49 - FRANCHET D'ESPÈREY (Louis-Félix-Marie-François). Signed autograph letter to a “dear friend.” [Probably Constantinople], April 14, 1919. 4 pp. in-8. 150/200

FRANCHET D'ESPÈREY (Louis-Félix-Marie-François). Signed autograph letter to a “dear friend.” [Probably Constantinople], April 14, 1919. 4 pp. in-8. 150/200 Following his victory on the Eastern Front, the future marshal was placed in command of the Allied occupation forces in Constantinople to maintain peace and counter the advance of the Red Army: he ordered the evacuation of Odessa and Sevastopol and protected Bessarabia. “... I had my hands full. ODESSA, WHICH WAS HANDED OVER TO ME ON MARCH 20 IN THE MIDST OF A CRISIS, HAD TO BE EVACUATED NOT BECAUSE OF MILITARY PRESSURE, BUT BECAUSE IT WAS IMPOSSIBLE TO FEED ITS POPULATION OF ONE MILLION. What happened in Hungary will happen again in Bulgaria and perhaps in Germany. Instead of addressing the issue of peace, people are preoccupied with the eight-hour workday and women’s suffrage! It’s enough to make one weep. Anyway. Getting back to the Turks, General Chevki Pasha is an excellent man who received Malandain [a military topographer who served in the Army of the Orient] and spoke at length with him about you and the French Geographical Service. I hope to see you again in October if things go well, though I doubt it...”