Kœnig, Marie-Pierre

(1898-1970)

   military figure

   Born in Caen, Marie-Pierre Kœnig was a volunteer in World War I (1917) and, after that conflict, attended the military academy at Saint-Maixent. A captain in 1939, he was part of the French expeditionary corps to Norway in World War II, then, returning to Great Britain, joined General charles de gaulle. At the head of a brigade of Free French forces, he fought against Italian, then German, troops at the Battle of Bir-Hakeim in North Africa. Named commander of French Forces of the Interior (1944), then military governor of Paris after the Liberation (August 1944), he later commanded the French zone of occupation in Germany (1945-49). He served as vice president of the High War Council (1950) before entering political life, serving as minister of national defense (1954-55). General Kœnig was granted the title of marshal of France, posthumously, in 1984.