Henri Giraud

Henri Honoré Giraud (French: [ɑ̃ʁi ɔnɔʁe ʒiʁo]; 18 January 1879 – 11 March 1949) was a French military officer who was a leader of the Free French Forces during the Second World War until he was forced to retire in 1944.^[1]

Henri Giraud was born in Paris to coal merchant Louis-Joseph Giraud (1853-1916) and his wife Jeanne Joséphine Giraud (née Deguignand), both of Alsatian descent. Giraud graduated from the Saint-Cyr military academy and served in French North Africa, where he was awarded Légion d'honneur for service during the Rif War. He was wounded and captured by the Germans during the First World War, but managed to escape from his prisoner-of-war camp.

Early in the Second World War, Giraud fought in the Netherlands. In May 1940, he was again captured by the Germans, but made another successful escape from captivity in April 1942 after two years of careful planning. From within Vichy France he worked with the Allies in secret and assumed command of French troops in North Africa in November 1942 after the Allied landings. Following the assassination of François Darlan in December, Giraud became High Commissioner for French North and West Africa. His tenure was marked by a slow transition from Vichy authoritarianism to democratisation.

In January 1943, he took part in the Casablanca Conference along with Charles de Gaulle, Winston Churchill and Franklin D. Roosevelt. In June, Giraud and de Gaulle established the French Committee of National Liberation as a unified French government of which they became co-presidents. However, Giraud was outmanoeuvred by de Gaulle and retired in April 1944 after being sidelined.

After the war, Giraud was elected to the Constituent Assembly of the French Fourth Republic. He died in Dijon in 1949.

Giraud graduated from the Saint-Cyr Military Academy in 1900 and joined the French Army as a sub-lieutenant in the 4th Zouaves. In 1907, he qualified for admission to the École supérieure de guerre,^[2] and on 10 December was transferred to the 27th Infantry.^[3] Having successfully qualified as a staff officer, Giraud was appointed to the staff of the 9th Army Corps on 13 October 1909.^[4] On 23 October 1911, he was appointed to the staff of the 1st Brigade of Cuirassiers.^[5] Due to the slow pace of promotion in the peacetime army, Giraud only received a brevet promotion to captain on 23 December 1912, over a decade after his promotion to lieutenant.^[6] On 23 June 1913, Giraud returned to the 4th Zouaves,^[7] and commanded Zouave troops in North Africa until he was transferred back to France in 1914 when World War I broke out.

Giraud was seriously wounded while leading a Zouave bayonet charge during the Battle of St. Quentin on 30 August 1914, and was left for dead on the field. He was captured by the Germans and placed in a prison camp in Belgium. Giraud managed to escape two months later by pretending to be a roustabout with a traveling circus. He then asked Edith Cavell for help, and eventually he was able to return to France via the Netherlands, with assistance from Cavell's team.^[8][9] Giraud's feat earned him appointment as a knight of the Legion of Honour on 10 April 1915.^[10] With effect from 26 February 1915, he was reappointed a staff officer.^[11]

Afterwards, Giraud served with French troops in Istanbul under General Franchet d'Esperey.

In 1920, Giraud was transferred to Morocco to fight against Rif rebels. He was awarded the Légion d'Honneur after the capture of Abd-el-Krim (1926).^[8] On 20 October 1927, by now a brevet colonel with the 5th Infantry, he was appointed professor of infantry tactics at the École de Guerre,^[12] where one of his students was Captain Charles de Gaulle. On 3 February 1930, Giraud was "placed at the disposal of the resident-general of France in Morocco", then Lucien Saint, and was assigned to monitor the Algerian-Moroccan borders as commander of the Moroccan frontier post of Boudenib.^[13] He was promoted to brigadier-general on 22 December 1930.^[14] On 11 April 1936, he was appointed military governor of Metz, commanding the 6th military region.^[15]

