Symbol of the French Resistance

French Resistance fighter Simone Segouin grew up in a village near Chartres 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 work on the family farm. She was forced to drop out of
school because of the Nazi invasion of France.
She got involved with the Resistance at age 17 when she met Roland Boursier, whose code name
was Lieutenant Roland. He taught her how to use a submachine gun, introducing her to other
members of his group. To join the Francs-Tireurs et Partisans—the communist resistance force
founded by Boursier to combat fascism—Segouin obtained false identity papers, giving her the
fake name of Nicole Minet. The papers identified her as hailing from the port of Dunkirk, which
had been bombed early in the war. This made it difficult for Germans to verify the papers’
authenticity. Segouin admitted to Boursier that it would please her to kill a German soldier. After
that, Boursier started training her vigorously and polished her skills to turn her into a fighter.
Boursier and Segouin had six children together but never married, and all of the children bore
Segouin's name.
Segouin began her Resistance activities by acting as a messenger and performing other small
jobs, getting more involved after helping to blow up a train. Among her first acts of resistance
was stealing a bicycle from a female German military messenger, which she then painted and
used to help carry messages. She became one of the main carriers of information as she disclosed
the hideouts of German armies to her group. Using her information, the group could act fast and
attack the German soldiers. She went on to take part in large-scale or otherwise perilous
missions, such as capturing German troops, derailing trains, and acts of sabotage. In 1944, she
was camping out on a roadside when she and two comrades spotted two Nazi soldiers
approaching them on bicycles. Segouin and her comrades opened fire at them, killing them both
instantly. Then she confiscated their papers and weapons.
Segouin gained international fame when photographs of her by American photographer Robert
Capa were published in Life Magazine weeks after the capture of 25 German soldiers in which
she took part. The magazine also published an interview with Segouin and Boursier in
September 1944, titled “The Girl Partisan of Chartres.”
Segouin attended the liberation of Chartres on August 23, 1944, and the liberation of Paris two
days later. She was promoted to lieutenant. Of her role in the Resistance Segouin 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.”
She received the rank of second lieutenant in 1946 and was awarded the Croix de Guerre. After
the war, Segouin became a pediatric nurse in Chartres. A street in Courville-sur-Eure, where she
lived, was named for her. 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 her
hometown was named for Segouin. She was the subject of a French documentary in 2021. On
July 14, 2021, she received the Legion of Honour, France’s highest order of merit.