GAULLE Charles de. 2 L. A. S., 2 and 9 May 1915, to his mother Jeanne de Gaulle in Paris; 6 pages in-12 with envelope (military postmark), and 4 pages in-8 (marginal wetness) with envelope (headed Grand Café du Globe Clermont-Ferrand). Letters from hospital, after another wound. Wounded in the hand on 10 March, Captain de Gaulle was evacuated and hospitalised at Le Mont-Dore. Mont-Dore, 2 May. "Yesterday I was admitted to the Humanité. This does not change my life much, as I am the only officer at Hospital 38, and apart from going out, I live on my own. So I'm in all the more of a hurry to leave for Paris... Tomorrow, I'll be asked in Clermont, by the regional Health Service, to authorise my departure. Then I'll have to go to the same directorate on a day they'll set for me, have a final medical check-up and receive my convalescence leave"... He was worried about his parents in Dunkirk, which had been bombed by the Germans. "As a result, the English think it's bad and are starting to worry seriously about their own coastline. Let's hope, without really believing it, that this will persuade them to send to Flanders all their new troops that they have been keeping carefully at home until now. The expeditionary force landed on both sides of the Dardanelles. From this point of view, although I think that the operations will take a long time, I believe that complete success is assured; the Turks are excellent at resisting, but do not have the means or the temperament to obtain victories, provided of course that the manpower, artillery and ammunition provided for the English, and for us, are very considerable. Things would naturally go much more quickly if the Bulgarians and Greeks, separately or together, joined our troops. What odious role are the Germans playing, whose entire policy in the East tends to divide Christians against Muslims? And how is it possible that the Pope favours - there is no need to say - the infidels to the detriment of the Crusaders; or at least hesitates between them? I am willing to admit that the motives which have brought our troops to Constantinople are mediocrely Christian; but there is no doubt that our success will be above all a Christian success, and that the destruction of the Turkish Empire will be a terrible blow to Islamism to the advantage of Christianity. The repercussions will be immense, particularly in India and above all in Africa, where Mohammed's doctrine is spreading with frightening rapidity, thus preventing for centuries the success of Catholic and Protestant missionaries and also the progress of our Civilisation"... [Clermont-Ferrand], 3 May. He has left Le Mont-Dore and tells of the administrative steps he has taken to obtain convalescent leave... "Events are, I believe, going to happen. I think that events are going to happen very quickly. For the first time, we can be confident that Italy will intervene very soon, because for the first time, it seems that Italy is loading its guns, and in this day and age you don't stay long with a loaded gun. This intervention will obviously greatly hasten the decisive solution, not that the Italian military force is very formidable, but it will upset the balance that the enemy has managed to maintain until now, and precisely at the moment when it will be most difficult for him to hold out. Moreover, it seems very likely that at least Romania will follow Italy, and above all the moral effect will be immense, giving the enemy the certainty of defeat and confirming us in that of Victory. Nevertheless, I remain convinced that the Italians will not pick up laurels easily. I can well see any Hindenburg gathering a dozen army corps on both fronts and putting the royal Italian troops to flight. But in the meantime, these ten army corps will not be elsewhere"... LNC, I, p. 157-159. An L. A. S. from Xavier de Gaulle to his brother Charles, 17 May 1915 (12 pages large in-12, envelope); he talks about Charles's campaign, which did not rob him of his forced rest, and then comments on the progress of the war.