Le Bataillon du ciel
Paris, Julliard, (April 18) 1947.
1 vol. (125 x 205 mm) of 253 p. and [1] f. In wrappers, uncut, with wide margins.
First edition. One of 110 deluxe copies on Annonay rag paper, this copy no. 24.
Le Bataillon du ciel is the first novel that Kessel did not entirely write himself: the task was left to his nephew Maurice Druon, who was responsible for turning into a novel the notes drawn up by his uncle, themselves based on the account given by Pierre-Louis Bourgoin, a one-armed colonel whom Joseph Kessel had met in London during the war.
The novel was written alongside the shooting of the film of the same name, with which it shares a common narrative: a fictionalized reportage recounting the actions of the 2nd Parachute Regiment, sent to France just before the landings to prevent German forces stationed in Brittany from joining the Normandy front.
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