Henri Giraud

France state institutions 1879–1949 ○ Natural causes

French general who escaped a German fortress and, backed by the United States, led French forces in North Africa as de Gaulle's rival

Captured in the First World War, he escaped; between 1930 and 1934 he commanded the "pacification" of tribes in the High Atlas, and as military governor of Metz he had de Gaulle as his subordinate. Captured by the Germans in 1940 and held in Königstein Fortress, he escaped in April 1942 and became the Roosevelt administration's candidate for the French leadership. After Darlan's assassination he became High Commissioner for French North and West Africa, attended the Casablanca Conference in January 1943 and in March broke with the Vichy regime in a speech. In June he became co-president with de Gaulle of the French Committee of National Liberation, but was sidelined in April 1944 and resigned. He died in Dijon in 1949.

Also known as: Henri Honoré Giraud