GAULLE Charles de. 2 L. A. S., 15 October and 1 November 1918, to his mother Jeanne de Gaulle; 4 pages in-8 each headed Kriegsgefangener Offiziergefangenenlager Wülzburg, envelopes with postmarks. End of captivity with the regret of not having been able to take part in the Victory. 15th October. "As you can see, I am back from Magdeburg, where I spent some time. Despite the circumstances that led to this trip [the enforcement of his sentence], I am not angry about having made it. For a prisoner, travelling is an opportunity to see and judge many things, and this was precisely the right moment. Do I need to tell you that, despite my lamentable personal situation, I am currently enjoying the sweetest days of my life? There are no sorrows, no sufferings, no disappointments, no sacrifices, that come close to these satisfactions and those that will follow. How happy my brothers must be, who can also express their feelings through their cannons! 1st November. "I don't have to tell you that my thoughts today are entirely with our dear dead, and particularly with those of our relatives and friends who died for France, and whose bloody sacrifice ensured the country's existence and cemented the monument of its victorious glory. At least since the distant beginning of this unprecedented war, this is the first time we have been able to celebrate All Saints' Day with our hearts illuminated by certainty and filled with the grave and resolute pride of the victor. Today, the crowning of so much effort is undoubtedly at hand. Once again, after a long journey through the night, a series of dashed hopes, countless crumbled illusions, weariness furiously vanquished, success has smiled on the strongest will!... Alongside the immense joy I feel with you at what has happened, there is for me, more bitter than ever, the indescribable regret of not having played a better part in it. It seems to me that throughout my life - whether it be short or long - this regret will never leave me. May it at least serve as a spur to me to think and act better and more, to try to replace, with many obscurely useful hours, the few decisive and triumphant hours that I will not have lived!... Enclosed is a L. A. S. by Xavier and Charles de Gaulle to their father, 23 December 1918 (3 p. in-12, envelope). The war is over; Captain de Gaulle (at the beginning of December) has returned to his beloved France. He writes to his "dear Dad" that he "intends to go and see Xavier at Temporary Hospital no. 64 at the Vésinet Asylum this afternoon". This note is written following a letter from Xavier to his dear Dad informing him that he is in hospital. LNC, I, pp. 425-427 and 443-444.