9th Tank Division (Soviet Union)

The 9th Bobruisk-Berlin Red Banner Order of Suvorov Tank Division was the designation of two separate formations of the Soviet Army.

This second instance of the 9th Tank Division served with the Group of Soviet Forces in Germany from 1945 until about 1991, when it was disbanded.

Initial Composition:[3] The 9th Tank Corps participated in the offensive of the left wing of the Western Front in the summer of 1942.

On 7 June the corps was stationed in the area of Voymirovo, Barankovo (Kaluga Oblast), Kochukovo and Sukhoy Sot (east of Kirov).

On the orders of the commander of the 16th Army, the corps had the task, by 6 July 1942, to enter into the breach 'Black' to exploit the advantageous situation in the direction of Oslinka, Zhizdra, and Orlya.

[3] In March 1943 the corps was transferred to the Central Front, on the northern edge of the Kursk Salient in the area of Arseniyevsky, Trubitsyn, and Sergeevskie.

On 4 August the corps crossed the Kroma River and was fighting to expand a bridgehead near Glinki-Leshnya 11 kilometers southwest of Kromy.

During the Chernigov-Pripyat Offensive the corps was introduced into battle in a surprise attack on 27 August south of Sevsk.

[3] On 14 January 1945, the corps attacked as part of the offensive out of the Pulawy bridgehead on the west bank of the Vistula River, south of Warsaw.

During the East Pomeranian Offensive the corps was subordinated to the 3rd Shock Army and from 1 March 1945 the tank brigades were used to support infantry formations.

During the Battle of Berlin the corps again was subordinated to the 3rd Shock Army as a mobile group and on 16 April 1945 was sent into action at 10:00 AM, advancing on the Seelow Heights, but did not have a significant impact on the offensive.

On 18 April, in support of the 79th Rifle Corps, 9th Tank Corps crossed the Frielander waterway, the 23rd and 95th Tank Brigades in cooperation with the 150th Rifle Division captured Kunersdorf, and at the end of April 1945, stormed the Reichstag building.

The T-34/85 tank was used by the 9th Tank Corps in the final phase of the war.
The SU-76 equipped 9th Tank Corps assault gun regiments.