Dassault (Originally Bloch), Darius Paul

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DASSAULT (originally Bloch), DARIUS PAUL

DASSAULT (originally Bloch), DARIUS PAUL (1882–1969), French army officer, born in Paris. Dassault graduated from the Ecole Polytechnique in 1903 and joined the army, serving in artillery units and at the general headquarters of the French army in the Near East during World War i. Between 1919 and 1933 he held posts in military schools including the Centre des Hautes Etudes Militaires and in 1933 was appointed head of the technical bureau of the French artillery. On the outbreak of World War ii, Dassault was put in command of the Fifth Army Corps and following the French surrender in June 1940 he joined the Resistance. When France was liberated in 1944, he was raised to the rank of général d'armée, the highest rank in the French army, and appointed governor of Paris. From 1945 until he retired in 1948, Dassault was general inspector of artillery. His brother was Marcel *Dassault, owner of the aircraft factory of that name.

[Mordechai Kaplan]