Henri Barbusse 
Under fire 
The Story of a Squad

Under Fire: The Story of a Squad  by Henri Barbusse, was one of the first novels about World War I to be published. Although it is fiction, the novel was based on Barbusse’s experiences as a French soldier on the Western Front.

The novel takes the form of journal-like anecdotes which the unnamed narrator claims to be writing to record his time in the war. It follows a squad of French volunteer soldiers on the Western front in France after the German invasion.