WAR 1939-1945. Captain RIEU. 36 L.A.S. and an autograph manuscript, October 1939-May 1940 and May-August 1944, to his parents in Enfonvelle (Haute-Marne) and then to his mother in Colombes; about 60 pages in various formats (qqs addresses), and 27 pages in-4 in pencil on squared paper. Very interesting set of letters of a captain artilleryman during the war, then his fascinating diary telling the story of the Liberation of Paris. A first set of 25 letters goes from October 4, 1939 to May 15, 1940. Captain Rieu was in the 235th Heavy Artillery Regiment, Out of Range Battery SP 94. October 4, 1939: "The first act has just been completed for us. After having received the congratulations of the command for having been the first French army to penetrate enemy territory (ground preserved at the present time), we left our positions to rest a few days in the rear. We expect to arrive at our final cantonment this evening. Last night we received the first civilians. In the small village where we spend the day there are 1500 soldiers for 200 inhabitants "... October 29: " The Krauts seem to have taken back the ground that we conquered from September 9 to 13. There is no need to be alarmed because as early as September 17 we had already moved all our artillery back to the limit of our range, leaving only the minimum number of troops on the front lines... The bad weather and the floods are not conducive to a strong offensive in our region"... May 10: "The region is coming alive. It is 1914 all over again. Will we still have a Charleroi? or will the Krauts be stopped before. We must not conceal from ourselves that they have enormous equipment. And while only one man is in charge, the allies are looking for their men and their way"... Etc. A second series of letters runs from May 14 to July 31, 1944; Rieu gives numerous details about daily life in Paris: difficulties in obtaining supplies, rising food prices, closed metro stations, electricity cuts and lower gas pressure, bombing of suburban cities, alerts, food shortages, counterfeit money, queues at bakeries, bicycle traffic, etc. On October 1, 1944, Rieu sent his mother a long diary recounting day by day, from August 11 to 27, the Liberation of Paris. He began by summarizing the situation and operations in France since the Normandy landings, the Allied advances, and life in Paris in early August: lack of supplies, high black market prices, evacuation of Germans, etc. The diary was kept daily from August 11 onwards. On the 15th, he saw "the poster of the mobilization order issued by the Resistance". On the 19th: "People are waiting for the liberation from one minute to the next. [The patriots began to attack the German patrols and cars; they had revolvers and a few rifles, but generally had little ammunition; they also had explosive cylinders made clandestinely in laboratories"... On the 20th: "The town hall, the police headquarters, the town halls, police stations, and ministries were gradually taken over. The clandestine organizations are getting more and more into action"... On the 21st: "The first newspapers appeared... All called for arms. Posters everywhere urged people to rise up en masse; they came from the FFI, the CNR (National Council of the Resistance), the FTPF (French Freighters and Patriots), etc. Soon, about fifty thousand patriots and FFI participated in the action. They were poorly armed and hunted down German trucks, took a few prisoners and captured weapons that would be used for other attacks. In fact, we no longer saw isolated Germans, but only trucks full of soldiers whose rifles were pointed at the road and who ensured the connection and the supply between the strategic points, as well as a few tanks... at each moment we found ourselves face to face with an FFI car (which was not serious) or a German car (which was more serious). In the second case, it is prudent to go into the first house that comes along because you never know"... On the 22nd: "The barricades multiply, made up of sandbags placed by the Passive Defense in the buildings, tree grates, paving stones from the road, felled trees, cars from the cleaning service, all the most heterogeneous objects... You can now hear the shooting going on non-stop, exchanged between the Patriots and the German trucks that are still moving. We no longer pay attention to it, except when it is very close. As the weather was fine, many walkers strolled along the Champs-Élysées and saw with a slightly sarcastic look the trucks full of Germans and bristling with rifles that made the connection between the Majestic Hotel and the hotels of the Rue de Rivoli... On the 25th: "Around 8:00 a.m., we hear