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The 9th Panzer Division was a panzer division of the Wehrmacht Heer. The division was only active during World War II, and came into existence after 4th Light Division was reorganized in January 1940. During its existence, the division was headquartered in Vienna, in the German military district Wehrkreis XVII. Originally raised from Austrian forces annexed into Germany during the war, the 9th Panzer Division was part of most of the German Army's early Blitzkrieg attacks into western Europe. Sweeping east, the division was then a component of Operation Barbarossa, the German attack on the Soviet Union, where it was badly mauled at the Battle of Kursk. Returning to France to rebuild in 1944, the division was rushed to counter Operation Overlord. It was destroyed several successive times by British and American forces as the German Army was pushed back across Europe. The division suffered massive casualties in armor and personnel until it finally collapsed in March 1945. The division's few survivors were pushed into the Ruhr Pocket where they surrendered to the Allies at the end of the war. ==Organization== We need to say that "Wehrmacht' means defence forces, an attempt to fool the Allies after WWI - while Heer is the correct name for army, so we should not use German terms when we can avoid them: Panzer is the nickname for tank - it means tortoise shell. Clearly the official name for the division here retains that nickname but in all other respects the ordinary English noun 'tank' should be use as for instance "German tanks moved' rather than 'panzers moved'. In 1942, the division was organized around three regiments. Its tanks were organized into the 33rd Panzer Regiment, which was supported by two regiments of panzergrenadiers, or mechanized infantry. These were the 10th Panzer Grenadier Regiment and the 11th Panzer Grenadier Regiment. Also assigned to the division were the 102nd Panzer Artillery Regiment, the 9th Motorcycle Battalion, the 9th Panzer Reconnaissance Battalion, the 50th Panzer Jager Battalion, the 86th Panzer Pionier Battalion, the 81st Panzer Signal Battalion, the 287th Army Anti-Aircraft Battalion, and the 60th Panzer Divisional Supply Troops.〔Mitcham 2007, p. 25.〕 抄文引用元・出典: フリー百科事典『 ウィキペディア（Wikipedia）』 ■ウィキペディアで「9th Panzer Division (Wehrmacht)」の詳細全文を読む スポンサード リンク
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