GAULLE Charles de. 2 L. A. S. and postcard a.s., 1910, to his parents Henri and Jeanne de Gaulle; 2 and a half pages in-8 headed 33e Régiment d'Infanterie with vignette to the flags (small stains), illustrated postcard with stamp and address written in pencil, 3 pages in-8 with vignette to the flags. Letters from the young Saint-Cyrien officer to his parents. He was initially posted to the 33rd Infantry Regiment, based in Arras, and was promoted to corporal. Arras 12 January 1910. He writes to his "dear Dad" from the "Cooperative" in his district, in a room "reserved for letter-writers"... "Within ten days (a fortnight at the latest), I will be able to write to you...". In ten days' time (a fortnight at the latest), there will be an examination of the cadets who are likely to go on to four months' service. We're really busy preparing for this exam. In addition to what we have to know in theory (and this is nothing to sneeze at), we are also studying practice, in other words the art of putting on a good show in front of the troops and commanding them appropriately, whether it's the soldier's school or the platoon school. On Saturday he is due to give a lecture to the whole battalion. "We've just come back from a twenty-four kilometre march which was quite tiring because of the rain and the muddy roads. It's good training for the test marches that will take place soon, and which, it seems, are quite hard exercise. So far, in fact, I've never found walking difficult, even with our current load, which looks very much like a full load: it's actually on the bag side that I was expecting trouble. But it didn't happen"... 11 August 1910. The postcard shows "my section entering the village of Sissonne; Lieutenant Riquier is in command. If our men are tired, remember that we have already travelled 25 km with our rucksacks on our feet and without stopping for long". Charles de Gaulle can be seen in the photo, furthest to the left in the row. Saint-Cyr 20 October 1910, to his mother. "The first week of my stay at Saint-Cyr is coming to an end, in the midst of the full activity that will reign there for me from now on. Our days are more than full with our lessons, studies, military exercises, fencing, riding, astics, gymnastics, etc., and despite a year in the regiment, we are a little stiff from these very sudden beginnings of so many different occupations". He worries about his brother Pierre's health... "The weather here has been abominable for a year now. The weather here has been abominable for two days and has turned the Satory plateau into a cesspool, where we wade from one to four for exercise. Our outing on Sunday will depend on two issues: the strikes, which I think have been resolved, and the question of clothing, which has not quite been resolved. LNC, I, p.54, 55 and 56. Attached is a postcard a.s. to his mother, from Nancy [1911?]; plus a reproduction of a postcard to his father (11 March 1911).