GAULLE Charles de L.A.S., Grenoble, 16 July 1936, to Paul Reynaud; 4 pages in-4 on the printed letterhead of the Hôtel de Savoie. Interesting letter comparing the strength of the French and German armies. "I am enclosing two notes, somewhat scribbled, which you may find useful for your speech on the 24th. One of these notes could be used in the body of your speech. The other foreshadows M. Daladier's reply and contains some counter-arguments. These arguments could perhaps be used in the speech itself. You can, without any fear of being contradicted by the Minister, stress in particular our inferiority in terms of tanks. Here, in fact, are the figures (not to be quoted from the rostrum), but which are certain: Germans: More than 2,000 modern tanks in service. French: 310 modern tanks in service on 15/7: 10 B1 32-tonne tanks (large) 120 D1 and D2 16-tonne tanks (medium) 180 R.35 7-tonne tanks (light/but these, which have just been distributed to units, do not yet have their turrets or armament). Of course, the Germans and the French Division légère mécanique also had machine guns, but they were not tanks. For the German Army, if the Minister was content that the Panzerdivisionen are formed of personnel serving on contract, here are some figures (official from the French Army Staff) : On April 1, 1936, the German active army comprised 510,000 men, broken down as follows: 90,000 from the former Keichcroh (professional) army 80,000 from the former Landespolizei (tradesmen) incorporated into the army by the law of March 1935. 90,000 recruited voluntarily in 1934, re-enlisted in 1935 (therefore serving under contract) 90,000 voluntary recruits in 1935 (idem) 160,000 contingent personnel, drafted for one year in October 1935. Making a total of : 350,000 served by contract 160,000 quota With these numbers, the Germans had formed on 1 April 1935 : 27 divisions in 24 normal type 3 Panzerdivision. It is therefore obvious, in the absence of other clues (there are many others), that the Pandervizionen comprise an immense majority of soldiers serving under contract." A few tears on the right-hand side, tiny tears in the top right-hand corner and tiny creases, traces of paperclips. Bibliography: L. N. C., vol 1, p. 797-798.