“The Deeds of Brigade Leader Gérard” is a collection of adventure stories by the English writer Arthur Conan Doyle. War memoirs are one of the most in-demand literary genres. Tales by an old soldier, Étienne Gérard, introduce an extraordinarily brave and resourceful officer—an incurable show-off and braggart. Detective-story master and a gifted, brilliant storyteller even today keep the reader following, without turning the page, the “deeds” of his favorite Napoleonic hussar, the legendary general Antoine-Charles Lassalle—Gérard’s prototype. There was a time when this character rivaled even Sherlock Holmes in popularity.