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Antoine-Marie-Benoît Besson

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French military officer
Benoît Besson
General Besson in 1932
Native nameBenoît Antoine Marie Besson
Born(1876-09-14)September 14, 1876
Pomeys
DiedJuly 23, 1969(1969-07-23) (aged 92)
Paris
AllegianceFrance
BranchFrench Army
Years of service1896 - 1940
RankArmy general
Commands3rd Army Group (France)
6th Army
16th Army Corps
15th Infantry Division
58th Brigade
4th Zouaves Regiment
ConflictsWorld War I
World War II
AwardsGrand Cross of the Legion of Honor

Antoine-Marie-Benoit Besson (1876–1969) was a French military officer. In World War II he was a general commanding the Third Army Group stationed along the river Rhine manning the Maginot Line.

Military career

World War I: 1914–1918

During World War I, Besson commanded the 4th Zouaves Regiment.

Interwar period: 1918–1939

In the interbellum, he commanded the 58th Brigade, the 15th Infantry Division and the 16th Army Corps.

World War II: 1939–1940

In September 1939, he commanded the 6th Army deployed in the Alps.

In October 1939, he took command of the French 3rd Army Group, which covered the section of the Maginot Line along the Rhine and the Swiss frontier. He and his command surrendered after 25 June as German Panzer units had reached the Swiss border and cut off the Maginot Line from the rest of France.

Sources

M Romanych & M Rupp, Maginot Line 1940, Battles on the French frontier, Osprey Publishing, page 13

References

  1. "Biography of General Antoine-Marie-Benoit Besson (1876–1969), France".
  2. Georg Zivkovic Army- and Navy-leaders of the world: 1971 - Page 158 1940 6. Armee: Besson, Antoine-Marie-Benoît AG. lX.-X. 1939


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