountain Division 9 were located in the operational area of Fortress Brigade 23 (Gotthard area, Northern Ticino) and Border Brigade 9 (Central and Southern Ticino). The section boundary between the two associations was on the line Basòdino - Pizzo Campo Tencia - Giornico - Rheinwaldhorn .

  • Abseiling exercise, Expo 64

  • AW Sasso da Pigna: Gun stand 15 cm fortress cannon

  • Gotthard fortress

  • AW San Carlo: 10.5 cm turret cannon

literature

Web links

Commons : Mountain Division 9  - Collection of Images, Videos and Audio Files

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ Division 9 in May 1940: task and position ( Memento from May 18, 2015 in the Internet Archive )
  2. ^ Walter Zimmermann, Marco Jorio: The mountain division 9th ASMZ. Issue 6, Volume 154, 1988
  3. ↑ VBS: Gebirgsinfanteriebrigade 9 ( Memento from February 26, 2014 in the Internet Archive )
  4. ↑ General Swiss Military Magazine 11/2017: The Gotthard Brigade - more than mere combat strength