GENERAL GIRAUD’S CAREER

Pahiatua Herald, Volume XLXII, Issue 15241, 6 January 1943, Page 4

GENERAL GIRAUD’S CAREER

FAMOUS ESCAPES RECALLED. Taken prisoner by the Germans in May, 1940, and held in the fortress of Koenigs tein on a pinnacle 800 ft above the River Elbe in Bavaria, until April of this year, General Henri Giraud, who succeeds Admiral Darlan as High Commissioner for French North Africa, regained his liberty by an escape ©yen more remarkable than when he broke away from a German prison camp during the last war, disguised as a butcher's assistant, and brought with him detailed plans of the German defences around St. Quentin. Now 63 years of age, General Giraud was commander of the Franco-British forces in northern Belgium and the Netherlands in 1939-40 and was considered one of the outstanding military minds on the Allied side. He and his staff were captured soon after he had taken over from General Corap the command of the Ninth Army near 'Sedan.

To escape from Koenigstein, he descended 57 ft of rope and made his way by train to Switzerland. The Germans obviously attached great importance to his recapture; they offered a reward of 100,000 marks, and threatened to execute anyone who assisted him. From Switzerland General Giraud proceeded to Vichy, where after he had "reported to Marshal Retain, his movements gave rise to conflicting rumours, particularly when he visited Moulins, on the. boundary of occupied and unoccupied France to meet the German ‘ ‘ambassador. ’’ Abetz, and General Stulpnagel. A well-authenticated explanation of this meeting was that it was forced upon him by Laval, who handed him a. German safe-conduct and appealed to his conscience, saying that unless returned to captivity, the Germans were threatening reprisals agamst innocent Frenchmen.

Stulpnagel apparently confirmed these threats, but General Giraud countered by refusing to return unless 500,000 French prisoners were immediately released. The meeting proved fruitless, end General Giraud returned to stay with his family at Lyons.

The Germans, in broadcasting the news of General Giraud's escape, suggested that he had taken advantage of a certain freedom of movement which had been conceded to lim on account of his health. He had not, however, given up his parole, nor, according to Vichy reports, had he pledged himself not to take up arms against Germany. But, those reports had also stated, he had signed a declaration of fidelity to Petain and had pledged himself not to rally to General de Gaulle.

Free French circles in London, however, remained confident of General Giraud"s devotion to the Allied cause; and it was considered significant. that Laval, in a broadcast on Jipie 22, went out of his way to refer lo the escape as a “painful incident, 5 ' which bad put a stop to generous measures which’ the Germans had been contemplating. The extremely high esteem in which General Giraud is held among the French way probably responsible for Laval's abstention from forcibly handing him over to the Germans, realising that such action would exasperate the people beyond controllable limits. There was a credible report that the General bad received thousands of letters from French re serve officers offering to follow’ bis leadership if he began a crusade for France’s liberation.

Towards the end of May. General de Gaulle stated that he was afraid it would be impossible for General Giraud to act because be was under the dsoplne and supervision of Vichy* Fighting French leader was nevertheless convinced that General Giraud would do all that he could t Q ensure that France would do her duty and resume the fight. After that the rumours about General Giraud died out and he was not heard of again until November 8, when, coincident with the AngloAmerican invasion of French North Africa, he broadcast over the Algiers radio, an appeal to the French armed forces to join the Allies. Vichv described the broadcast as a fraud, but soon afterwards an Allied Headquarters '’communique annonuced that the General had arrived in Algeria from France, and, with the official backing of General Eisenhower and the United States Government, would organise the French African forces. Within a week however, Admiral Darlan and General Nogues had gone over to the Americans, and on November 15 General Giraud broadcast a proclamation that he had been appointed by Darlan to command the French forces.