GAULLE Charles de. L. A. S. "Charles", 15 July 1916, to his father Henri de Gaulle; 6 pages in-12 in pencil (folds), with the ink stamp of the Offizier-Gefangenenlager. Letter from the prison camp, after the discovery of an escape attempt. He wishes his "most respectful and tender festive wishes" to his "dearest Dad". He then recounts some of the incidents that have marked the last two days: "The Germans discovered a hole in a wall which they thought had revealed an attempt by some of us to escape. But as they didn't know who it was, they decided to punish everyone. So they locked us up in the common room, except for one hour a day, and forbade us to smoke or read newspapers. As far as I'm concerned, this regime suits me very well. The ban on going out determined me to work on my German and to reread Greek and Roman history with pen in hand [the same texts whose notes we find in his notebook of quotations (see next lot)]. I would have liked to write my memories of the campaign. But as I had started to do so in Osnabrück, the Germans took them from me one day during a search. So I won't start again here, I'll write them later, adding a few things... As for not smoking, I'm delighted because it's going to get me out of the smoking habit I've recently acquired, and besides, the cigarettes they sell here are worthless. As far as newspapers are concerned, I can well understand why the enemy prevents us from reading them at a time when we so enjoy reading them, and with good reason. You'd have to have a particularly high character to give them to us anyway, and you can't in good conscience expect the Germans to have a higher character than the average human being. So we find nothing extraordinary in this. We take ample consolation in thinking of their motive for depriving us of news... After asking for news of Mr Boud'hors [the lieutenant-colonel who commanded the 33rd R.I. at Douaumont] and his brothers, and mentioning the death of his aunt Ghesquière, he concluded: "I revive the memory of my brave and excellent battalion commander, Major Henri Cordonnier, who died on the field of honour north of Verdun. In my lamentable exile, it is my best consolation to think that the hours of History that have passed and in which I had the immense honour of taking part have had some part in the hours that are now passing and in which I am nothing"... LNC, I, pp. 261-263.