9th Army Corps (France)

For the similarly numbered formation in the Grande Armée, see IX Corps (Grande Armée).

The 9th Army Corps (French: 9e Corps d'Armée) was a large military formation (military) of the French Army, constituted during the First and the Second French Empire, and during the First and the Second World War.

History

First Empire

The 9e corps d'armée was founded in 1809 under Marshal Bernadotte, regrouping Saxon troops allied with France. The 9e Corps notably saw action during the Battle of Wagram.

First World War

At the mobilisation, the 9e Army Corps was constituted near Tours as a subunit of the Second Army. The 9e Corps comprised two infantry divisions, the 17th and 52nd, and the Division Marocaine, a colonial infantry division.

Second World War

In early September 1939, the 9e Corps was re-created in Tours, under general Émile Laure, from elements of the 9th military region.[1] It was a part of the Fourth Army, under General Edouard Réquin, itself a part of the French 2nd Army Group which charged with the defence of the Maginot Line.

Battle of France

From late 1939 to May 1940, the 9e Corps was deployed around the Saint-Avold - Faulquemont sector, in Moselle, with the general staff in Landroff. Two infantry divisions defended the fortified sector.

By late May, the Germans had pierced in the Ardennes and, with the military situation degrading, front units on the Maginot Line were gradually brought back and sent on the front on the Somme river. On 22 May, General Marcel Ihler took command of the Corps. On 27 May, the Corps marched towards Sarcus, and then to Lyons-la-Forêt, in Normandie, along with general Altmayer's 10ème Armée. Attempts at organised defence were bypassed by the Germans and these units were forced to fall back.

The remnants of the 9e Corps were eventually surrounded in Saint-Valéry-en-Caux and surrendered on 12 June 1940.[2] Most of the soldiers were kept in captivity in Germany until 1945.

Sources and references

  1. ↑ Historiques succints des grandes unités de l'armée de terre, guerre 1939-1945 tome N°1, Paris, imprimerie nationale 1967
  2. ↑ La Xème Armée, général Robert Altmayer, éditions Défense de la France, sans date
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