Charles R. Benstead (1896-1980) served with distinction as an artillery officer in World War I and as a naval training officer in World War II. He wrote eleven other books on topics ranging from naval combat to Cambridge history, though none approached the critical and commercial success of Retreat. Hugh Cecil is an honorary lecturer at the University of Leeds and cofounder of the Second World War Experience Centre in Leeds, United Kingdom. His numerous publications include The Flower of Battle: How Britain Wrote the Great War, Facing Armageddon: The First World War Experienced, and At the Eleventh Hour with Peter H. Liddle.