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General of the Army Jean Simon, Major of the 13th DBLE
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Jean Simon was born in Brest on April 30, 1912. His family were civil servants, his father, the a registrar of mortgages. He studied at Saint Louis College in Paris, before entering the Saint Cyr Military academy in 1933. In 1935 he receives his commission as a second lieutenant, and is posted in a Regiment of colonial Infantry in Morocco in Aix En Provence. In August of 1936, he is posted with the 1st Regiment of Senegalese Riflemen in Saint Louis. He desires to become more active in social work in the Saharan area, and studies courses on Muslim Businesses and Law in Mauritania. When he finishes his studies, he is given an important assignment to work with Nomads in Algiers and Morocco.
In 1937, he is in Mauritania, and assumes command of the subdivision of Tichitt, on the borders of Mauritania and the Sudan. His well versed political sense of the nomads, leads to his further commendation, and promotion to second lieutenant. At the outbreak of war in 1939, he is posted with the 42nd Malagasy Battalion machine gunners, which later becomes the 42nd Half Brigade of indigenous colonial machine gunners. In January of 1940, he volunteers for instruction as an aerial observer. After Petain's surrender intent declaration in June of 1940, Simon along with fellow officer Pierre Messmer, decided to continue fighting, and travel by hitch hiking to Marseilles, where they win the sympathy of the commander of the merchant navy in the city, and board the Italian cargo ship, Capo Olmo, bound for North Africa, under assumed names, along with a group of like minded French officers, they had collected. Simon and Messmer convince the captain of the Capo Olmo of the dangers of the Mediterranean, and the inability of the Italian and German navies to protect his ship from the British. They instead sail to Gibraltar, where the ship and its cargo are handed over to the Free French cause, the sale of which is used to support for amassing Free French forces. Arriving in England on July 17, 1940, Simon is posted into the 13th DBLE. He is made a section commander in the company commanded by Dimitri Amilakhvari.
He serves with the 13th DBLE in its campaigns through 1940 and 1941. In March of 1941, he is commended for leading a patrol deep behind enemy lines, collecting essential information regarding Axis troop movements and positions. Lieutenant Simon is quoted in British Army dispatches for valor. He is decorated in Qastina, Palestine, with the Order of Liberation, by De Gaulle. In Syria, he was made a captain and company commander, before being wounded on June 21, 1941, in Kaden, in the gardens of Goutta near Damas. He loses his right eye and is evacuated to Deraa, and then Nazareth, finally arriving Bethlehem where he will pass his convalescence. He rejoins his company on October 1, 1941, in Homs.
He serves in Libya as the commander of a heavy anti tank company. Captain Simon is made the first officer of the Brigade to command a shock column, which consisted of a light motorized unit that carried out raids in depth into enemy territory. In Mechili, he leads his detachment against an enemy group of 14 tanks, supported by infantry. His unit sufferes heavy losses, and is commended for valor for his cool and collected stability at the time. He is also cited for valor at Bir Hakeim and the Second Battle of El Alamein. He remains with the unit, and at the end of the Italian campaign, is promoted to major. He is again cited for valor at Vosges and Belfort following the landing of the 13th in southern France.
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He is wounded in his right side at Massevaux, on December 3, by an artillery shell, and again receives citations for valor. At war's end, he is appointed to De Gaulle's cabinet, with the particular capacity of a representative of the Foreign Legion. After serving on the staff of the inspector general of overseas forces, in 1946, he is promoted to lieutenant colonel in 1947. He is posted with the 3rd REI station in Caobang on the China boder. He assumes this command in 1948, and is cited for valor after leading a fierce assault against Viet Minh on Colonial Road Number 4, and liberates the besieged French army outpost of Phu Tong Hoa, where his unit is later attacked, and repels the signifcantly larger force of 5,000 Viet Minh. He is wounded on February 28, 1948 in both legs by a grenade. He returns to France in 1950, and is posted to the techinical section of the Army, and then later attends courses at the School of War in 1951. Promoted to full colonel in 1952, he is made chief of the 3rd Office of the Army in 1955. In 1956, he participates in the Operation Suez in connection with the Israeli Army.
In 1957, he is made military attache to the Embassy of France in London. It subsequently serves as the attache of Ground and Sea Forces in Dublin, Ireland. He is made a brigadier general in 1960, and serves in Algiers. During the 1961 revolt, troops in his sector remain loyal to him and to France. He commands the 27th Alpine Division, 29th Infantry Division, and the zones of Oranois and Is. He is appointed by De Gaulle as a representative in the Algerian liberation talks. He alter takes command of the Saint Cyr Military Academy, and is made a General of the Army in 1964. He is made commander of the 1st Corps in Nancy. In 1967, he is made governor of Lyon, ordering the 5th military region, and faced a serious insurrection in May of 1968. In 1969, he is made the General Inspector of the French Ground Forces. He is greatly admired for his prestige and great knowledge of the the plights of his soldiers.
A member of the Council of War since 1968, and general of the council in 1970, he leaves active military service on May 1, 1973. He is made the secretary general of national defense, which he remains until 1977. He organizes the creation of new military training programs in Paris and Provence. A member of the council of liberation since June of 1969, he is chosen as chancellor of of liberation in September of 1978, for a four year term and is re-elected in 1982, 1986, 1990, 1994, and 1998. He also served as president of the Foundation of Free France from 2000 to September of 2001. He furhter serves as vice president of the Institute of De Gaulle, and in September of 2002, retires from his position as chancellor of Liberation. He passes away on September 28, 2003, in Cherbourg. His funeral was held on October 2, 2003, in the Saint Louis Church of the Invalids. He is buried at the Querquevulle Cemetary along the English Channel.
During his military career, Jean Simon received the following awards/decorations:
・Grand Croix de la Legion d'Honneur ・Compagnon de la Liberation - decret du 23 juin 1941 ・Medaille Militaire - décret du 16 octobre 2002 ・Croix de Guerre 39/45 (9 citations) ・Croix de Guerre des TOE (2 citations) ・Croix de la Valeur Militaire (2 citations) ・Medaille de la Resistance ・Medaille des Blesses ・Croix du Combattant Volontaire de la Resistance ・Medaille Coloniale avec agrafes "Erythree", "Libye", "Bir-Hakeim", "Afrique Française Libre", "Extreme-Orient" ・Medaille des Services Volontaires dans la France Libre ・Medaille Commemorative des Opérations de Securite et de Maintien de l"Ordre en Afrique du Nord avec agrafe "Algerie" ・Medaille d'Honneur de l'Education Physique et des Sports ・Commandeur des Palmes Academiques ・Distinguished Service Order (GB) ・Military Cross - mention in dispatch (GB) ・Commandeur du Royal Victoriam Order (GB) ・Bronze Star Medal (USA) ・Medaille de Guerre du Bresil ・Commandeur de l"Etoile Noire du Benin ・Commandeur du Nicham Iftikar (Tunisie)