De Gaulle wrote home at the end of 1914: ‘The regiment has few officers left because in addition to those we have lost in combat, there are more and more who fall ill, not being able to support this existence which is truly very hard both physically and morally.’ For the same reason he was confident that he would soon earn his promotion to captain: ‘If I continue to live, the war will necessarily require the promotion of those who are still young because here the old cannot hold out.’22 The promotion came in the following February.
