Simone Segouin

Segouin was born on 3 October 1925 in Thivars, a French village near Chartres.{{Cite web |title=Les registres paroissiaux et d'état civil |url=https://archives28.fr/archives-et-inventaires-en-ligne/histoire-des-individus-des-populations-et-genealogie/les-registres-paroissiaux-et-detat-civil |access-date=2023-05-06 |website=archives28.fr |language=fr}} She grew up alongside three brothers. Her father had been a decorated soldier during World War I. She attended school until the age of 14, at which point she began to work on the family farm.

File:SimoneSegouin.jpg

In an interview with Jack Belden, published in Life magazine in 1944 under the headline "The Girl Partisan of Chartres", Segouin and "Lieutenant Roland" explained that Segouin's involvement with the Resistance arose after the two met when she was 17. The lieutenant instructed her in the use of a submachine gun and introduced Segouin to other group members. In order to join the Francs-Tireurs et Partisans – communist resistance forces – Segouin obtained false identity papers, which established her as Nicole Minet.{{Cite web|last=Montero|first=Almu|date=17 November 2015|title=Simone Segouin, combatiente en la Resistencia Francesa|language=es|trans-title="Simone Segouin, combatiente en la Resistencia Francesa".|url=https://www.naiz.eus/en/blogs/lasoledadprogramada/posts/simone-segouin-combatiente-en-la-resistencia-francesa|access-date=23 October 2020|website=www.naiz.eus|archive-date=27 October 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20201027073123/https://www.naiz.eus/en/blogs/lasoledadprogramada/posts/simone-segouin-combatiente-en-la-resistencia-francesa|url-status=dead}} These papers identified her as being from the port of Dunkirk, which had been bombed early in the war, making it difficult for Germans to verify their authenticity.{{Cite web|date=29 April 2020|title=Girl with a Gun – Simone Segouin|url=https://www.accidentaltalmudist.org/heroes/2020/04/29/girl-with-a-gun/|access-date=23 October 2020|website=Accidental Talmudist|language=en-US}}

Segouin began by acting as a messenger and carrying out other small jobs, and later became more actively involved after participating in a successful "train-exploding expedition". Lieutenant Roland was Roland Boursier, with whom Segouin went on to have six children. The couple never married, and all of the children bore Segouin's name.

Segouin was present at the liberation of Chartres on 23 August 1944 and the liberation of Paris two days later.{{cite magazine|author=Belden, Jack|author-link=Jack Belden|date=4 September 1944|title=The Girl Partisan of Chartres|page=20|magazine=Life|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Vk8EAAAAMBAJ&dq=%22The+Girl+Partisan+of+Chartres%22&pg=PA20}} Photographs by Robert Capa. Of her role in the Resistance, she said:

I was fighting for the resistance, that's all. If I had to start over, I would, because I have no regrets. The Germans were our enemies, we were French.{{Cite web|title=L'incroyable histoire de Simone Segouin, la jeune femme qui a permis l'arrestation de 25 soldats allemands à seulement 18 ans en 1944 |trans-title=The incredible story of Simone Segouin, the young woman who enabled the arrest of 25 German soldiers at just 18 years old in 1944|url=https://www.atlantico.fr/decryptage/2306570/l-histoire-de-simone-segouin-la-jeune-femme-qui-a-permis-l-arrestation-de-25-soldats-allemands-a-seulement-18-ans-en-1944|access-date=2020-10-23|publisher=Atlantico.fr|date=31 August 2015 |language=fr}}

Segouin gained international fame when photographs of her by American photographer Robert Capa were published in Life weeks after the capture of 25 German soldiers in which she took part. Belden concluded his piece on her by noting:

I could find no trace of what is conventionally called toughness in Nicole. After routine farm life, she finds her present job thrilling and exhilarating. Now that the war is passing beyond her own home district she does not think of going back to the farm. She wants to go on with the Partisans and help free the rest of France.

