GIRAUD MYSTERY

Evening Post, Volume CXXXIII, Issue 104, 5 May 1942, Page 5

GIRAUD MYSTERY

ESCAPEE REPORTED TO BE IN FRANCE

'. LONDON, May 3. Where is General Giraud, commander of the 9th French Army of 1940, who escaped from the German prison fortress of Koenigstein? Latest reports of his movements are conflicting, but all agree that he is somewhere in Frartce. According to the Vichy correspondent of the British United Press, General Giraud is' reported to have participated in conversations between the French and the Germans at Moulins, in occupied France, on Saturday. M. Laval, Herr Abetz, Nazi representative .in occupied France, and Count de Brinon, Vichy envoy, are believed to have been present. Laval, after the conversation,' denied that Giraud .had been handed over to the Germans. Herr Abetz is stated to have passed on a demand from Hitler that-Giraud should not join General de Gaulle. Giraud is understood to have refused. Abetz then demanded satisfactory guarantees that Giraud would not resume the fight against Germany. Giraud afterwards, it is believed, returned to Vichy, later leaving for Lyons. The Independent French agency in London, commenting on these developments, made the following statement:— "If, as is now almost certain, General Giraud is in France, it is clear that the Vichy Government is determined to protect him and not deliver him to Germany; ■ Marshal Petain will show himself firm on this point, and it is doubtful if Laval, would I to a German demand which, if met., would ex??neraie the French people, who hold General.' Giraud in high esteem."

Previous reports stated that General Giraud escaped from a German fortress prison, reached Switzerland, and left for p^ undisclosed destination.