Henri Giraud (January 18 1879 - March 13 1949) was a French general who fought in the First World War and escaped from German captivity during the Second World War.

Henri Giraud was born in Paris, France. He was of Alsatian descent. He graduated from the Saint-Cyr Military Academy in 1900 and joined the French army. He served in North Africa until he was transferred back to France 1914 when the First World War broke out and commanded Zouave troops. He was captured in the Battle of Guise in August 1914 when he was seriously wounded but escaped two months later and returned to France via the Netherlands.

Afterwards Giraud served with French troops in Constantinople under General Franchet d'Esperey. In 1933 he was transferred to Morocco to fight against Rifkabul rebels. He was awarded the L�gion d'Honneur after the capture of Abd-el-Krim. He later became the military commander of Metz.

When World War Two began, Giraud was a member of the Superior War Council. He disagreed with Charles de Gaulle about the tactics of using armored troops. He became the commander of the 7th army group when it was sent to the Netherlands in May 10 1940 and was able to delay German troops at Breda on May 13. Subsequently, the depleted 7th army was merged with the 9th. When he was trying to block a German attack through the Ardennes, German troops captured him at Wassigny on May 19. He was taken to K�nigstein Castle near Dresden which was used as a high-security POW prison.

Giraud planned his escape carefully over two years. He learned German and memorized a map of the surrounding area. On April 17, 1942 he lowered himself down the cliff of the mountain fortress. He had shaved off his moustache and wore a Tyrolean hat and traveled to Schandau to meet his SOE contact. Through various ruses he reached the Swiss border and eventually slipped into Vichy France.

Giraud's escape was soon known all over France. Heinrich Himmler ordered the Gestapo to assassinate him. Pierre Laval tried to persuade him to return to Germany. Giraud supported Petain but refused to cooperate with the Germans.

• Eventually Giraud traveled to Algeria. On November 7, 1942, the British submarine Seraph took him to meet Dwight Eisenhower in Gibraltar. Eisenhower asked Giraud to command French troops in Algeria, Morocco and Tunisia after the Operation Torch. Giraud refused, because he claimed to command the whole Op�ration Torch, and he stood in Gibraltar, instead of joining French resistance.
• Consequently, 400 French r�sistants executed, without him, their putsch in Algiers: They occupated on 8th of november, every strategic points of the town and arrested higher Vichyite officials, such as general Juin and amiral Darlan. As a result, Vichyite forces lost their time to reconquer Algiers against French resistants, instead of fighting Torch landing forces. So as those allied forces could land peacefully, encircle Algiers without any opposition, and obtain the reddition of the Vichyite garrison at 5h30 P.M., the same day.
• When Giraud arrived Algiers on the 9th of november afternoon, all was over, and general Clark had begun to treat with amiral Darlan to obtain the end of combats in Oran and Morocco. There Vichy French troops fought allied forces, during three days, until "collaborationist" Admiral Fran�ois Darlan has been compelled, by general Clark to order a cease-fire.
• Then admiral Darlan took the political control of French North and Occidental Africa, with Roosevelt agreement, and appointed Giraud as commander of its troops. There he maintained the Vichy totalitarian regim, with prosecution laws. Free French Forces refused to recognize Datlan status as a military governor of French North and West Africa.

Giraud was given the code name King-Pin.

• After Admiral Darlan has been murdered by the young French patriot, Bonnier de la Chapelle, on December 24, 1942, Giraud became his successor with Allied support. Then he maintained Vichy laws, and upset Americans when he ordered that many French resistants who had helped Eisenhower's troops be arrested.
  
• Giraud took part in the Casablanca conference in January 1943. Later, he and Charles De Gaulle became co-presidents of the French Committee of National Liberation and unificated the whole French Forces. However, De Gaulle consolidated his political position at Giraud's expense because he was more up to date with the political situation. Giraud also lost influence when he refused to reveal the Committee Rectifhis plans for the invasion of Corsica until the last minute.

On September 13 Giraud led the landings of Corsica. He armed Corsica's communist-oriented Front National resistance group. This drew more criticism from De Gaulle. He lost the co-presidency in November 1943.

When the Allies found out that Giraud was maintaining his own intelligence network, they forced him from his post as a commander in chief of the French forces. He refused to accept a post of Inspector General of the Army and chose to retire. On August 28, 1944 he survived an assassination attempt in Algeria.

On June 2, 1946 he was elected to the French Constituent Assembly as a representative of the Republican Party of Liberty and helped to create the constitution of the Fourth Republic. He remained a member of the War Council and received a medal for his escape. He published two books, Mes Evasions (My Escape, 1946) and Algeria 1942-1944 (1949) about his experiences.

Henri Giraud died in Dijon, France, in March 13 1949.

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