Throughout May 16 the German advance continued, with Rommel pen¬etrating fifty miles into French territory, towards Cambrai, and Guderian reaching a point sixty miles east of Sedan. That day General Gamelin ordered French forces to leave Belgium. […] In Paris, fears of an imminent German breakthrough led to panic. […] But it was not towards Paris that Guderian's panzers were advancing: […]they turned north-west, and by noon on May 17 had reached the River Oise, at Origny, less than ten miles east of St Quentin Attacking them, but unable to halt them, were the tanks of the French 4th Armoured Division, commanded by one of the pioneers of armoured warfare Colonel de Gaulle. In recognition of his bravery that day he was promoted to the rank of general.
From: Martin Gilbert, The Second World War, A Complete History, Herry Holt and Company, Inc., New York, 1989, pp. 67, 68.
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