GAULLE Charles de. 2 autograph manuscripts, one signed "C.G.", Rôle historique des places françaises, [1925]; 37 fol. in titled folder, and title and 41 pages fol. Military study calling for the fortification of France to defend its territory. Captain de Gaulle published this study in the Revue militaire française of 1 December 1925 (pp. 356-382). He collected it in Trois Études (Berger-Levrault, 1945). Inspired by Marshal Pétain's ideas on the development of a defensive system to ensure the inviolability of French territory, the study is divided into VIII parts. In particular, De Gaulle celebrates the "gigantic work" of Vauban; he stresses that the vulnerability of the territory was the cause of the first defeats of 1914, and that the "confidence of the victor of Verdun [Pétain] in permanent fortification" made victory possible... Let us quote the conclusion of the first part, which sums up the meaning of the study: "The fortification of its territory is, for France, a permanent national necessity". Two manuscripts bear witness to the development of this study: * A first draft manuscript, in a folder bearing the title À propos de la Fortification de nos frontières (About the Fortification of our Frontiers), heavily crossed out and corrected; to the 33 leaves of the study are attached 4 leaves of notes and plans, plus a smaller leaf of historical notes. * The manuscript has been carefully tidied up in black ink, although there are a few erasures and corrections. On the title page there is a note to the typist: "Note to Miss Clouet: Do not put my name on the cover or as a signature. C.G." Enclosed: - a partly autograph text (5 p. in-4 and 3 p. dactyl.), on fortifications, probably removed from the study: "After its victory, France, exhausted by bloodshed and expense, forced to rebuild by its own means all that the war had ruined on its territory, in the grip of a tragic financial crisis, seeing its enemies destroyed for a long time to come and keeping its troops on its natural frontiers, France did not immediately discern the eternal lesson of the centuries and the need to rebuild its fortress belt"... etc... the typescript (title and 27 p. in-4, adhesive tape), with an autograph note added (p. 13) and signature at the end: "C. de Gaulle E. A. Armée du Rhin (4e Bureau)"; - draft autograph letter to Joseph Paul-Boncour, 9 May 1925, on the subject of this "modest study" (3 p. in-12, LNC, I, p. 608); - 2 L.S. from Joseph Paul-Boncour, 17 April and 15 May 1925 (1 p. in-8, headed Chambre des députés), congratulating Captain de Gaulle on his study and thanking him for another one de Gaulle for his study and thanking him for another "very remarkable study" (plus a visiting card); a draft bill printed in "on the general organisation of the nation for wartime (1926) with autogr. note", on the same letterhead.