When World War II began, Giraud was a member of the Superior War Council, and disagreed with Charles de Gaulle about the tactics of using armoured troops. On 2 September 1939, he became the commander of the 7th Army. When the Germans attacked on 10 May 1940, 7th Army moved to the Netherlands and fought a delaying action at Breda on 13 May, with heavy losses. The remnant of 7th Army was withdrawn through Belgium and merged into the 9th Army, with Giraud put in command on 19 May. That same day he went to the front with a reconnaissance patrol and was captured at Wassigny. A court-martial tried Giraud for ordering the execution of two German saboteurs wearing civilian clothes, but he was acquitted. He was sent to the high-security prisoner-of-war camp in Königstein Castle near Dresden.^[16]

Over the next two years, Giraud carefully planned to escape. He learned German and memorised a map of the area. He made a 150 feet (46 m) rope out of twine, torn bedsheets, and copper wire, which friends had smuggled into the prison for him. Using a simple code embedded in his letters home, he informed his family of his plans to escape.

On 17 April 1942, he lowered himself down the cliff of the mountain fortress. He had shaved off his moustache, and wore a Tyrolean hat. He met a Special Operations Executive (SOE) agent in Schandau, who provided him with a change of clothes, cash, and identity papers. Through various ruses, he reached the Swiss border by train. To avoid border guards who were on the alert for him, he walked through the mountains until he was stopped by two Swiss soldiers, who took him to Basel.^[8] Giraud eventually slipped into Vichy France, where he made his identity known. He tried to convince Marshal Philippe Pétain that Germany would lose, and that France must resist the German occupation. His views were rejected but the Vichy government refused to return Giraud to the Germans.^[17]

Giraud's escape soon became known throughout France. The Vichy Prime Minister, Pierre Laval, tried to persuade him to return to Germany. Yet while remaining loyal to Pétain and the Vichy government, Giraud refused to cooperate with the Germans. In retaliation, Heinrich Himmler ordered the Gestapo to try to assassinate him and to arrest any members of Giraud's family who could be found, with the intention of holding them hostage in order to discourage Giraud from cooperating with the Allies. Seventeen members of Giraud's extended family were arrested.^[18]

Allied authorities secretly contacted Giraud, giving him the code name Kingpin. Giraud was already planning for the day when American troops landed in France. He agreed to support an Allied landing in French North Africa, provided that only American troops were used (like many other French officers he was bitterly resentful of the British, particularly after their attack on Mers-el-Kébir), and that he or another French officer was the commander of such an operation. He considered this latter condition essential to maintaining French sovereignty and authority over the Arab and Berber natives of North Africa.

Giraud designated General Charles Mast as his representative in Algeria. A secret meeting on 23 October 1942 with U.S. General Mark W. Clark and the American diplomat Robert Murphy agreed on the invasion, but the Americans promised only that Giraud would be in command "as soon as possible". Giraud, still in France, responded with a demand for a written commitment that he would be commander within 48 hours of the landing, and for landings in France as well as North Africa. Giraud also insisted that he could not leave France before 20 November.^[19] However, Giraud was persuaded that he had to move. He requested to be fetched by airplane, but General Dwight Eisenhower advised that he should be brought to Gibraltar by the British submarine HMS Seraph, masquerading as "USS Seraph" under the nominal command of American Captain Jerauld Wright, as no US submarines were operating in the vicinity. On 5 November, he and his two sons were picked up near Toulon by HMS Seraph and taken to meet Eisenhower in Gibraltar.^[20]: 544 He arrived on 7 November, only a few hours before the landings.

