The famed creator of the "Sherlock Holmes' series of novels, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, is the author of the non-fiction novel "A Visit to Three Fronts". In the course of May 1916, the Italian authorities expressed a desire that some independent observer from Great Britain should visit their battle lines and report his impressions. Doyle was chosen for the assignment. He obtained permission from the War Office to visit first the British lines before proceeding to visit the French front and then finally onto the Italian one. Thus he is able to give a clear picture of the three great Western allies as conditions were during the First World War.