Henri Honore Giraud

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Giraud, General Henri-Honoré (1879–1949),French Army officer who commanded the Seventh French Army, and then the merged Seventh and Ninth Armies during the fighting which led to the fall of France. He was captured and held in Germany, but in April 1942 made a daring escape to unoccupied France, a feat which made him a hero in his country and an assassination target for the Gestapo.

But though he was brave, and active in pushing through the re-equipment of his forces by the Americans, Giraud was arrogant and lacked any political sense. To ensure their fidelity to the Allied cause, the Americans wanted him to assume command of all French troops in North Africa after the proposed North African campaign landings in November 1942. Giraud agreed, provided neither de Gaulle nor the British were involved, and it was understood—by Giraud at least—that he would command the operation. When he learned otherwise he initially refused to co-operate and when he eventually did so his fellow officers in North Africa refused to accept his authority. He then raised a volunteer French army to fight alongside the Allies and after Darlan's assassination in December 1942, Giraud replaced him as high commissioner in French North Africa, while still continuing as C-in-C of all local French forces.

De Gaulle and Giraud were rivals, but at the Casablanca conference in January 1943 (see SYMBOL), Churchill and Roosevelt demanded that the two work together. This took time to negotiate but resulted in their becoming joint chairmen of the French Committee for National Liberation established in Algiers in June 1943. Giraud, however, was no match for de Gaulle politically. By November 1943 he was off the committee and in April 1944 his position as C-in-C was abolished. He was offered the post of inspector-general but chose to resign. No one, as one writer has commented, appeared sorry, or even noticed, that he had departed.

Henri Honoré Giraud , 1879–1949, French general. He served in World War I and in the campaign in Morocco (1925–26). A commander in World War II, he was captured by the Germans in May, 1940, but made a dramatic escape (1942) to unoccupied France and from there to Gibraltar. He took part in the Allied landing in North Africa, where he was given command of all French armed forces. On the assassination (Dec., 1942) of Admiral Darlan , Giraud succeeded as high commissioner of French North and West Africa. His conservatism earned him the opposition of the Free French Committee of General de Gaulle . He and de Gaulle met fruitlessly at the Casablanca Conference , but in June, 1943, a semblance of union was effected by the formation at Algiers of the French Committee of National Liberation, with the two generals as co-presidents. Despite strong backing by the United States, Giraud was soon removed (November) from the co-presidency. In Apr., 1944, he was virtually forced by de Gaulle to retire as commander in chief.