GAULLE Charles de. 3 L. A. S., Modlin (Poland) 9, 23 and 27 May 1919, to his parents Henri and Jeanne de GAULLE in Paris; 4, 4 and 2 pages in-12, 2 envelopes. Interesting letters on the situation in Poland. 9th May. "The reality is that Poland, and to a certain extent its government, are pleased to see the arrival of the Haller divisions, which are well supported by French officers, well supplied with French equipment, and which at the moment constitute the only organised force in the country. On the other hand, there is a great deal of resistance to accepting our tutelage in the military rabble that fills everything here, whose officers come from at least three different origins (Russian, Austrian, German). Add to this the fact that serious disagreements over conflicting ambitions and pride divide the main generals and politicians here. Each one looks the other way and attacks the one whose prestige he fears will outweigh his own. Thus the head of state, General Pilsudski, could not even see General Haller in paint, and vice versa. This has led to a fair amount of tug-of-war, some of which we have suffered as a result"... He ended by mentioning his desire to leave the regimental school to join the general staff of a Haller division in the field, and his application for promotion to the École Supérieure de Guerre without a competitive examination but "without any hope of succeeding, as there are so many candidates"... 23rd May. "My dearest Mother, Still nothing from you! Here the post office is non-existent like everything else. Literally everything has to be done from top to bottom. The Russians, when they occupied the country, carefully prevented the Poles from doing anything in trade, industry, administration or the army. These people, left to their own devices, are good for nothing, and the worst thing is that they think they are excellent at everything. [...] And yet we have such an interest in achieving this that it is worth trying. Warsaw is a city without character or cachet, yet pleasant enough and very lively, filled at the moment with a crowd of more or less decorated people from Russia, White Russia and Lithuania, where the Bolshevists occupy their land, who despite their misfortunes are having a frenetic time. The good families of Warsaw [...] give them all the help they can and follow in their footsteps. All these people are very kind to us, and welcome us even more than we would like. Everything is extremely expensive [...] and good society refuses nothing. Down below, the city is teeming with five hundred thousand wretched people, and one wonders what they can live on, given that there are no factories in action, no commercial traffic, and no work in progress..."... 27th May. "My dearest Mummy, Here are some letters from you at last. They arrived all together, after having travelled through a considerable part of Poland. They bring me two pieces of good news", from Xavier who "is now on his feet", from Pierre who has "the Croix de Guerre", from Marie-Agnès and Jacques... LNC, I, p. 457 to 459.