From the Marne to Verdun: The War Diary of Captain Charles Delvert, 101st Infantry, 1914–1916

By Charles Delvert

Charles Delvert’s diary records his career as a front-line officer in the French army fighting the Germans during the First World War. It is one of the classic accounts of the war in French or indeed in any other language, and it has not been translated into English before. In precise, graphic detail he sets down his wartime experiences and those of his men. He describes the relentless emotional and physical strain of active service and the extraordinary courage and endurance required in battle. His account is essential reading for anyone who is keen to gain a direct insight into the Great War from the French soldier's point of view, and it bears comparison with the best-known English and German memoirs and journals of the Great War.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Pen and Sword
• Release date: Oct 31, 2016
• ISBN: 9781473883727

Charles Delvert

Charles Delvert was born in Paris in 1879. He was educated as a teacher at the École Normale Supérieure 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.