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Women played a critical role in the French Resistance fighting against the fucking Nazi occupation of their country during World War II. Being in the resistance was no picnic; it was fraught with peril. Some did it for their families. Some did it for their country. Some did it for love. Simone Segouin did it for all three.
--On This Day in History, Shit Went Down: July 14, 1944--
A farm girl, when Simone was 17, she met a resistance commander named Roland Boursier, and she was smitten. Segouin loved her country, and was proud of her father having been a decorated soldier in defense of France in World War I. When Roland asked her to join the Francs-Tireurs et Partisans (free shooters and partisans) she was all oh hell yes my love I will definitely join you in fucking Nazi shit up. Her first act of resistance was to sneak up outside a German soldier billet and slash all the tires on their bicycles and motorcycles. Except for one bike, which she stole and repainted then used to work as a messenger for the resistance.
On July 14, 1944, she killed for the first time.
Roland, her love, taught Segouin how to use a Schmeisser submachine gun, which had been taken from a German soldier. On that July day she was part of an ambush of German soldiers. Simone and her two comrades launched their surprise attack on the enemy as they rode by on bicycles, sending them all to Nazi hell. She said she took no joy in it. She also blew shit up, participating in numerous acts of sabotage and derailing of fucking Nazi trains.
The following month she was part of the liberation of Paris with Charles de Gaulle, fighting against the Germans engaged in a rearguard action as they pulled out of the city. She said that was her proudest moment. “It was a wonderful feeling entering the city, but my excitement was limited because it felt very dangerous.”
Robert Capa, an American photographer for Life magazine, made Simone famous after she participated in the capture of 25 German soldiers. She became a symbol of women in the resistance. After the war she was promoted to the rank of lieutenant and was awarded the French Croix de Guerre. She then became a pediatric nurse. Roland and Simone didn’t marry after the war, but they did have six children together. All the children bear Simone’s surname of Segouin.
Simone is still alive and resides in Chartres, France, a city she helped liberate during the war.
Thanks, Lili, for the suggestion of today’s topic.
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