• SS-Gruppenführer und Generalleutnant der Waffen-SS: 20 April 1944
  

• World War I: Served as a corporal in Leib-Kürassier-Regiment Großer Kurfürst (Schlesisches) Nr. 1.
  
• 1919: Freikorps service in Silesia against the Poles.
  
• 1920-1929: Served as a sergeant in the Reichswehr in Cavalry Regiment 16.
  
• 1929: Separated from the Army.
  
• 1 May 1933: Joined the SS.
  
• 1934: Assigned to the Concentration Camp Inspectorate.
  
• 9 November 1934: Commander of the SS guard unit at Sachsenburg concentration camp.
  
• 15 September 1935: Transferred to SS-Totenkopf-Standarte [Death's Head Regiment] 1 "Oberbayern."
  
• 1 May 1937: Commander of I./SS-Totenkopf-Standarte 1 "Oberbayern."
  
• 10 July 1937: Appointed commander of SS-Totenkopf-Standarte 1 "Oberbayern" [Simon's unit was used for "police duties" (i.e., rounding up Polish Army stragglers and murdering political leaders, priests, intellectuals and Jews) during the invasion of Poland in the rear area of the advancing German Army.].
  
• October 1939-26 February 1943: Commander of SS-Totenkopf Infantry Regiment 1 of SS-Totenkopf Division [saw combat in the Western Campaign of 1940 and in Russia from June 1941].
  
• 8 July 1941: Wounded in Russia.
  
• June 1942-October 1942: Delegated with the leadership of SS-Panzer Grenadier Division "Totenkopf" in Russia.
  
• 26 February 1943-16 October 1943: Commander of SS-Panzer Grenadier (later Panzer) Division "Totenkopf" in Russia.
  
• 16 October 1943-24 October 1944: Commander of 16^th SS-Panzer Grenadier Division "Reichsführer-SS" in Italy and Hungary.
  
• 20 October 1944-8 May 1945: Commanding General, XIII SS-Army Corps on the Western and Southwestern Fronts.
• Known POW Camp transfers
  • 28th November 1946 transferred to Island Farm Special Camp 11 from LDC (London District Cage)
  • 17th January 1947 transferred to LDC from Island Farm Special Camp 11

• A veteran of the pre-war concentration camp system, Max Simon's name became linked to war crimes as early as 1943. In November of that year, a Russian military tribunal sentenced him to death in absentia for his alleged role in the killing of 10,000 Russian civilians in the vicinity of Kharkov in the summer of 1943.
  
  
• After the war, the British indicted Simon as a war criminal for his complicity in the September 1944 massacre of Italian civilians at Marzabotta (estimates ranged from 300 to over 2,000 dead) in reprisal for partisan activity. Following his interrogation in the United Kingdom, Simon returned to Italy where a British military tribunal sentenced him to death. The sentence however was later commuted, and Simon was released in 1954 from Werl prison in Germany.
  
  
• In October 1955, a German court in Ansbach tried Simon for an incident that occurred in the German town of Brettheim on 7 April 1945. On that date, Simon ordered the courts martial and hanging of three citizens of the town who had disarmed some local Hitler Youth members to keep them from fighting U.S. troops. Twice acquitted of the charge (the court ruled he had been following a legal order), Simon died before the start of a third trial.
  

Decorations & Awards:

• Knight’s Cross of the Iron Cross: 20 October 1941, SS-Oberführer, Commander of SS-Totenkopf Infantry Regiment 1.
• Oakleaves (No. 639): 28 October 1944, SS-Gruppenführer und Generalleutnant der Waffen-SS, Commander of the 16th SS-Panzer Grenadier Division “Reichsführer-SS.”
• German Cross in Gold: 9 October 1944, SS-Gruppenführer und Generalleutnant der Waffen-SS, Commander of the 16th SS-Panzer Grenadier Division “Reichsführer-SS.”
• Iron Cross, 1st Class (1939): 2 October 1939.
• Prussian Iron Cross, 2nd Class (1914): 1918.
• 1939 Bar to the Prussian Iron Cross, 2nd Class: 13 September 1939.
• Medal for the Winter Campaign in Russia 1941/1942 (“East Medal”): 13 July 1942.
• Cross of Honor for Combatants 1914-1918
• Silesian Eagle, 1st Class
• Silesian Eagle, 2nd Class
• Danzig Cross, 1st Class
• Danzig Cross, 2nd Class
• Commemorative Medal of 13 March 1938
• Commemorative Medal of 1 October 1938 with Prague Castle Bar
• Demyansk Shield: 31 December 1943.
• Infantry Assault Badge in Bronze
• Wound Badge in Black – World War II award
• German National Sports Badge in Silver
• SA Sports Badge in Bronze
• Totenkopf [Death’s Head] Ring of the SS
• Honor Sword of the Reichsführer-SS
• Hungarian Order of Merit, Officer’s Cross: 1939.
• Mentioned in the Wehrmachtbericht [Armed Forces Communiqué]: 21 July 1944.