French Strategic and Tactical Bombardment Forces of World War I is a translation of René 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 the war her 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.

The pioneering French efforts in technology and tactics—many of which preceded the better-known British and American efforts—are covered, as well as the development of aerial bombs, bomb-dropping mechanisms, bombsights, intelligence-based targeting packages, formation flying, night flying and navigation, long range fighter escorts, and aerial photography for bomb damage assessment. A keen observer of personalities, Professor Martel describes with great feeling the pioneers who created this new brand of warfare: Happe, de Goÿs, the Féquant brothers, de Kérillis, Laurens, and Bouchet. Also included is his analysis of the successful German propaganda response to French strategic bombing, which is particularly insightful.

Allen Suddaby's careful translation of this long out-of-print work is enhanced by his son Steven's recent scholarship on Great War bombing campaigns. The original 1939 text is supplemented with the results of 65 years of research since then and benefits from the knowledge of several experts in the field who were consulted in the course of preparing this edition.
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