try, and met Philippe Petain. On October 1, 1913 Charles was promoted to Lieutenant.When World War I broke out in 1914 De Gaulle was still with his regiment. On August 15, he was in his first battle at Dinant in Belgium. There he was wounded from a shot in the leg. He was taken to a hospital in Arras, from there he went to Paris for an operation and then he went to Leons for rehabilitation.In the winter of 1914 de Gaulle rejoined his regiment and took part in several successful reconnaissance missions. He was wounded again by fragments of a mortar that permanently tore his left hand. Because of this injury, he had to wear his wedding ring on his right hand.Charles came back to his regiment in June 1915. At that time, the German general, Falkenhayn launched an offensive at Verdun. Petain was in command of the French defense. De Gaulle was ordered to lead an advance party and arrange takeover from the departing 110th regiment. The Germans attacked and overran most of the French positions, including the one that de Gaulle was in. There Charles was wounded from a bayonet thrust and lost consciousness.It was this last battle where he was captured by the Germans. While a prisoner, de Gaulle tried to escape five times but was recaptured every time because of his height (Ledwidge23). In response to his repeated escape attempts, de Gaulle was put in the punishment camp of Inglstadt in Bavaria. There he spent 120 days in solitary confinement. While at the camp, de Gaulle read the German newspapers and gave lectures on the war to his fellow prisoners. Charles remained in the punishment camp for the rest of the war.When Charles got back to France, he went to visit Petain who became a hero for his defense of Verdun. After this visit, the two men became friends. In the spring of 1919, de Gaulle took service with the volunteers of the French Military Mission to Poland to help build up the countries armed forces. While there, Charles taught at the offi...
