Editing Charles de Gaulle (section)

== World War I==
{{Main|Battle of Dinant|First Battle of Champagne|Battle of Verdun}}
=== Combat commander===
[[File:CDG Pont Dinant.JPG|thumb|right|A plaque in [[Dinant]] commemorating the place where Charles de Gaulle, then an infantry lieutenant, was wounded in 1914]]

When war broke out in France in early August 1914, the 33rd Regiment, considered one of the best fighting units in France, was immediately thrown into checking the German advance at [[Dinant]]. However, the [[French Fifth Army]] commander, General [[Charles Lanrezac]], remained wedded to 19th-century battle tactics, throwing his units into pointless bayonet charges against German artillery, incurring heavy losses.<ref name=Schoenbrun />

As a platoon commander, de Gaulle was involved in fierce fighting from the outset. He received his [[Baptism by fire#Military_usage|baptism of fire]] on 15 August and was among the first to be wounded, receiving a bullet in the knee at the [[Battle of Dinant (1914)|Battle of Dinant]].<ref name="charles-de-gaulle.org" /><ref name="Fenby-2010" />{{RP|58}} It is sometimes claimed that in hospital, he grew bitter at the tactics used, and spoke with other injured officers against the outdated methods of the French army. However, there is no contemporary evidence that he understood the importance of artillery in modern warfare. Instead, in his writing at the time, he criticised the "overrapid" offensive, the inadequacy of French generals, and the "slowness of the English troops".<ref>Lacouture 1991, p. 31</ref>

He rejoined his regiment in October, as commander of the 7th [[Company (military unit)|company]]. Many of his former comrades were already dead. In December he became regimental [[adjutant]].<ref name="charles-de-gaulle.org" />

De Gaulle's unit gained recognition for repeatedly crawling out into [[no man's land]] to listen to the conversations of the enemy, and the information brought back was so valuable that on 18 January 1915 he received the [[Croix de guerre 1914–1918 (France)|Croix de Guerre]]. On 10 February he was promoted to captain, initially on probation.<ref name="charles-de-gaulle.org" /> On 10 March 1915, at the [[First Battle of Champagne]], de Gaulle was shot in the left hand, a wound which initially seemed trivial but became infected.<ref>Lacouture 1991, p. 34</ref> The wound incapacitated him for four months and later forced him to wear his wedding ring on the right hand.<ref name="Fenby-2010" />{{RP|61}}<ref name="charles-de-gaulle.org" /><ref>{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=4wIi-48RIaQC&pg=PT71|title=Yvonne de Gaulle|isbn=978-2-213-66087-5|page=71|last1=Neau-Dufour|first1=Frédérique|date=2010|publisher=Fayard |access-date=18 April 2016|archive-date=14 December 2021|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20211214235847/https://books.google.com/books?id=4wIi-48RIaQC&pg=PT71|url-status=live}}</ref> In August he commanded the 10th company before returning to duty as regimental adjutant. On 3 September 1915 his rank of captain became permanent. In late October, he returned to command of 10th company.<ref name="charles-de-gaulle.org" />

As a company commander at [[Douaumont]] (during the [[Battle of Verdun]]) on 2 March 1916, while leading a charge to try to break out of a position which had become surrounded, he received a bayonet wound to the left thigh after being stunned by a shell and was captured after passing out from the effects of poison gas. He was one of the few survivors of his battalion.<ref name="Jean Lacouture 1990 pp 42">Jean Lacouture, ''De Gaulle: The Rebel, 1890–1944'' (1990) pp. 42–54.</ref><ref name="charles-de-gaulle.org" /><ref name="Fenby-2010" />{{RP|63}} The circumstances of his capture would later become a subject of debate as [[anti-Gaullists]] spread rumour that he had actually surrendered, a claim de Gaulle nonchalantly dismissed.<ref>The General: Charles de Gaulle and the France He Saved (p. 64)</ref>

=== Prisoner ===
[[File:De Gaulle 1916.jpg|thumb|Captain De Gaulle (right) with another French [[POW]]]]
De Gaulle spent 32 months in six different prisoner camps, but he spent most time in the {{Interlanguage link|Fort Prinz Karl|lt=Ingolstadt Fortress|de|vertical-align=sup}},{{r|jackson2018}}{{rp|40}} where his treatment was satisfactory.<ref name="Jean Lacouture 1990 pp 42" />

In captivity, de Gaulle read German newspapers (he had learned German at school and spent a summer vacation in Germany) and gave talks on his view of the conflict to fellow prisoners. His patriotic fervour and confidence in victory earned him the nickname ''Le Connétable'' ("[[Constable of France|The Constable]]"), the title of the medieval commander-in-chief of the French army.<ref name="Ledwidge">Ledwidge p. 24</ref> In [[Ingolstadt]] were also journalist [[Remy Roure]], who would eventually become a political ally of de Gaulle,<ref>{{cite web|title=Rémy ROURE|url=https://www.ordredelaliberation.fr/fr/compagnons/remy-roure|access-date=29 September 2020|website=Musée de l'Ordre de la Libération|language=fr|archive-date=8 August 2020|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200808032744/https://www.ordredelaliberation.fr/fr/compagnons/remy-roure|url-status=live}}</ref><ref>{{Cite book|last=Cordier|first=Daniel|title=Jean Moulin; la République des catacombes.}}</ref> and [[Mikhail Tukhachevsky]], a future commander of the [[Red Army]]. De Gaulle became acquainted with Tukhachevsky, whose [[deep operations|theories]] about a fast-moving, mechanized army closely resembled his. He also wrote his first book, ''Discorde chez l'ennemi (The Enemy's House Divided)'', analysing the divisions within the German forces. The book was published in 1924.<ref name="Fenby-2010" />{{RP|83}}

Originally interned at [[Rosenberg Fortress]], he was quickly moved to progressively higher-security facilities like Ingolstadt. De Gaulle made five unsuccessful escape attempts,<ref name="charles-de-gaulle.org" /> and was routinely punished with long periods of solitary confinement and the withdrawal of privileges such as newspapers and tobacco. He attempted escape by hiding in a laundry basket, digging a tunnel, digging through a wall, and even posing as a nurse.<ref>The General: Charles de Gaulle and the France He Saved (pp. 62–67)</ref>{{r|time19590105}} In letters to his parents, he constantly spoke of his frustration that the war was continuing without him. As the war neared its end, he grew depressed that he was playing no part in the victory, but he remained in captivity until the [[Armistice with Germany|armistice]]. On 1 December 1918, three weeks later, he returned to his father's house in the [[Dordogne]] to be reunited with his three brothers, who had all also served in the army.