Many young men with an urge to write have gone to war and then produced a masterpiece on their return. Is writing a cathartic experience after years of conflict and turmoil? Does experiencing something so life-changing and unforgettable increase the ability to write, or provide a greater impetus? While some authors with wartime experience avoid writing about the subject, many have thoroughly explored the horrors of war through their writing.

This selection of fiction and non-fiction stretches from the Napoleonic Wars to Vietnam, and features soldiers, sailors, submariners and airmen who made literary history.