Eisenhower asked him to assume command of French troops in North Africa during Operation Torch and to order them to join the Allies. But Giraud had expected to command the whole operation, and adamantly refused to participate on any other basis. He said "his honor would be tarnished" and that he would only be a spectator in the affair.^[21] However, by the next morning, Giraud relented. He refused to leave immediately for Algiers, but rather stayed in Gibraltar until 9 November. When asked why he did not go to Algiers he replied: "You may have seen something of the large De Gaullist demonstration that was held here last Sunday. Some of the demonstrators sang the Marseillaise. I entirely approve of that! Others sang the Chant du départ [a military ballad]. Quite satisfactory! Others again shouted 'Vive de Gaulle!' No objection. But some of them cried 'Death to Giraud!' I don't approve of that at all."^[22]

Pro-Allied elements in Algeria had agreed to support the Allied landings, and in fact seized Algiers on the night of 7–8 November; the city was subsequently occupied by Allied troops. However, pro-Vichy resistance continued at Oran and Casablanca. Giraud flew to Algiers on 9 November, but his attempt to assume command of French forces was rebuffed; his broadcast directing French troops to cease resistance and to join the Allies was ignored.^[21] Instead, it appeared that Admiral François Darlan, who happened to be in Algiers, had real authority, and Giraud quickly realized this. Despite the fact that Darlan was the de facto head of the Vichy government, the Allies recognised him as head of French forces in Africa, and on 10 November, after agreeing to a deal, Darlan ordered the French forces to cease fire and to co-operate with the Allies.^[21]

Clark and Murphy met with Giraud on 11 November to offer him civil and military command over French North Africa as well as the position he had sought in Gibraltar, though to the surprise of his contemporaries he declined, responding "I am not a statesman, I know nothing about civil government; I only want the supreme command of the land and sea troops."^[23] The Americans subsequently invited Giraud to negotiations on the French military command structure with General Alphonse Juin, Darlan (who was in the meantime entrusted by the Americans with the civil command), and General Charles Noguès that ran from 12–13 November.^[24] Vichyists Darlan and Noguès initially rejected Giraud as a "rebel general", though they came to an agreement after being threatened with arrest.^[25]

Darlan delayed the announcement of Giraud as commander-in-chief of the armed forces in Africa and persuaded him to relinquish control of the navy.^[26] Giraud subsequently assumed the position of commander-in-chief of the land and air forces in Africa on 14 November under the authority of Darlan who became High Commissioner for French North and West Africa and commander-in-chief of the armed forces in Africa, though Giraud's command would take precedence in the event of combined operations.^[27] Giraud issued a secret memo on 15 November maintaining the Vichy-era internment of North African Jewish conscripts in the form of work units (see for example the Bedeau camp),^[28] writing in a November circular:^[29]

I recommend not assigning Israelites to combat formations because if they behaved heroically, we would be obliged to recognise it, to grant them ranks and decorations, and to admit that the children of those killed [facing] the enemy would attain the status of pupilles de la nation

On 24 December, Darlan was shot dead in Algiers by Fernand Bonnier de La Chapelle, a 20-year-old member of the local resistance that had helped to facilitate the Allied landings.^[30][31] Giraud, rushing back to Algiers from Tunisia, and General Jean-Marie Bergeret expedited the subsequent court-martial to maintain public order and Bonnier was executed on 26 December.^[32][31] Noguès initially assumed Darlan's positions while a successor was selected and Giraud was appointed in his place at the request of Eisenhower on 26 December.^[33]

Giraud governed according to giraudisme, a state of mind rather than a rigorous doctrine, that sought to synthesise a vigorously anti-German position with continued allegiance to the values of the Révolution nationale.^[34] Giraud retained Vichy-era legislation and governed under the pretext that Pétain was prevented from ruling.^[35] On 30 December, and at the request of Bergeret and his supporter Jean Rigault, Giraud ordered the internment of twelve Gaullist resistance members in the police that had aided the Allied landings, alleging that there was a plot to assassinate him and Murphy.^[36][37] He also maintained Darlan's appointments and followed through with the appointment of Vichy politician Marcel Peyrouton as Governor-General of Algeria.^[36]

