On 9 June, the French commander at Le Havre contacted the 10th Army and the 51st (Highland) Division with a message that the Germans had captured Rouen and were heading for the coast. Ihler, the IX Corps commander and Major-General Victor Fortune, commander of the 51st (Highland) Division, decided that the only hope of escape was through Le Havre and abandoned the plan to retire through Rouen. The port admiral requested enough ships from the Admiralty to remove but this contradicted the plans of the French supreme commander Maxime Weygand, and General John Dill (Chief of the Imperial General Staff) hesitated, ignorant that Weygand's delay in issuing the orders had made it impossible. Karslake had also urged several times that the retirement be accelerated but had no authority to issue orders. Only after receiving a message during the night from Fortune, that the 51st Division was participating in a retreat by IX Corps towards Le Havre, did Dill learn the true situation.