Henri Giraud
Henri Giraud joined the French Army in 1900 at the age of 21. He was sent to command troops in North Africa until he was ordered back to France after the outbreak of World War I. On August 30, 1914, he was seriously wounded in the Battle of St. Quentin. Left for dead, he was found by the Germans who placed him in a prison camp in Belgium. He remained at the camp for only two months until he managed to escape by pretending to be a worker with a traveling circus. He made his way back to France by traveling through the Netherlands.
He stayed with the military through the interwar period and was a member of the Superior War Council when World War II began. He became the commander of the 7th Army which was later merged with the 9th Army. He was on the front lines with a reconnaissance patrol when he was captured by the Germans on May 19, 1940. Giraud was taken to Konigstein Castle in Germany and he remained there for over two years.
He devoted his time at the infamous castle to devising the perfect escape plan. The first part of his plan involved learning German and memorizing a map of the area. Then he made friends with some of the guards who eventually agreed to smuggle him bits of twine and copper wire. He twisted the copper wire and twine with torn bedsheets in order to make 150 feet of strong rope.
On April 17, 1942, he used the rope to climb down the cliff of the mountain prison. He shaved his distinctive mustache and met with a Special Operations Executive who provided him a change of clothes and identity papers. Desperate to make it back to France, he constantly took on different disguises and identities in order to make it through enemy territory and back home. Once in France, he was contacted by President Eisenhower, who offered safe passage to him and his sons in exchange for help with the African front of World War II.