Correspondence from French General Maurice Gamelin

"One of the most auspicious facts in our history is the arrival of the Mission, which brings us the precious teachings of French military art"

Unpublished correspondence from the French General Maurice Gamelin, consisting of three letters from 1919, 1921 and 1929. In Portuguese. Good state. Single set. High definition images for reading, on demand.

Military exploits are always filled with remarkable characters, war stories populate our imagination, literature and cinema. Twentieth-century Europe, the scene of the First and Second World War, was the epicenter of battles that wove the course of humanity and revealed names of both villains and heroes. One of these notable figures was Maurice Gustave Gamelin (1872 - 1958), a senior general in the French army. A great strategist, who saved countless soldiers with his tactics, Gamelin also played an important role in the New World, and, from 1919 to 1924, headed the French military mission in Brazil, with the aim of modernizing the Brazilian army.

Gamelin arrived in the country with an important task, firstly, to reorganize the military schools, and then the army itself. In the contract signed between France and Brazil, it was stipulated that French officers would command the officer training schools, a step towards the professionalization of the army. This reformulation also gave rise to the Brazilian Aviation School, the embryo of the now respected Brazilian Air Force (FAB). The French brought to Brazil an idea that was in vogue in Europe at the time: the purpose of the army was to prepare national forces for war. And it was from that period that military mobilization came to be seen as a national mobilization.

The general was received with laurels in the country, as can be seen from the letter written to him in 1919 by the National Defense League, which expresses great happiness at his arrival and the yearning for rigorous training for the Brazilian army. The letter also states that military service is of great value in the formation of nationality and, therefore, the League sees the arrival of the mission led by him as one of the most auspicious facts in the history of Brazil.

Maurice Gamelin conducted an exemplary job in command of the French military mission, which is why José Caetano de Faria, Brazilian marshal, in 1921, dedicated a letter to him praising the exercises he implemented in the army and the improvement of the national cavalry. His dedication to the mission is also remembered in the letter sent by a Brazilian friend to congratulate him on his marriage, already in 1929. The admirer cannot avoid the comment that the French mission lost a lot with his departure.

After transforming the Brazilian national army, Gamelin returned to Europe where he actively participated in the Second World War, having been arrested in France, interned in Germany and Austria, and released only in 1945 with the arrival of the North Americans. The legacy of this great strategist can still be seen today in the conception of the Brazilian military army, even though more than a century has passed. Society's perception of both the army and the very idea of ​​war has changed profoundly over the years, yet Gamelin's importance surpasses his collaboration with the armed forces; in the face of such a mixed and culturally diverse country, his work contributed to the construction of the idea of ​​a Brazilian nationality.

Here we have three cards with very relevant content that will delight collectors who are interested in the military history of Brazil and the world.