GAULLE Charles de. Autograph manuscript for a short story entitled "l'Artilleur". [late June 1915]. Camel cloth notebook, in-12 (14 x 9.2 cm), with elastic band, 11 handwritten pages (6 ff.) out of approximately 75 ff. The first part of the notebook contains the personal and daily comments of the young officer Charles de Gaulle. These are fairly brief and descriptive. On 11 July, he indicated that he was resuming his "long interrupted notebook since nothing salient is happening". However, he received "compliments from the boss, Spitz, etc." about "Ouvrages de Gaulle". He adds that he has "a harmonium and a mandolin". The second part of the notebook is devoted to a particularly tasty short story written in a trench in the Aisne, probably at the end of June 1915. Entitled "L'Artilleur" ("The Gunner"), the tone is deliberately playful, contrasting the gunner, "who is a clever fellow", with the He contrasted the artilleryman, "a clever fellow" and "a mole", with the infantrymen, who were "humble and almost ashamed to be thought of". "The artilleryman's existence is comfortable. He "carries nothing on his back. He has plenty of horses and carriages [...] his main concern is to eat, drink and sleep. Leaving the table and in good spirits, he goes for a tour of his guns. He fired a few bursts at the enemy infantry, reported that he had bombed some trenches and destroyed a blockhouse. Then he went for a bridge. Gunners don't waste time. He's not like those savage infantrymen who sleep as soon as they have a minute. No. No! He has plenty of leisure time. He reads a lot, writes up his observations and takes photographs. [...] " This notebook provides an insight into the soldier's wait in the trenches and its effects. War is a long wait punctuated by brief offensives or counterattacks. Soldiers were confronted with boredom, which affected their morale and wore down their senses, leading them to envisage the most disastrous scenarios. It also sharpens the imagination, as shown by this short story about the behaviour of soldiers and the differences in perceived risks depending on whether you are in the front or the rear, in the infantry or the artillery... LNC, I, p. 159-163.