GAULLE Charles de. 2 L. A. S., 14 and 24 February 1916, to his mother Jeanne de Gaulle; 4 pages in-12 each. Correspondence between Captain Charles de Gaulle and his parents before and during the Battle of Verdun, during which he was wounded and then captured by the Germans. He was reported missing and mentioned in the army order on 7 May 1916. 14th February. He began by talking about the physical and moral state of his troops: "We are currently resting at a very short distance from the front, but we must soon move further away to spend a fortnight in a sort of training camp. There we will be able to get our units back under control, which have been a bit stultified by a very long stay in the trenches. Finally, we would really be taken to the rear to recover materially and grow morally. [...] Although I have had, and continue to have reason to sigh deeply about the Salonika expedition, I have nothing but praise for the tenacity and energetic skill that enabled us to transport the Serbian army to Corfu. And the glory belongs solely to us French, because the Italians showed themselves to be ferociously selfish on this occasion, as on all others. As the Serbs are not Belgians, I hope that we will manage to remake something of their dislocated battalions"... 24th February. Letter written during the Battle of Verdun. This was the last letter before Charles de Gaulle was wounded and taken prisoner. "The enemy has decided to attack us one last time. He will do so with all the vigour of a resolute command, a very energetic infantry and powerful material resources. My conviction at the start of the furious battle is that the enemy will suffer a ruinous and resounding defeat. No doubt he will take trenches and positions from us all over the place, even if it means losing them later; no doubt his blows will be hard, and we will have to call on all the moral and material resources of our armies to withstand them without weakening; but our success is not in doubt, for the good reasons that we are determined to win, whatever the cost, and that we have the means to do so. He warned his "dearest Mother": "Don't be alarmed if in the days and weeks to come you receive only irregular news from me. I will no doubt send you news as often as possible, but you know that in times of crisis and troop movements, correspondence from the front is very unpredictable"... LNC, I, p. 257 to 259. 4 L. A. S. from Jeanne de Gaulle to her son Charles, Paris 26 February-13 March 1916 (20 pages in-12). - 26 February, referring to "the events that were only beginning to take shape when you wrote have taken a very serious turn, so we fear that you have been called to this post of peril and honour that you foresaw. This possibility greatly increases our terrible anxieties. [...] If the German effort is broken, it will be proof that the enemy can no longer do anything on our front, but if he were to succeed in taking Verdun he could then conceive of every hope, it would be proved that he can do anything as long as he pays the price. Naturally, this would give him enormous moral strength. She ended her letter by giving Charles news of his brothers Xavier and Jacques and concluded: "Goodbye, my dearest child, I have no doubt that you are in good standing with your conscience; may the good Lord and the Blessed Virgin protect you! We bless you, your father and I". - 29th February. "Where are you, my little Charles? [...] We are very anxious because you let us understand that at any moment you could be involved in the battle that was beginning; since then, this battle has taken on a magnitude and a fierceness that we could not have foreseen, so where will it end? What anguish we live in for our country and for you!"... - 9 March. "The newspapers are full of your gigantic and, alas, very bloody battles and we look for you a hundred times a day without being able to locate you; are you in the centre, the East or the West? Everywhere the enemy is determined to take our positions and our troops are making the same heroic effort to hold on to them. May God help them and not allow the insolent triumph of the Germans! What they have taken they owe to their formidable artillery, which unfortunately seems far superior to ours, and to their railways, which are also much better organised. Let's hope that your heroism will make them lose the benefit. We anxiously await a word from you in each letter to reassure us [...] We are very proud of our sons and we urge God to keep them for us so that after the war they will be the instruments of France's moral and material recovery"... - 13 March." We have had no news from you since your death. We have had no news from you since your card dated 1 March, and although you advised us not to be alarmed by the delays, we are very worried"... She ends by giving good news of Jacques and Xavier, who was awarded the Croix de Guerre and mentioned in the order of the artillery brigade.