Invited by Eisenhower, Giraud arrived at the Casablanca Conference on 17 January 1943 where he secured President Roosevelt's formal support for the leadership and a commitment to equip 250,000 French soldiers.^[38][39] De Gaulle arrived on 22 January and the two met the following morning to discuss the unification of the Fighting French movement and the future of the Vichy regime, Giraud presenting the Murphy-Macmillan plan for a duumvirate in which de Gaulle would look after political affairs and de Gaulle vying for political leadership whereby Giraud would be subordinated to him and in charge of the military.^[40][41] The talks resulted in no agreement, though to feign progress Giraud and de Gaulle agreed to sign a brief communique at a staged press conference on 24 January where they would shake hands for the newsreels.^[42][39]

On 29 January, Giraud promised to revoke Vichy-era legislation and on 30 January he confirmed his intention to accelerate the release of political detainees, which included several hundred Spanish republicans and smaller contingents of Gaullists and French Communist Party deputies.^[43] An American press campaign in early 1943 denounced the internment camps and the retention of Vichy anti-Jewish legislation, with Giraud releasing the twelve Gaullists and 27 interned Communists in early February as well as announcing improved living conditions for detainees.^[44][28]

Following the advice of Roosevelt envoy Jean Monnet, Giraud gave a speech on 14 March in which he broke with the Vichy regime, embraced democratic principles, and declared the Vichy-era decrees to no longer be in effect, leading to the resignation of members of his entourage, including Bergeret and Rigault.^[45][46] However he refused to reinstate the Crémieux Decree, the revoking of which had removed French citizenship from Algerian Jews.^[47][48] In his memoirs, Giraud defended himself against accusations of antisemitism and asserted that the Crémieux Decree was discriminatory towards Algerian Muslims.^[47][48] On 28 April Giraud officially ordered the closure of the Algerian internment camps.^[49] On 10 May, Roosevelt telegraphed Giraud to congratulate him on the "brilliant contribution" of the French forces under his command to the victorious Tunisian campaign.^[50]

Giraud and de Gaulle met in Algiers on 30 May for negotiations on forming a central French government.^[51] De Gaulle won control of the political situation and secured Peyrouton's resignation on 1 June which Peyrouton submitted to de Gaulle, promising to delay its delivery to Giraud.^[52] On 3 June, de Gaulle and Giraud agreed to establish the French Committee of National Liberation (CFLN) which they would head as co-presidents.^[53]

Giraud decided to suspend all promotions and awards until the liberation of France, allowing de Gaulle to reward the heroes of the Tunisian campaign.^[54] Giraud declared that he had no interest in political affairs and sought to devote himself solely to military matters from which de Gaulle would be excluded, with the crisis erupting at a 27 July meeting of the CFLN.^[55] On 31 July, it was decided that Giraud would preside over the CFLN when defence matters were discussed while de Gaulle would handle general policy.^[55]

The Army of Africa was subsequently merged with the Free French Forces and Giraud was appointed commander-in-chief of all French armed forces, though the CFLN retained the ultimate authority over the direction of the war and the armed forces.^[56] In September, Giraud made the decision to intervene in the resistance uprising in Corsica and secured Eisenhower's support without informing the CFLN, for which he was reproached by de Gaulle.^[57] He flew into Ajaccio on the night of 20–21 September and de Gaulle used his preoccupation with operations in Corsica to push for Giraud's exclusion from the CFLN leadership.^[58] On 9 November de Gaulle signed a decree that removed Giraud and General Alphonse Joseph Georges from the CFLN, citing a unaminous decision arrived at on 6 November to separate military command from political power which he was tasked with carrying out.^[59]

Giraud's reputation suffered a crippling blow in March 1944 when Pierre Pucheu, who he had invited to Algiers in February 1943 and promised a place in the army, was tried and executed for treason.^[60] The military high command was reorganised on 4 April 1944 to make the president of the CFLN the commander-in-chief of the armed forces and, on 9 April, de Gaulle published a decree appointing Giraud to the position of inspector general where he would take on an advisory role.^[61] Having lost American support, Giraud accepted the decision and announced his retirement on 15 April.^[62]

