Comrades-in-arms: The World War I Memoir of Captain Henri de Lecluse, the Count of Trevoedal - Tapa dura

Comrades-in-Arms is a powerful and passionate account by a French cavalry officer of daily life on the Western Front from January 1915 to August 1916. Mobilized at the age of forty-six, Lecluse commanded an elite cavalry unit during campaigns in Artois, Champagne, and Alsace. He regarded the men who served under him as comrades and heroes, and he wrote the memoir to memorialize those who had fallen in combat. Lecluse's memoir consists of thirty-three individual chapters resembling short stories in form and devoted to descriptions of artillery bombardments, raids on enemy trenches, grisly atrocities, night patrols gone awry, the deaths of beloved comrades, and battlefields strewn with bodies.

Comrades-in-Arms is a powerful and passionate account by a French cavalry officer of daily life on the Western Front from January 1915 to August 1916. Mobilized at the age of forty-six, Lecluse commanded an elite cavalry unit during campaigns in Artois, Champagne, and Alsace. He regarded the men who served under him as comrades and heroes, and the memoir was written to memorialize those who had fallen in combat.

A wealthy aristocrat from Brittany, Lecluse was an ardent Catholic and patriot who hated the enemy and lamented the deaths of his men. In his youth he attended the famous military academy at Saint-Cyr and the prestigious cavalry school at Saumur. Following his commission as a second lieutenant, he briefly served on active duty and then retired to run a family canning business in Brittany. He was an amateur poet, playwright, songwriter, actor, and illustrator.

Beautifully written and extremely moving, Lecluse's memoir consists of thirty-three individual chapters resembling short stories in form and devoted to descriptions of artillery bombardments, raids on enemy trenches, grisly atrocities, night patrols gone awry, the deaths of beloved comrades, and battlefields strewn with bodies. There are chapters devoted to rivers of mud flowing in the trenches, ruined villages, stately chateaux, desecrated churches, the agonizing death of a black African soldier, a winter in Alsace, the murder of a pet bull-terrier, and fleeting moments of pleasure and escape amidst the nightmare of combat. This artful narrative will appeal to readers interested in military history and to those who enjoy beautifully written stories based on the daily lives of common soldiers.