WAR 1914-1918. Autograph manuscript of Private Victor LEVESQ - Lot 218

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. Diary account of the war years of Private Levesque, 2nd Infantry, class of 1913, recruiting no. 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 Cotentin village. He joined his regiment in Caen on August 2, before the troops left for the front. On August 23, past the long lines of evacuees fleeing the enemy, "a very sad sight", they came under fire from the German artillery: "At last, the moment to receive the baptism of fire has arrived. [...] We are now advancing under enemy fire, with bullets whistling in our ears and shells falling around us, we are still advancing by leaps and bounds"... The charges result in many wounded, 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 makes us less afraid, and 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 fighting at Charleroi, Walcourt, Momignies and Fourmies, the charges and retreats, the long marches, the terrible fatigue, hunger and 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 2m embankment., which shelters him from the bullets. German troops passed by without seeing him. For more than 48 hours he tried to survive, alone, wounded, haggard, lost between woods and battlefields, and on September 2 he was taken prisoner... He then recounts in great detail his 4? years as a prisoner in Germany, life in the camps, etc., until his return to France. Plus a small German-French dictionary. Attached is another manuscript, Lettre de la Guerre 1914-1918 (Letter from the War 1914-1918); 17 1/2 in-fol. pages in a large cardboard notebook with black cloth spine and corners (the rest blank). Applied handwriting copy of 26 letters (the 27th unfinished) written by soldier "Auguste" to his wife Berthe in Vidalon, Ardèche, from August 15, 1914 to January 18, 1915. It recounts the first battles, the first French victories, then the terrible trench warfare.