The volume brings together two firsthand accounts of the French campaign in Algeria: a young officer's memoir of volunteering for the Foreign Legion that recounts garrison life, marches, skirmishes with local tribes, sieges, desert hardships, colonial tactics, and vivid scenes in Arab towns; and a naval lieutenant's narrative of five months as a captive, describing reception at Abd-el-Kader's camp, camp organization, treatment of prisoners, local customs, and exchanges between Europeans and Arabs. Together they combine battlefield episodes, cultural observation, and reflections on the human costs of warfare and colonization.