_The author assisted in two important episodes of the great war. On
October 24, 1916, he flew over Fort Douaumont with Major Armengaud at
the precise moment the poilus swarmed over it after eight months' of
incessant battle. The first men who entered Douaumont were the same
sappers of the 19th Company, 2nd Engineers, with whom the author fought
at Grande Dune. (Chaps. I and III.)_
_It is during this period that the author was appointed first
lieutenant in July and Captain in October after the capture of
Douaumont._
_On December 15, 1916, Captain Capart was at Pepper Hill during the
victorious advance of the French._