She received the rank of second lieutenant in 1946, and was awarded the decoration of Croix de Guerre for her service in the Resistance.{{Cite news |last=Bérard |first=Marion |date=14 July 2021 |title=Simone Ségouin, figure de la Résistance en Eure-et-Loir, nommée chevalier de la Légion d'honneur |language=fr |trans-title=Simone Ségouin, figure of the Resistance in Eure-et-Loir, named Knight of the Legion of Honor |work=L'Écho républicain |url=https://www.lechorepublicain.fr/chartres-28000/actualites/simone-segouin-figure-de-la-resistance-en-eure-et-loir-nommee-chevalier-de-la-legion-d-honneur_13984092/ |access-date=28 May 2022}} After the war, Segouin became a pediatric nurse in Chartres. A street in Courville-sur-Eure, where she lived, was named for her.{{cite web|date=7 December 2011|title=Proces Verbal de la Seance du Conseil Municipal du 12 Julliet 2011|trans-title=Minutes of the Town Council Meeting of 12 July 2011|url=http://www.courville-sur-eure.fr/uploadcm/PV%2012.07.2011.pdf|language=fr|publisher=Commune de Courville sur Eure}} In response to the honour, Segouin said, "I'm very glad to know that people are not indifferent to this period of my life." In 2020, the village hall in Thivars was named for Segouin.{{Cite web |last=France |first=Centre |date=20 January 2020 |title=Société – Simone Segouin, figure emblématique de la Résistance en Eure-et-Loir donne son nom à la salle des fêtes de Thivars |trans-title=Simone Segouin, emblematic figure of the Resistance in Eure-et-Loir, gives her name to the village hall of Thivars |url=https://www.lechorepublicain.fr/thivars-28630/actualites/simone-segouin-figure-emblematique-de-la-resistance-en-eure-et-loir-donne-son-nom-a-la-salle-des-fetes-de-thivars_13726515/ |access-date=23 October 2020 |website=L'Écho républicain |language=fr}} She was the subject of a French documentary in 2021, broadcast on RMC Découverte.{{Cite news |last=Bonnet |first=Rémi |date=28 October 2020 |title=Un documentaire sur la résistante originaire de Thivars, Simone Ségouin, se prépare |language=fr |trans-title=A documentary on the resistance fighter from Thivars, Simone Ségouin, is being prepared |work=L'Écho républicain |url=https://www.lechorepublicain.fr/thivars-28630/loisirs/un-documentaire-sur-la-resistante-originaire-de-thivars-simone-segouin-se-prepare_13866132/ |access-date=28 May 2022}} On 14 July 2021, she was appointed a Knight of the Legion of Honour, France's highest order of merit.

Segouin died on 21 February 2023, at age 97.{{Cite web |last=Couratin |first=Sébastien |date=2023-02-21 |title=Exclusif - Simone Segouin, la dernière résistante d'Eure-et-Loir, s'est éteinte ce mardi matin |trans-title=Exclusive - Simone Segouin, the last resistance fighter in Eure-et-Loir, died on Tuesday morning |url=https://www.lechorepublicain.fr/chartres-28000/actualites/simone-segouin-la-derniere-resistante-d-eure-et-loir-s-est-eteinte-ce-mardi-matin_14265758/ |access-date=2023-02-23 |website=L'Écho républicain |language=fr}}{{Cite news |title=Simone Segouin, French Resistance fighter, dies at 97 |language=en-US |newspaper=Washington Post |url=https://www.washingtonpost.com/obituaries/2023/02/22/simone-segouin-french-resistance-dies/ |access-date=2023-02-25 |issn=0190-8286}}

• Andrée Borrel
• Denise Bloch
• Lise de Baissac
• Jeannette Guyot

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{{External media|float=right|width=240px|image1=[https://i.ytimg.com/vi/cNtEt-J9Ib4/maxresdefault.jpg Simone Segouin, French female partisan/resistance fighter, World War 2. Kodak Kodachrome by George Stevens in 1944.]}}

• {{cite web|date=21 May 2009|title=La résistance : Simone Segoin|url=http://deshaies.romain.free.fr/?pageName=article&pageId=4&pageTitle=la-resistance-simone-segoin|accessdate=14 May 2015|publisher=Romain Deshailes}}
• {{cite web|title=La jeune résistante armée de Chartres|url=http://www.fondationresistance.org/pages/rech_doc/jeune-resistante-armee-chartres_photo1.htm|accessdate=14 May 2015|publisher=Fondation de la Résistance, Frantz Malassis}}
• {{cite web|title=Paris – Liberation in August 1944 (in color and HD)|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=k1oVABc12js|publisher=YouTube.}} Kodachrome footage by George Stevens from his [https://web.archive.org/web/20140529163458/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/history/world-war-two/10861960/World-War-Two-as-you-have-never-seen-it-extremely-rare-colour-footage-of-D-Day-invasion-released.html "personal visual diary of the war"]. Segouin appears at 5:17.
• [https://www.warhistoryonline.com/instant-articles/book-heroic-french-female-wwii-spies.html "New Book tells of Heroic French Female WWII Spies"], War History Online.

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Category:1925 births

Category:2023 deaths

Category:Knights of the Legion of Honour

Category:Female recipients of the Croix de Guerre (France)

Category:Female resistance members of World War II

Category:Members of the Francs-tireurs et partisans

Category:French women in World War II

Category:People from Chartres

Category:People from Eure-et-Loir

Category:Recipients of the Croix de Guerre 1939–1945 (France)