Acquisition of the typescript of the Memoirs of Marshal Joffre.

After the manuscript of Servitude et grandeur militaires by Alfred de Vigny in 2022, the library of the Service historique de la Défense has just acquired a new exceptional document: the typescript of the Memoirs of Marshal Joffre.

This document of more than 1,200 pages, annotated and divided into 14 cardboard folders, relates the life of Joffre from 1910 to 1917. At his request, his memoirs were only published posthumously in 1932.

They provide an important insight into the figure of the first Marshal of the Great War and are a first-rate document of French military heritage. It was acquired by way of pre-emption on 5 May last, at an auction.