General Koenig
| Marie-Pierre Kœnig | |
|---|---|
General Kœnig (holding baton) poses with Lieutenant General Omar Bradley, General Dwight D. Eisenhower and Air Chief Marshal Arthur Tedder in Paris, 1944
|
|
| Born |
10 October 1898 Caen, Calvados, France |
| Died | 2 September 1970 (aged 71) Neuilly-sur-Seine, France |
| Allegiance |
 Free France France
|
| Years of service | 1917–1951 |
| Rank | General (1941), Posthumously raised to Marshal of France by Commander-In-Chief (President) François Mitterrand (1984) |
| Commands held | First Free French Brigade, French Forces of the Interior |
| Battles/wars |
World War I World War II |
| Awards |
Marshal of France Grand Cross of the Légion d'honneur Companion of the Liberation Croix de guerre des théâtres d'opérations extérieures Distinguished Service Order (UK) Companion of the Order of the Bath (UK) Grand Cross of the Order of George I (Greece) |
Marie-Pierre Kœnig (French pronunciation: [maʁi pjɛʁ køniɡ]; 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.
Marie-Pierre Kœnig was born on 10 October 1898, in Caen, Calvados, France. His parents were from the Alsace region.
Kœnig fought in the French Army during World War I and served with distinction. He obtained his baccalaureate and enlisted in 1917. He served in the 36th Infantry Regiment (French: 36e Régiment d'Infanterie. He was designated as an aspirant in February 1918 and joined his unit at the front. Decorated with the Medaille militarie, he was promoted to lieutenant on September 3, 1918.
After the war, he served with French forces in Morocco and Cameroon. He served in Silesia as assistant (French: adjoint) of captain Adrien Henry (French: ), in the Alpes, in Germany, then in Morocco, at the general staff headquarters of the division of Marrakech.
He was a captain and assistant to lieutenant-colonel Raoul Magrin-Vernerey in the 13th Demi-Brigade of Foreign Legion of the French Foreign Legion when he decided to engage in Free France on July 1940.
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