WAR 1939-1945. Captain Maurice DAUVERGNE.... - Lot 441 - Ader

Lot 441
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Estimation :
300 - 400 EUR
WAR 1939-1945. Captain Maurice DAUVERGNE.... - Lot 441 - Ader
WAR 1939-1945. Captain Maurice DAUVERGNE. 157 L.A.S. "Maurice," July 3, 1939-July 12, 1940, to his wife Marie-Antoinette in Kasba Tadla (Morocco); about 320 pages, various sizes (qqs defects; plus 5 telegrams, 3 postcards, and circulation card of his wife at the Courtine camp). The war as seen by a captain of the Engineers in Morocco, Algeria and Tunisia. We can only give an overview. 1939. Kasbah Tadla July 9: "the track work begins tomorrow for the group of Colonial Artillerymen... the Legion must go to work around the 20th... I go to Khenifa every two weeks... The night is difficult to fall asleep without taking one or two showers during the night"... July 21: "We have four military workcamps and we may have a fifth"... July 31, visit of the workcamps by Major Berthezène... In August, the international situation becomes tense, and "all movement is forbidden [.On September 1, he left Morocco for Algiers, passing through Casablanca; he commanded the 1st Company of the 85th Engineer Battalion. On September 11, he was in Thelepte (Tunisia) and went to Gabès, in the south of Tunisia, to do road and highway work; "let's sleep under the stars"... Sept. 27: "we are in the countryside, or rather in the desert, and we don't know how long we'll stay there"... Oct. 1: "I sleep in a horse-drawn carriage, I have made a mattress with straw and packing cloth and as a blanket I have my coats"... Oct. 8: "each of us is ready to make an effort to settle the Hitler affair in a definitive way"... On the 29th, he leaves for Sfax. Nov. 10: "Tomorrow is the feast of the Arabs, we have bought 5 sheep and from 3 a.m. onwards we are going to prepare them for cooking on a spit"... Dec. 25: "we are going to cook them in the desert", he tells of the trip from Casablanca to Oujda... 1940. Arab Day (January 26); "there are no Jews around here and in the Company there is only one who is a very good man"... June 14: "Tunis has been seriously emptied... in the streets we see more and more people with packages. Yesterday there were 3 alerts, one of which allowed us to see the Italian planes above us, the soldiers who were with us shot at them with machine guns... there were also the cannons of the D.C.A. which sent them some pretty good shells. We also saw the French planes arrive and put the Macaroni on the run"... June 15: "The occupation of Paris by the Germans has caused quite a bit of heartache, the French in Tunisia are wondering what they are doing here defending the Italians and the Jews while France is in danger"... June 17: "The news is not brilliant and my good morale is undergoing very hard tests"... June 20: "We are fighting somewhere in southern Tunisia, or rather in Tripolitania, since we are the ones attacking, the Italians are going to see what war is all about... Everyone is determined to continue the fight. With the English, the Belgians and the Dutch, we have all of Africa or almost all of it and we are capable of holding out... the war is not over"... June 22: "Here the idea of resisting in North Africa has new supporters every day"... July 11, departure orders for Casablanca and Tadla...
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