Editing Wilfred Bion (section)

==Early life and military service==
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[[File:Wilfred Bion 1916.jpg|thumb|right|Wilfred Bion in uniform in 1916]]
Bion was born in [[Mathura, Uttar Pradesh|Mathura]], [[North-Western Provinces]], [[British India|India]], and educated at [[Bishop's Stortford College]] in England.<ref name=odnb>Malcolm Pines, [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/51057 'Bion, Wilfred Ruprecht (1897–1979)'], ''[[Oxford Dictionary of National Biography]]'', [[Oxford University Press]], September 2004; online edition, May 2007. {{doi|10.1093/ref:odnb/51057}}. Retrieved 2008-09-10.</ref> After the outbreak of the [[First World War]], he served in the [[Royal Tank Regiment|Tank Corps]] as a tank commander in France, and was awarded both the [[Distinguished Service Order]] (DSO) (on 18 February 1918, for his actions at the [[Battle of Cambrai (1917)|Battle of Cambrai]]),<ref name=odnb /><ref>{{London Gazette|issue=30530 |supp=y|page=2156|date=15 February 1918}}</ref> and the Croix de Chevalier of the [[Légion d'honneur]].<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=31150 |supp=y|page=1446|date=28 January 1919}}</ref> He first entered the war zone on 26 June 1917,<ref>[http://www.nationalarchives.gov.uk/documentsonline/details-result.asp?Edoc_Id=1455108 Medal card for Bion, Wilfred Ruprecht], ''Documents Online'', [[The National Archives (United Kingdom)|The National Archives]] (fee may be required to view full original medal card). Retrieved 2008-09-10.</ref> and was promoted to temporary [[first lieutenant|lieutenant]] on 10 June 1918,<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=30778 |supp=y|page=7865|date=2 July 1918}}</ref> and to acting [[captain (land)|captain]] on 22 March 1918, when he took command of a tank section,<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=30791 |supp=y|page=8164|date=9 July 1918}}</ref> he retained the rank when he became second-in-command of a tank company on 19 October 1918,<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=31056 |supp=y|page=14550|date=6 December 1918}}</ref> and relinquished it on 7 January 1919.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=31272 |supp=y|page=4505|date=4 April 1919}}</ref> He was demobilised on 1 September 1921, and was granted the rank of captain.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=32542 |supp=y|pages=10000–10002|date=7 December 1921}}</ref> The full citation for his DSO reads:

{{blockquote|Awarded the Distinguished Service Order.

[...]

T./2nd Lt, Wilfred Ruprecht Bion, Tank Corps.

For conspicuous gallantry, and devotion to duty. When in command of his tank in an attack he engaged a large number of enemy machine guns in strong positions, thus assisting the infantry to advance. When his tank was put out of action by a direct hit he occupied a section of trench with his men and machine guns and opened fire on the enemy. He moved about in the open, giving directions to other tanks when they arrived, and at one period fired a Lewis gun with great effect from the top of his tank. He also got a captured machine gun into action against the enemy, and when reinforcements arrived he took command of a company of infantry whose commander was killed. He showed magnificent courage and initiative in a most difficult situation.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=30801 |supp=y|page=8439|date=16 July 1918}}</ref>}}

"Bion's daughter, Parthenope...raises the question of just how (and how far) her father was shaped as an analyst by his wartime experiences...under[p]inning Bion's later concern with the coexistence of regressed or primitive proto-mental states alongside more sophisticated one".<ref>Mary Jacobus, ''The Poetics of Psychoanalysis'' (Oxford 2005) p. 193 and n</ref>