THE LAST DAYS OF FORT VAUX THE LAST DAYS OF FORT VAUX MARCH 9-JUNE 7, 1916 BY HENRY BORDEAUX AUTHOR OF ‘LA CROISÉE DES CHEMINS,’ ‘LES ROQUEVILLARD,’ ETC. TRANSLATED BY PAUL V. COHN, B.A. THOMAS NELSON AND SONS, LTD. _London, Edinburgh, and New York_ AUX SOLDATS DE VERDUN The Author of “THE LAST DAYS OF FORT VAUX,” M. Henry Bordeaux, is a native of Savoy who has distinguished himself in more than one department of letters before performing his duty manfully in the field, and then as official historian of the Great War. Apart from his reputation in France, M. Bordeaux has probably more readers in this country than any other French novelist of the day. Born in 1870 at Thonon-les-Bains, in Haute-Savoie, he began his career, like so many literary men, by reading law at Paris. He was called to the bar, and duly performed his military service. Then he attracted attention by a series of admirable critical essays, speedily republished in a book, and by an historical romance. He did not, however, forsake law altogether on this first success; but, after the death of his father in 1896, took his place for four years as a practising barrister in his native town, where he also held various municipal posts. Then he could no longer resist the call of art, and from the publication of his novel, _Le Pays Natal_, in 1900 to the outbreak of war, he has divided his life between Paris and Savoy, devoting himself entirely to writing. Besides novels such as _La Peur de vivre_, _Les Roquevillard_, _La Robe de laine_, _La Neige sur les pas_, which bid fair to attain classic rank, M. Bordeaux has worked as a dramatic critic and one of the most sensitive and discerning judges of literature in the leading French reviews. M. Bordeaux is one of those who keep evergreen by a life of physical as well as mental activity. He is a cyclist and a motorist; one of his favourite sports is fencing; and he is a devotee of that special recreation of the intellectual, Alpine climbing.