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 (FFI) to unify various French Resistance groups under de Gaulle's control. Under his command, the FFI abandoned ranged battle in the Maquis, preferring sabotage waged in support of the invading 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 Marshal Pétain, who had taken refuge in Germany, but who gave himself up at the frontier with Switzerland. Cold War After the war, Kœnig was military governor of the French occupation zone in Germany from 1945 to 1949. In 1949, he became inspector general in North Africa and in 1950 vice-president of the Supreme War Council. Political career In 1951, after his retirement from the army, Kœnig was elected as Gaullist representative to the French National Assembly and briefly served as Minister of Defense under Pierre Mendès-France (1954) and Edgar Faure (1955). He gave his strong support to the new State of Israel as president of the Franco-Israeli Committee (Comité franco-israélien), at around the same time when he was France's Defense Minister, as shown from his informing his Israeli counterpart Shimon Peres that France was willing to sell Israel any weapons it wished to purchase, from small arms to tanks (such as the AMX-13 light tank). Kœnig had witnessed the heroism of a battalion of Palestinian Jewish mine layers during the Battle of Bir Hakeim and afterwards allowed them to fly their own Star-of-David flag, against British regulations. Death Marie-Pierre Kœnig died on 2 September 1970, in Neuilly-sur-Seine, and was buried at Montmartre Cemetery in Paris. Homage There are streets named after Kœnig in Jerusalem, Netanya and Haifa. Military ranks Honours and decorations National honours Ministerial honours Decorations and medals Foreign honours See also Susan Travers Works by Jean Fréour: Sculptor of Kœnig memorial References Notes External links Newsreel of when he was awarded the Legion of Merit by Eisenhower (3:01) Biography on the website of the Order of Liberation (French) Generals of World War II 1898 births 1970 deaths Military personnel