French strategic and tactical bombardment forces of World War I

by René Martel

"French Strategic and Tactical Bombardment Forces of World War I is a translation of Rene Martel's classic L'aviation Francaise de Bombardement (Des Origines au 11 Novembre 1918), published in Paris in 1939. Martel's history is by far the most important description of World War I French bombing published in any language. This story of French bombardment - during the brief period when France was the world's greatest air power - is virtually unknown in the English-speaking world. France not only supplied aircraft to virtually every Allied power in the war, but by the end of World War I, its air force routinely conducted raids consisting of 100 to 150 bombers against German troop concentrations. These massive raids occurred at a time when the British and Americans had difficulty mustering as many as three dozen bombers to send against one target. Martel's history fills an important gap in the world's knowledge of aviation development in strategic and tactical bombing." "Allen Suddaby's ca