About the Author

Charles Delvert was born in Paris in 1879. He was educated as a teacher at the �cole Normale Sup�rieure and then taught history in schools in the south of France. During the First World War he rose to the rank of captain in the French army and served with great distinction at the front, in particular during the Battle of Verdun where his company mounted a heroic defence of Fort Vaux. After the war he return to teaching in Parisian schools, and he died in 1940. His classic wartime journal Carnets d'un fantassin was first published in France in 1935. Ian Sumner is a prolific writer and researcher who specializes in local and military history. He has made a particular study of the French army and air force during the First World War, his many books on the subject including The French Army 1914-18, French Poilu 1914-18, First Battle of the Marne 1914, They Shall Not Pass: The French Army on the Western Front 1914-1918, Kings of the Air: French Aces and Airmen of the Great War and The French Army at Verdun.

Reviews

"There are hundreds of books about front-line activities during the first world war, but not that many first-hand accounts. Although this book by Chalres Delvert is the memoir of a French officer, the premise is the same as if it had been an Englishman. It is the writing of someone who got caught up in an horrific set of circumstances that led to the needless and meaningless killing of countless millions in a conflict that stretched out over five years. Harrowing and illuminating"-- "Books Monthly"