1:30 pm: Rotterdam is subjected to air bombardment by the GErmans.
4:00 pm: French tanks, poised to stage a counter-attack against the German armoured formations in the area of the enemy penetration of the Meuse, are ordered to disperse over a front of 12 miles.
French General Corap's 9th Army retires to Rocroi.
André Georges Corap (born 15 January 1878 died 15 August 1953) was a General in the French Army who fought in World War II. He commanded the 9th Army during the battle of France in 1940.
Corap was born in Pont Audemer, Normandy. His father was a tailor. he graduated from École spéciale militaire de Saint-Cyr in 1898 and joined the French Army. He commanded colonial troops in Algeria and Morocco. In 1905 he was admitted to the Collège interarmées de défense.
In 1914 he was a captain in the Zouaves. He spent most of World War I working as a staff officer for generals Foch and Petain.
He fought in the Rif war, capturing the leader of the insurgents, Abd el-Krim. (The Rif War of 1920, also called the Second Moroccan War, was fought between Spain (later assisted by France) and the Moroccan Rif Berbers.)
Corap was promoted to Brigadier General in 1929 and Major General in 1933. He was promoted to Lietenant General in 1935 and given command of 2nd Military Division in 1937. In 1939 on the outbreak of war he was given command of the 9th Army.
The 9th Army was placed to cover the Ardennes forest during the German Blitzkrieg in 1940. Corap was held responsible for the German breakthrough by the French high command and relieved from his post on 19 May 1940. He was retired into the reserves on 1 July 1940.
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Bibliography
World War II Magazine's WWII Day by Day Desk Diary
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