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.
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.
