WAR 1914-1918. Autograph manuscript of Private... - Lot 316 - Ader

WAR 1914-1918. Autograph manuscript of Private Victor LEVESQUE, Impressions, [1919]; 81 pages in an in-12 German notebook with calendars for the years 1917-1918. Account, in the form of a diary, of the war years of Private Levesque, 2nd Infantry, class of 1913, recruitment number 796. The diary begins on July 31, 1914, with the announcement of the mobilization order, his astonishment and the reactions of the inhabitants of his village in the Cotentin region. He joined his regiment on August 2 in Caen; then the troops left for the front. On August 23, after the long lines of people evacuating to flee the enemy, "a very sad sight," they were under fire from the German artillery: "Finally, the moment to go and receive the baptism of fire has arrived. [...] We are now advancing under enemy fire, bullets are whistling in our ears and shells are falling around us, we are still advancing by leaps and bounds" ... The charges result in many casualties, and they are decimated by the deadly enemy fire, forcing them to retreat. He was hit in the ankle and lost his regiment... On the 26th "we are going to cross the border again [...] death is less frightening to us, just the thought that after this death [...] we will rest in the land of France makes us braver and stimulates our courage"... He recounts in great detail the battles at Charleroi, Walcourt, Momignies, Fourmies, the charges and retreats, the long marches, the terrible fatigue, the hunger, the thirst... On the 29th, they go up to the Front again, but the shooting and shelling are terrible; he is hit in the leg by a machine-gun bullet and falls down a 2-meter slope., which shelters him from the bullets. The German troops passed by without seeing him. For more than 48 hours he tried to survive, alone, wounded, haggard, lost between the woods and the battlefields, and on September 2, he was taken prisoner... He then recounts in great detail his four and a half years as a prisoner in Germany, life in the camp, etc., until his return to France. He then recounts in great detail his 4 1/2 years as a prisoner in Germany, life in the camp, etc., until his return to France and his demobilization on January 31, 1919... A small German-French dictionary is attached.