"A Yankee in the Trenches by R. Derby Holmes is a firsthand account of an American volunteer serving in the French Army during the early years of the First World War. Written before the United States officially entered the conflict, the memoir offers a rare perspective on trench warfare from an outsider who chose to fight for France. Holmes vividly describes daily life at the front: the mud-filled trenches, constant artillery fire, long stretches of waiting, and the psychological strain of...