Henri Giraud was appointed Commander In Chief of the Free French Forces.
Giraud was a career French Army officer, as we would of course expect, who had entered the army in 1900. He was serving with the Zouave's in North Africa when World War One broke out and was badly wounded leading a Zouave charge earlier in the war, resulting in his capture by the Germans after he'd been left for dead. He'd escaped German captivity posing as s circus roustabout after his recovery.
He was captured by the Germans a second time in May 1940, and escaped again in November 1942, as we discussed here:
Saturday, November 7, 1942. Giraud escapes France.
The British submarine Seraph smuggled French general Henri Giraud out of France.
Giraud was an opponent of the Vichy regime and had escaped German captivity, for Switzerland, back in April. Vichy tried to lure him back, but he demurred.
While all in anticipation of Torch, the submarine took Giraud to Gibraltar, where he remained until November 9. Relationships between the Free French officers were always highly complicated and tense, in part because their legitimacy was really legally questionable, which their organization, supported by the Allies, reflected. The Allies always tried to split the difference between outright firebrand rebels, like DeGaulle, and those who still held some ties to Vichy as the legal government. Those in a position in between, like Giraud, were in an odd spot.
He received Allied support as the leader of the Free French following the assassination of Admiral Darlan. At the time, the Allies were trying to balance the personalities in the French leadership which varied from DeGaulle, who had gone into rebellion against Vichy from the onset, to individuals like Darlan who had not been sympathetic with the Nazis but who were unwilling, at first, to rebel against the established legal government. Giroud appeared to be a good compromise between the two. In that, he may have been misread. An early sign of that was when Gen. Eisenhower asked him to take command of French troops in North Africa during Operation Torch, and he declined at first as he felt his honor demanded command of Torch itself, although he soon relented.
As it was, French forces in North Africa refused to recognize Giraud and instead continued to follow the orders of Admiral Darlan. Darlan was accordingly recognized by the Allies as the head of French forces in North Africa, in spite of his association with Vichy. Giraud's position was thereafter under Darlan. Upon Darlan's assassination, Giraud's overall leadership of the French forces was forced through by the Allies.
Giraud had not been, however, a perfect choice, as he wished to retain French racial laws and he had made comments sympathetic to the accomplishments of Nazi Germany. He'd ultimately fell when he acted independently of the Allies in sending French ships to help French resistance movements in Corsica in September without informing the Allies. At this point, it was learned that he was maintaining an independent intelligence service. This led to his wartime retirement.
He served in the Assembly after the war, and died in 1949 at age 70.
Argentina's government fell in a coup d'etate which removed Ramon Castillo, who had maintained a strict neutrality position over World War Two, in favor of Gen. Arturo Rawson, who yielded nearly immediately to Gen. Pedro Ramirez, who continued the neutrality policy. As this might demonstrate, the coup and Argentine politics were in a highly confused state, and would remain that way for many years. Its military was clearly a danger, however, to civilian leadership of the country.
Kermit Roosevelt, serving as a Major in the U.S. Army, but also suffering from years of illness and alcoholism, committed suicide in Alaska. He was 52 years old.
Adventuresome, like his father, but subject to alcoholism like his uncle. He served in the British and American armies during World War One. He'd accompanied his father on the legendary River of Doubt expedition in South America before the war, an event which contributed to Theodore Roosevelt's late in life declining health. Like his father, Kermit Roosevelt nearly died during the expedition and also like his father, a branch of the river was named for him.
He served a second hitch in the British Army early in World War Two, participating in the Battle of Narvik. He resumed heavy drinking after an injury in that battle, which he had previously given up, and was plagued by liver problems that was compounded by malaria. He was subsequently medically discharged from British service. His drinking was so bad that Archie Roosevelt sought to place him in a sanitarium for a year upon his return, and he agreed to a four-month stay. He took a commission in the U.S. Army as a major at that time and was stationed at Ft. Richardson, Alaska.
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