Marie-Pierre Kœnig

Marie-Pierre Kœnig (10 October 1898 – 2 September 1970) was a French army officer and politician. He commanded a Free French Brigade at the Battle of Bir Hakeim in North Africa in 1942.

Early Life
Marie-Pierre Kœnig was born on 10 October 1898, in Caen, Calvados.

Military Career
He fought in the French Army during World War I and served with distinction. After the war, he served with French forces in Morocco and Cameroon.

World War 2
When World War II broke out, Kœnig returned to France. In 1940, he was assigned as a captain with the French troops in Norway, for which he was later awarded the Krigskorset med Sverd or Norwegian War Cross with Sword, in 1942. After the fall of France, he escaped to England from Brittany.

In London, Kœnig joined General Charles de Gaulle and was promoted to colonel. He became chief of staff in the first divisions of the Free French Forces. In 1941, he served in the campaigns in Syria and Lebanon. He was later promoted to general and took command of the First French Brigade in Egypt. His unit of 3700 men held ground against five Axis divisions for 16 days at the Battle of Bir Hakeim until they were ordered to evacuate on 11 June 1942. General de Gaulle said to Kœnig: "Hear and tell your troops: the whole of France is watching you, you are our pride."

Later, Kœnig served as the Free French delegate to the Allied headquarters under General Dwight D. Eisenhower. In 1944, he was given command of the Free French who participated in the Invasion of Normandy. Kœnig also served as a military advisor to de Gaulle. In June 1944, he was given command of the French Forces of the Interior to unify various French Resistance groups under de Gaulle's control. Under his command, the FFI stopped range battle in the Maquis, preferring sabotage waged in support of the invasion army. Important in D-Day, the role of the FFI became decisive in the battle for Normandy and in the landing in Provence of the US Seventh Army and French Army B. On 21 August 1944, de Gaulle appointed Kœnig military governor of Paris to restore law and order. In 1945, he was sent to arrest Philippe Pétain, who had taken refuge in Germany, but who gave himself up at the frontier with Switzerland.

Cold War
After the war, Kœnig was commander of the French army in the French occupation zone of Germany from 1945 to 1949. In 1949, he became inspector general in North Africa and in 1950 vice-president of the Supreme War Council. In 1951, after his retirement, he was elected as Gaullist representative to the French National Assembly and briefly served as a minister of defence under Pierre Mendès-France (1954) and Edgar Faure (1955).

He gave his support to the new State of Israel as president of the Franco-Israeli Committee (Comité franco-israélien).

Marie-Pierre Kœnig died on 2 September 1970, in Neuilly-sur-Seine, and was buried at Montmartre Cemetery in Paris. In 1984, he was posthumously declared Marshal of France. He was awarded a large number of military honours and decorations during his career, including the British Distinguished Service Order, and appointment as Companion of the Order of the Bath.

In addition to memorials in France, there are streets named after him in Jerusalem and in Netanya, Israel.

Honours and awards
(From the equivalent French Wikipedia article)


 * Grand Cross of the Legion of Honour
 * Order of Liberation (25 June 1942)
 * Military Medal
 * Croix de guerre 1914-1918 (2 citations)
 * Croix de guerre 1939-1945 (4 citations)
 * Croix de guerre des théâtres d'opérations extérieures (3 citations)
 * Resistance medal with rosette
 * Colonial Medal with clasps "Morocco", "Sahara", "Libya", "Bir-Hakeim", "Tunisia 42-43"
 * Croix du combattant
 * Aeronautical Medal
 * Commander of the Order of Agricultural Merit
 * Escapees' Medal
 * 1914–1918 Inter-Allied Victory medal
 * 1914–1918 Commemorative war medal
 * 1939–1945 Commemorative war medal
 * Commemorative medal for voluntary service in Free France
 * Medal of French Gratitude
 * Distinguished Service Order (United Kingdom)
 * Companion of the Order of the Bath (United Kingdom)
 * Commander of the Legion of Merit (United States)
 * Order of Suvorov, 1st Class (Soviet Union)
 * Grand Cross of the Knights of Malta
 * Grand Officer of the Order of Leopold (Belgium)
 * Croix de Guerre with Palm (Belgium)
 * Grand Cross Order of the Crown (Belgium)
 * Grand Cross of the Order of Orange-Nassau (Netherlands)
 * Grand Cross of the Order of the Dannebrog (Denmark)
 * Grand Cross of the Order of St. Olav (Norway)
 * War Cross with Sword (Norway)
 * Order of Virtuti Militari (Poland)
 * Resistance Medal with rosette (Poland)
 * War Cross (Czechoslovakia)
 * Order of the White Lion for Victory (Czechoslovakia)
 * Grand Cross of the Order of George I (Greece)
 * Grand Cross of the Order of the Oak Crown (Luxembourg)
 * War Cross (Luxembourg)
 * Grand Cross of the Order of Saint Charles (Monaco)
 * Grand Cross of the Order of the White Elephant (Thailand)
 * Sherifian Order of Military Merit (Ordre du Mérite Militaire Chérifien) (Morocco)
 * Grand Cordon of the Order of Ouissam Alaouite (Morocco)
 * Grand Cordon of the Nichan Iftikar (Tunisia)
 * Grand Officer of the Order of the Star of Anjouan (Comoros)