Rene Nicolas

The Campaign Diary of a French Infantry Officer During the First World War from Champagne to the Argonne, 1915 Rene Nicolas

Experiences of a French lieutenant

This book is a valuable and authentic first-hand account of service in the Great War on the Western Front, recorded by a young French infantry officer in his diary, which he informs us bears the marks of war--bloodstains, smears of mud and 'from cover to cover, a hole made by a tiny piece of steel'. When war broke out the author was a university student, but before long he found himself fighting on the 'barren plain known as la Champagne Pouilleuse'. In the spring of 1915, after months of skirmishing with the Germans in the mud of Champagne, his regiment left the trenches to campaign in the Forest of the Argonne. In May, he was once more in the west before Arras for the Artois Offensive. There he was seriously wounded, falling only ten yards from the enemy trench. The horror of that attack and his nightmare attempt to return to friendly lines are graphically recounted in these pages. The action earned him the Croix de Guerre. This Leonaur edition contains images and photographs which were not present in the original edition.

Leonaur editions are newly typeset and are not facsimiles; each title is available in softcover and hardback with dustjacket.