GAULLE Charles de. 3 L. A. S., 2, 4 and 7 December 1914, to his mother Jeanne de Gaulle in Paris; two on 1 page in-12 with address on verso (military correspondence card), and 7 pages in-8; in pencil. Three letters from the front to his mother. 2 December. "The situation here is still the same, with the enemy's wisdom becoming more exemplary by the day. His always talkative artillery is beginning to calm down thanks to the big guns that are constantly coming at us. Their infantry wants nothing to do with getting out of their holes. 4th December. "Now it's calm all round, but I wouldn't be surprised if it was a precursor to major storms. We have a new colonel, a colonial by the name of Claudel, who is extremely young (43). We'll see what he can do. 7 December. Letters from his parents "show him that in the interior of the country people are becoming impatient with the slowness of operations and that the poor progress made by the Russians is causing public disillusionment. And yet, this half discontent is quite unjustified. As far as we are concerned, everyone knows that since the beginning of September we have had on our hands German forces that were far superior in numbers and equipment, and that we first defeated them on the Marne, then pushed them back everywhere on the Aisne and in the North. Of course, we also suffered cruel losses. At the moment, both sides are out of breath. Nevertheless, the Germans have to send a significant part of their forces against the Russians. Thanks to this support, to their railways (the Russians only have very inadequate ones, let us not forget), to their manoeuvring skills (their command has shown from the start that it is almost as good as ours, and this is no mean feat), and above all to the Austrian army, which is always forgotten and which, in great numbers and with great valour, held back the majority of the Russians in fierce fighting. Thanks to all this, the Germans only lost ground step by step on their eastern border. All this is true, but what is this war if not a war of extermination? The vanquished will be those who first exhaust all their moral and material resources. I believe that in this respect we are on the right track. [...] even in terms of the ground we have conquered, we are not at a disadvantage. Don't forget that on the eastern side, the Russian offensive came from the Niemen and the Galician border. It crossed the Niemen and the Vistula. It has taken Lemberg, laid siege to Przemysl, crossed the Carpathians and pressed Cracow. It holds an appreciable part of eastern Russia. The Germans have taken the offensive on Lodz with the energy, tenacity and vision that we know them for. But we shall see how the battle ends. It will end well, and it is because we know this that our general offensive is being postponed until its outcome, which will necessarily lead to a further reduction in the enemy forces opposing us. We are already making appreciable progress every day in Alsace. [Let us be resolute and patient. A war of this kind, which in scope and ferocity exceeds anything Europe has ever seen, cannot be fought without tremendous sacrifices. And then, whether we are happy or not, it is of no value. You have to win. The winner is the one who wants it most energetically"... LNC, I, p. 114-116.