9 e armée (France)
The 9 e armée ( German 9th Army ) was a large unit of the French army that was used in both the First and Second World Wars .
First World War
1. Formation
The 9 e armée (1st formation) emerged on September 5, 1914 from the Détachement d'armée Foch formed a week earlier during the retreat in the Guignicourt area near Laon under the then General Ferdinand Foch . It initially consisted of the IX. (General Dubois , three divisions ) and XI. Army Corps (General Eydoux , two divisions) - both previously subordinate to the 4th Army - two further infantry divisions and one cavalry division. After retreating behind the Marne, it formed the front between the 4th Army in the east and the 5th Army in the west. From 9/10 September she was also temporarily subordinate to the X. Army Corps (General Defforges ) and the briefly existing Cavalry Corps de l'Espée. In the First Battle of the Marne (September 5–12) she fought at the Saint-Gond marshes and further east at Fère-Champenoise against the German 2nd and parts of the 3rd Army , which they backed up after the initiation of the German retreat pursued the Aisne-Marne Canal east of Reims . The headquarters were in Châlons-en-Champagne from September 12th .
From September 13, the army was engaged in fighting during the First Battle of the Aisne between Souain-Perthes-lès-Hurlus and Prunay . At the end of September heavy fighting took place around Reims, which was shelled by German artillery. In the course of the race to the sea , General Foch was appointed Deputy Commander-in-Chief Joffre for the northern front in early October 1914 . His army was therefore disbanded two days later by order of October 5th, and its previous front was taken over by the 4th and 5th Armies.
2. Formation
The 9 e armée (2nd formation) was set up at the beginning of July 1918 by renaming the Détachement d'armée du Nord (DAN) formed on April 19 of this year under General Antoine de Mitry . The DAN was formed during the Fourth Battle of Flanders in support of the beleaguered British and had its headquarters in Esquelbecq . It initially comprised the XXXVI. Army Corps (General Nollet , two divisions), another infantry division and the II Cavalry Corps (General Robillot ). Among other things, it was used in the Battle of Kemmelberg at the end of April 1918. The French forces of the DAN deployed here to stabilize the front comprised up to three army corps and half a dozen other divisions in May. These forces were gradually withdrawn to other sectors of the front in June and replaced by British troops, and by the end of the month only a single French army corps remained in the region.
The headquarters of the DAN was relocated to the south at the end of June and renamed here on July 6th to 9 e armée with headquarters in Fère-Champenoise. On July 17th, after the start of the Second Battle of the Marne , the Army High Command was pushed into the front between the 4th and 5th Army on the Marne in the Festigny area to Château-Thierry . It took over the command of two army corps (III. And XXXVIII.) And another division. As part of the Allied counter-offensive on the Marne, which began on July 18, the 9 e armée also attacked and fought at Dormans , among other things . On July 25, the headquarters was released from the front and relocated to Méru north of Paris. Here it was dissolved on August 20th; the order to do so had already been issued on August 7th.
Second World War
In the Second World War, the 9 e armée was formed on October 15, 1939, during the Seated War , from the Détachement d'armée des Ardennes under the command of General André Georges Corap and was subordinate to the French 1st Army Group under Gaston Billotte . It held the front between Trélon (affiliation with the 1st Army ) and Pont-à-Bar ( 2nd Army ). At the beginning of 1940 she was subordinate to a fortress corps and two army corps (XI. And II.). There were also several divisions in reserve and a tank brigade. The French army command did not expect a serious German advance through the Ardennes and neglected the defense in this area.
When the German armies of Army Group A that according to May 10, Manstein Plan vormarschierten through the Ardennes, its mechanized and armored spearheads initially met no major resistance. Although the Battle of Sedan, which took place further south in the area of the 2nd French Army, is often described as the decisive breakthrough of this campaign, it was no less the 9th Army that was badly defeated in several battles, including at Monthermé by the XXXXI. Army corps (mot.) Under Georg-Hans Reinhardt and at Dinant by the XV. Army corps (mot.) Under Hermann Hoth . General Henri Giraud , who had taken over the army from General Corap on May 16, was captured three days later while retreating near Wassigny . By May 21st, the 9 e armée was completely destroyed. Scattered units got into the pocket formed by the German advance to the English Channel around the Allied Northern Army Group, others made their way south to the Weygand Line .
literature
- Les Armées françaises dans la Grande guerre ( AFGG ) , Tome X / Vol. 1: Ordre de bataille des grandes unités. , Paris 1923, pp. 465-471, digitized on Gallica .
