Foreign News: The Case Rests

The mystery of France's big, beloved old General Henri Honoré Giraud was no longer a mystery. When the 63-year-old general said he had escaped from Germany's Königstein fortress-prison by letting his ponderous body down 60 feet of self-made rope (TIME, May 11), the out-side world raised an eyebrow, suspected that Germany might have some use for a great French hero of both World Wars.

The sexagenarian general's rope trick was, however, no illusion. He wanted to help France. But when he reached Vichy he found a France quite unlike anything he had heard about within Königstein's walls. Marshal Pétain embraced him, then gave him a paper to sign, which among other things pledged him never to take up arms against Germany. General Giraud balked. Then Pierre Laval slyly suggested that the general could do France a mighty service by offering to return to prison in exchange for 400,000 married French war prisoners. General Giraud was amenable until he met Laval's bosses, the Nazi occupation authorities in Paris. Then he blew up, said he would trust no Nazi word on anything.

The Nazis, of course, had the general at their mercy, but the general also held cards. The French people held him close to their hearts; Laval dared not turn him over to the Germans. Finally the Nazis had to content themselves with a promise by the general, who was in poor health anyway, that he would not interfere in Vichy-German affairs. Last week the general was living with his sister in Lyons.

General Giraud, and his case, rested.