On 28 August, Giraud survived an assassination attempt at his Mazagran villa by Bouali Miloud, one of his Senegalese guards.^[63] Walking in the garden with his daughter-in-law, the bullet struck Giraud under the jaw and passed through his cheek as he leant towards his restless infant grandson who was being pushed in a pram.^[64] Roosevelt personally intervened with de Gaulle in September to ensure that Giraud's security was improved.^[65] It was decided that the Muslim Miloud had acted under the influence of alcohol or in a fit of madness and he was sentenced to death by a military tribunal on 14 December.^[64] Giraud pleaded for clemency, though this was rejected by de Gaulle.^[66] Giraud returned to France in October and was successful in getting his family, which had been arrested by the Germans in October 1943, to Switzerland in 1945.^[67] One of his daughters, who had been captured in Tunisia alongside her four children, had died in German captivity in March 1944.^[68]

In June 1946, Giraud was elected to the French Constituent Assembly as a representative of the Republican Party of Liberty, though he did not run again in the National Assembly elections a few months later.^[69] Until December 1948, he served as Vice-President of the Conseil supérieur de la guerre.^[70] Giraud published two books, Mes Evasions (My Escapes) in 1946 and Un seul but, la victoire: Alger 1942–1944 (A Single Goal, Victory: Algiers 1942–1944) in 1949 about his experiences.

Giraud fell ill in 1948 and died in a Dijon military hospital on 11 March 1949, at the age of 70.^[69] A state funeral (obsèques nationales) was held on 14–17 March and his remains were interned in the vault at the Cathedral of Saint-Louis-des-Invalides in Paris.^[71]

• Academic Officer (Silver Palms) (July 1929)^[76]
• War Cross 1914–1918
• War Cross 1939–1945
• War Cross for Foreign Theatres of Operations
• Escapees' Medal (12 October 1927)^[77]
• 1914–1918 Inter-Allied Victory medal (France)
• 1914–1918 Commemorative war medal (France)

• Liberation of France
• Operation Kingpin (World War II)

• Bel-Ange, Norbert (2006). Quand Vichy internait ses soldats juifs d'Algérie: Bedeau, sud oranais, 1941–1943 [When Vichy Interned its Jewish Soldiers from Algeria: Bedeau, Southern Oran, 1941–1943] (in French). Paris: L'Harmattan. ISBN 978-229-642-363-3.

• Cantier, Jacques (2002). L'Algérie sous le régime de Vichy [Algeria Under the Vichy Regime] (in French). Paris: Éditions Odile Jacob. ISBN 978-273-811-057-2.

• Cointet, Michèle (2005). De Gaulle et Giraud: L'affrontement, 1942–1944 [De Gaulle and Giraud: The Confrontation, 1942–1944] (in French). Paris: Perrin. ISBN 978-228-601-260-1.

• Thomas, Martin (1996). "The Discarded Leader: General Henri Giraud and the Foundation of the French Committee of National Liberation". French History. 10 (1): 86–111.

• Giraud, Henri Honoré. Mes évasions, Paris: Julliard, 1946, 254pp; also Hachette, 1949.
• Bell, P. M. H. "War, foreign policy and public opinion: Britain and the Darlan affair, November–December 1942." Journal of Strategic Studies 5.3 (1982): 393–415.
• Funk, Arthur Layton. The Politics of TORCH: The Allied Landings and the Algiers Putsch, 1942 (University Press of Kansas, 1974).
• Ranfurly, Hermione, Countess of (1995) To War With Whitaker: The Wartime Diaries of the Countess of Ranfurly, 1939–1945 Manderin Paperbacks, 1994, ISBN 0-7493-1954-2, ISBN 978-0-7493-1954-0
• Ward Price, George. Giraud and the African Scene, New York, NY: MacMillan, 1944, p. 260.