Fear: A Novel Of World War I, Chevalier - B +

                                               Thanks to Greg Weiss for this one too.  This remarkable book was completed in 1931 by a man who went on to fame as a writer. It is easy to discern his skill in this book, which is written in the first person and presumably, is very close to his memoir.  At the age of 19 in December, 1914, Chevalier (Dartemont in the novel) was drafted and found himself at the front in Oct. 1915. His pen drips with rage and sarcasm at those who threw young Europe into the ash heap. His disdain of politicians and generals comes through in such fabulous phrasing that you could almost find a quote on every page: "And millions of men, because they believed what they were taught by emperors, legislators, and bishops in their legal codes, their manuals of instruction and their catechisms, by historians in their history books, teachers in their colleges, and decent, ordinary people in their living rooms, these millions of men form countless flocks that shepherds with officer's braids lead to the slaughterhouses, to the sound of music."  Blessed with a light series of shrapnel wounds and after never even seeing a German, never mind shooting at one, he is hospitalized, sent home and free of the war over the winter and thus, survives into 1916. He misses Verdun, and spends months doing light duty as a runner, while his regiment is stationed in the Vosges. Being a runner is exponentially safer than being on the front line, but his good luck ends in the spring 1917 offensive.  He ably describes the hell, fear and stench of those condemned to the trenches and consistently describes  the 'Poilus' as interested in one thing and one thing only - survival. There is no interest among the men for glory, for country, for heroism - there is only survival.  He makes it through 1917 and by the end of the following summer, it is clear that the 'Boche' are done in. That however does not eliminate the need for a 24 Sept 1918 offensive and Dartemont is in the 2nd wave.  They advance 15 kilometers over 11 days as the Germans, if not retreating, are certainly backtracking. Nov. 11, 1918, 11AM.  Peace!  This is an absolutely fabulous anti-war treatise. It's so good that in 1939 the government asked the author to suspend publication and he agreed.