The 9th Army Corps () was a large military

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of the

French Army The French Army, officially known as the Land Army (, , ), is the principal Army, land warfare force of France, and the largest component of the French Armed Forces; it is responsible to the Government of France, alongside the French Navy, Fren ...

, constituted during the

Second French Empire The Second French Empire, officially the French Empire, was the government of France from 1852 to 1870. It was established on 2 December 1852 by Louis-Napoléon Bonaparte, president of France under the French Second Republic, who proclaimed hi ...

, and during the

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and the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War (1 September 1939 – 2 September 1945) was a World war, global conflict between two coalitions: the Allies of World War II, Allies and the Axis powers. World War II by country, Nearly all of the wo ...

History

First World War

At the mobilisation, the 9^e Army Corps was constituted near

Tours Tours ( ; ) is the largest city in the region of Centre-Val de Loire, France. It is the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Indre-et-Loire. The Communes of France, commune of Tours had 136,463 inhabita ...

as a subunit of the Second Army. The 9^e Corps comprised two infantry divisions, the

17th 17 (seventeen) is the natural number following 16 and preceding 18. It is a prime number. 17 was described at MIT as "the least random number", according to the Jargon File. This is supposedly because, in a study where respondents were asked to ...

and

52nd 52 may refer to: * 52 (number) * one of the years 52 BC, AD 52, 1952, 2052 * 52-hertz whale an individual male whale, also known as the loneliest whale, calling at the unusual 52 hertz range * ''52'' (comics), a 2006–07 American weekly comic boo ...

, and the Division Marocaine, a colonial infantry division.

Second World War

In early September 1939, the 9^e Corps was re-created in

, under general Émile Laure, from elements of the 9th military region. 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 The Maginot Line (; ), named after the Minister of War (France), French Minister of War André Maginot, is a line of concrete fortifications, obstacles and weapon installations built by French Third Republic, France in the 1930s to deter invas ...

Battle of France

From late 1939 to May 1940, the 9^e Corps was deployed around the

Saint-Avold Saint-Avold (; ; Lorraine Franconian: ''Sänt Avuur'') is a commune in the Moselle department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. It is situated east of Metz, France and southwest of Saarbrücken, Germany. History The Saint-Avold area ha ...

Faulquemont Faulquemont (; Lorraine Franconian: ''Folkenburch''; ) is a commune in the Moselle department in Grand Est in north-eastern France. Localities of the commune: Bonhouse (German: Bohnhaus), Chémery (a.k.a. ''Chémery-lès-Faulquemont'', incorp ...

sector, in

Moselle The Moselle ( , ; ; ) is a river that rises in the Vosges mountains and flows through north-eastern France and Luxembourg to western Germany. It is a bank (geography), left bank tributary of the Rhine, which it joins at Koblenz. A sm ...

, 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 The Somme ( , ; ) is a river in Picardy, northern France. The river is in length, from its source in the high ground of the former at Fonsomme near Saint-Quentin, to the Bay of the Somme, in the English Channel. It lies in the geologica ...

. On 22 May, General Marcel Ihler took command of the Corps. On 27 May, the Corps marched towards

Sarcus Sarcus (Picard language, Picard: ''Sertchu'') is a Communes of France, commune in the Oise Departments of France, department in northern France. See also * Communes of the Oise department References

Communes of Oise {{Beauvais-geo- ...

, and then to

Lyons-la-Forêt Lyons-la-Forêt () is a commune of the Eure department, Normandy, in northwest France. Lyons-la-Forêt has distinctive historical geography, and architecture, and contemporary culture, as a consequence of the Forest of Lyons, and its bocage, and ...

, 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 9^e Corps were eventually surrounded in

Saint-Valéry-en-Caux Saint-Valery-en-Caux (, literally ''Saint-Valery in Caux'') is a commune in the Seine-Maritime department in the Normandy region in northern France. The addition of an acute accent on the "e" (Valéry) is incorrect. Geography The town is loca ...

and surrendered on 12 June 1940.La Xème Armée, général Robert Altmayer, éditions Défense de la France, sans date Most of the soldiers were kept in captivity in Germany until 1945.

Commanders

* 1870 : général Cousin-Montauban * 1873 : général de Cissey * 1874 : général du Barail * 1879 : général Galliffet * . * 20 January 1912 : général Dubail * 29 April 1913 : général Dubois * 13 March 1915 : général Curé * 14 May 1916 : général Pentel * 29 October 1916 : général Niessel * 22 August 1917 : général Hirschauer * 17 December 1917 : général Mangin * 6 June 1918 : général Garnier-Duplessis * . * 2 September 1939 : général Laure * 21 May - 12 June 1940 : général Ihler

Sources and references

{{French Army Corps

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