IN PICTURES – A docu-fiction on the youth of Charles de Gaulle filmed manually in Massiges, in the Marne

Around thirty people are busy this Thursday at a high point of the First World War: the main of Massiges (Marne). These people are part of the team that is currently shoot a docu-fiction on the youth of Charles de Gaulle. “We didn’t know the story of Charles de Gaulle during the First World War, that’s why we looked into it, to try to discover who de Gaulle was during this conflict.“, explains Frédéric Brunnquell, the director.

Few traces to tell this part of De Gaulle’s life

To tell the story of Charles de Gaulle’s youth, the team based itself on photosamong others: “There are three photos of him, says Frédéric Brunnquell*. We see him in uniform. There is a photo when he is in the trenches with his superior, Colonel Boudard. There is also a photo where he is a prisoner in Germany in a fort, and that’s it.* “On the other hand, the writings, “there are a few morehe continues. There are all the letters he wrote to his parents. We have all his letters, his correspondence too. It allowed us to get closer to his state of mind and the way he experienced this war, his intimacy too.“

The one who would later be general and then head of state was, at the dawn of the First World War, a student at the Saint-Cyr school, where most French officers have been trained since 1802.He returned there in 1910, at the age of 19says Frédéric Brunnquell. At the outbreak of war, he was 24 years old and spent the entire conflict as a young officer, lieutenant and then captain. And then it doesn’t turn out exactly as he had hoped.“Charles De Gaulle was taken prisoner of war in 1916 at Douaumont, then spent the rest of the war in captivity, attempting to escape several times.

A film shoot in period costume

It is this era that will be told in the docu-fiction, particularly life in the trenches. To be as faithful as possible, the team reproduced the uniforms of the year 1915 down to the smallest detail : color of the uniform, jacket, kepi. The weapons used are also: “it is an authentic weapon, absolutely authentic. It’s a Lebel model 1886 rifle.“, describes the head costume designer. Next to the breech where the soldier reloads the weapon, we see the place where the rifle was manufactured, the Tulle weapons factory (Corrèze), but also the model engraved as follows as the date of manufacture.

This docu-fiction is due to be released in 2025 on France 2.