Christian Mallet

Impressions & Experiences of a French Cavalry Trooper During the First World War, 1914-15, With the 22nd Dragoons Christian Mallet

A first-hand account of the twilight of the arme-blanche at war

This book is particularly engaging for several reasons. It principally concerns the opening campaigns of the Great War in Europe, before the time of trenches and wire, at a time when the fighting was still mobile. Cavalry on both sides was not only being employed in much the same way as it had been during the Napoleonic era, but the cavalrymen were dressed--complete with Corinthian helmets and horse-tails--in a style which would have been recognised by their great-grandfathers a century earlier. This first-hand account by an ordinary French cavalry trooper of a dragoon regiment rewards the reader with an intimate and immediate view of the conflict and of life within a cavalry regiment of the period. This concise, but fascinating recollection concerns the authors experiences in the fighting at Compiegne, Staden, Ypres and Loos. This Leonaur book contains images and photographs which were not included in the original edition.

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