Branch army
colonial troops (current Marine Troops)
Type division
Currency always and everywhere
The 9th Colonial Infantry Division (9th DIC) was created on July 15, 1943, in North Africa, with colonial units coming from French West Africa or garrisoned in Morocco and Algeria. Many escapees from France who had reached North Africa via Spain joined these units. At the time, the 9th DIC was mostly made up of Africans from all the A.O.F. territories.
July 15, 1943:creation of the 9th colonial infantry division
The leaders of the 9th Colonial Infantry Division
* July 15, 1943:General Magnan
The Second World War
Composition
* 4th Regiment of Senegalese Tirailleurs
* 6th Regiment of Senegalese Tirailleurs
* 13th Regiment of Senegalese Tirailleurs
* Colonial Infantry Regiment of Morocco
* Colonial Artillery Regiment of Morocco
To these units were added a group of Land Anti-Aircraft Forces, Engineers and the Divisional Train, the Intendancy and Health Services, and finally the Signals.
1944
June 17 - 20:Transported to Corsica, the Division, under the orders of General Magnan, seizes the Island of Elba in four days.
August 16 - 17:She embarks in Ajaccio, arrives in sight of the coasts of France and begins to disembark the same day in the bay of Cavalaire. It is integrated into the First French Army of General de Lattre.
August 20:The first elements landed, those of the 6th R.T.S. and the R.I.C.M. reinforced by a group of Commandos and a group of tanks, engage in the direction of Toulon.
August 21:Solliès-Ville, Coudon and Farlède are occupied.
August 22 - 23:The battle continues with violence for the possession of Valletta where the enemy, firmly entrenched, opposes a stubborn resistance. Valletta was however taken the following day and elements of the R.I.C.M. grow in Toulon.
August 24 - 27:The city of Toulon is attacked in the East by the Group of the 6th R.T.S. and tanks. Fort d'Artigues is the subject of a bitter struggle. The artillery approached a few hundred meters from the fort and opened breaches so large that they precipitated the surrender. To the north and west, the 4th R.T.S., after having relieved the units of the 3rd D.I.A., attacked in turn through the Valbourdain district and the Arènes. It is in the forts that the defense is embedded. Those of Sainte-Catherine and Lamague fell first, on August 25. At the latter fort, after heavy shelling by the divisional artillery, the 3rd battalion of the 4th R.T.S. was able to take several hundred prisoners without suffering any losses. Fort Malbousquet gave way on the 26th, after a fierce defense. Street fights gradually deliver the Arsenal and the center of the city. The resistance must be reduced one by one at La Miter in the Mourillon district, and at Saint-Mandrier. On August 26, the strongpoints of La Mitre, the fort of Six-Fours and the works of the peninsula of Sicie surrendered successively. The next day, it is the turn of the peninsula of Saint-Mandrier, which falls crushed by the powerful fires of the divisional artillery reinforced by a heavy American group, by the "bombings" and the shootings of the warships. His fall completes the conquest of Toulon. The day before, the Division marched through the city, in the presence of the Ministers of War and the Navy and General of the Army de Lattre de Tassigny, commander of the French Army.
During these first operations on French soil, ten thousand prisoners and significant equipment were captured by the Division. The number of enemies killed exceeds a thousand.
September
Barely reunited, the Division resumed its march forward. A first leap takes her to the Voiron region. It must continue towards Pontarlier and Lomont, but the movements are delayed, sometimes even stopped by the lack of gasoline. The most advanced units of the R.I.C.M., to which the Colonial Tank Hunters Regiment had joined, had already resumed contact with the enemy in the Doubs. It was only on September 25 and 26 that the last elements joined the bulk in the bend of the Doubs where the lack of petrol and ammunition had prevented them from forcing the enemy's resistance.
The situation stabilizes. On September 27, the Division extended its front and took over the sector held on its right by the 3rd D.I.A up to the Swiss border. It was reinforced by two F.F.I. battalions, the Grande-Chartreuse battalion, later replaced by the Franche-Comté battalion and the Cluny battalion.
The life of the Division then becomes that of a large unit in a sector:local operations, patrol actions, artillery duels, harassing fire on both sides. The season is progressing. The cold and the rain make the replacement of the Senegalese inevitable. However, the relief and placing in reserve of a large unit, which this transformation would normally require, is a luxury that the French Army cannot afford. It is therefore on the spot that the Division will transform itself, will "bleach" itself, by incorporating volunteer recruits attracted by the reputation of the colonial troops. And it is with these young recruits without military training that the 9th D.I.C. will continue the campaign. The instruction will have to be given online, depending on the circumstances and life in the sector. The will of the recruits and the value of the executives will make up for the shortcomings. The 6th, 21st, and 23rd Colonial Infantry Regiments therefore take over from the 6th, 4th and 13th Regiments of Senegalese Riflemen, with the numbers that their elders of the "Colonial" illustrated from 1914 to 1918.
However, winter should not stop the action:the offensive that the Allies were pursuing along the entire front had to be supported. From the first days of November, the action takes shape. The Vosges, having opposed their difficult to cross barrier to the advance of the French army, it is through the Belfort gap that the latter will seek the breakthrough. Its reconnaissance regiment will reach the Rhine and, at the end of November, the division participates in the liberation of Mulhouse. The front then stabilized in this sector until January 20, 1945, when the 1st French Army resumed its offensive in order to reduce the Colmar Pocket. The 9th D.I.C. seizes during this offensive the workers' cities located north of Mulhouse at the cost of heavy losses.
At the end of these fights, the 9th D.I.C. joined Lauterbourg, in northern Alsace, before crossing the Rhine on April 2, 1945. Finally arriving in Germany, the division participated in the capture of Karlsruhe (April 4), Rastatt, Baden-Baden and opened the route from Württemberg to the 1st Army Corps.