Reading of excerpts from "Fers de l'espoir", autobiography of Claude Hettier de Boislambert who escaped on December 2, 1942 from Gannat prison, today the Yves Machelon Museum. Claude Hettier de Boislambert was born on 26 July 1906 in Hérouvillette (Calvados). Owner-farmer, he made numerous trips between 1926 and 1939 for zootechnical and ethnographic research in Central Africa. On order, he joined the French lines of the Somme on May 20, 1940, crossing the German elements pushed to the sea. He took part in the Battle of the Somme, then in the battles of delaying action, first on the Seine, then in Normandy and Brittany. In Brest on June 16, 1940, he immediately decided to continue the struggle and went to England on a building taking Polish troops with the officers and non-commissioned officers placed under his command and volunteers to follow him. Learning then of the presence in London of General de Gaulle, whom he had met during the campaign of France, Claude Hettier de Boislambert went to his service and was called by the latter to participate in the constitution of his first staff and his first cabinet. On August 6, 1940, General de Gaulle sent a delegation to Africa with a mission to rally the French colonies in Equatorial Africa and Cameroon. This mission consists of Commander Leclerc, René Pleven and Captain de Boislambert. During this reading we will discuss: - His meeting with General de Gaulle on a battlefield at the beginning of World War II - His putting in the service of General de Gaulle - His mission in Africa - His flight and his arrest