At 8:45am Gen Georges receives the following message from Gen Sir John Dill, Chief of the Imperial General Staff, with the request that it should be passed on to Gen Weygand:

Due to the present situation and the difficulty in communications, Gen Brooke can no longer hope to receive orders from the French Supreme Command.

I have informed him that he need no longer consider himself under the orders of the Supreme Command, but that he ought to continue co-operation with French troops operating in his vicinity.

I am taking your agreement as given from now.

This telegram finally puts an end to Anglo-French military collaboration. As a result, those elements of the Canadian division that had reached the area of concentration head back to Brest, there to re-embark without having fired a shot. The pioneer groups are evacuated via Saint-Malo, and various signals units head for the coast. Gen Brooke's staff is reduced to 4 officers and 2 secretaries.

Lt-Gen J. H. Marshal-Cornwall assumes command of 'Normanforce'. On learning that the French 10th Army is beginning a general withdrawal toward Brittany, he orders 'Normanforce' to proceed to Cherbourg by a series of forced marches.

During the morning Gen Georges calls his subordinates together in Briare: Gen Besson, commander of the 3rd Group of Armies, Gen Huntziger, commander of the 4th Group of Armies, and all the commanders of the armies in the center.

These officers examine the situation. It strikes them as desperate. The Wehrmacht is advancing along three main paths. In the west they are striking downward toward the mouth of the Loire. In the east it is heading for Lyons and the Rhô:ne valley. In the northeast the encirclement of the 2nd Group of Armies has begun.

It is becoming impossible to meet the enemy's probes with front or even, quite often, with units of much size. All recoverable resources in the various sectors are organized into holding-forces and positioned along the rivers at points where the enemy will be compelled to cross. Added to these are the more or less coherent shreds of the retreating divisions.

The generals are unanimously of the opinion that the hostilities should be stopped as soon as possible.

All day long the French High Command seeks information as to the position of its armies. One after another the towns to which they telephone ceases to answer. First it was Troyes, then Bar-sur-Aube, then Auxerre, then Chaumont; and their silence dramatically records the southward advance of the German forces.

Their progress is swift and uninterrupted. Von Kleist's Panzer divisions are in Clamecy and Montbard and already thrusting toward La Charité-sur-Loire, Nevers and Autun. Guderian's are in Gray-sur-Saô:ne and advancing on Dijon, Besançon and Vesoul.

Things are getting difficult for the 2nd Group of Armies. The Germans, aware of the withdrawal of the Rhine garrisons, is attacking at Neuf-Brisach.

At about 5pm Gen Georges's staff leaves Briare and heads for Vichy.