Rare London letter from Charles de Gaulle at the dawn of 1943.

Charles de Gaulle (1890.1970)

Autographed letter signed to Yvonne Salmon.

Two octavo pages on paper bearing his letterhead.

London. 4, Carlton Gardens. January 2, 1943.

At the dawn of 1943, the General sent his best wishes, thanking his loyal ally for the highly symbolic gift of a box of cigars she had given him. We have included the draft of Yvonne Salmon's very moving letter to General de Gaulle, dated December 24, 1942.

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“Dear Mademoiselle, I am deeply touched by the gift you have given me and the way in which you have given it. Although I am very hesitant to accept a memento left to you by your father, I cannot refuse it. Please believe me when I say how sincere my New Year's wishes are. How could I possibly neglect a Frenchwoman of quality who has found the words and gestures of comfort for a man who rarely finds anything else? My wife joins me in sending you our warmest wishes and our fondest regards. C. de Gaulle.”

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Draft of a letter from Yvonne Salmon to General de Gaulle. Two oblong octavo pages. December 24, 1942.

"General, For the past three months I have been particularly devoted to giving lectures and writing a small book for English schoolchildren entitled: Charles de Gaulle; so that I have constantly been preoccupied with what my father would think if he were alive now, and my gratitude towards you is all the greater for it. My father was very fond of his cigar box, which came from my mother's family; it is solely for the sentimental value we attach to it that I ask you to accept it from me and from my brother and sister, both of whom are in France. Mr. Thémoin, whose father was a friend of mine and who shared his views on matters of honor and France, asks your permission to place the cigars that currently fill it inside. We see in this small gesture only an opportunity to express our prayers that God may help you in your difficult task of remaining pure in a world that refuses to see where moral ambiguity leads." Only you give meaning to our struggle and prevent honest people from despairing. That is why we are grateful that you will accept our small tribute with the assurance of my deepest devotion.

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Yvonne Salmon (1885-1965), an army nurse during the Great War and later a professor of French civilization at the University of Reading, offered her services to General de Gaulle in the wake of his appeal of June 18th. An active propagandist for Free France through the Alliance Française, she gave countless lectures and published in 1943, in London, the first biography of the leader of Free France entitled "Le général de Gaulle," which was republished in Algiers in 1945 and in Paris in 2010. After the war, she remained a staunch Gaullist.