The set consists of notebooks and scrolls drawn between 1932 and 1934. They are dedicated to the First World War and bear witness to the artist's training, visual culture and early interest in the military world. 

The drawings in the notebooks are executed in black pencil and charcoal, enhanced with colored pencil and white gouache in lined notebooks. They already demonstrate Delpech's perfect mastery of drawing. They do not follow a chronological sequence of the different phases and battles of the First World War, but reflect the artist's centers of interest: military equipment and machines (ships, planes, cannons, etc.), the war effort (factory views), destroyed landscapes, etc. The scrolls are produced in pen and black ink, colored pencil and white gouache highlights on wove paper. The largest is 6.80 m long. One scroll is entirely devoted to the Battle of Jutland, which took place in the North Sea in May-June 1916. In this work, the artist varies between wide and narrow points of view, creating an almost cinematic narrative.

This group of drawings testifies to the importance of photography as a source for Jean Delpech, and its key role in the artist's training. Indeed, most of the drawings can be associated with photographs published in the weekly L'Illustration during the First World War. These works bear witness not only to Jean Delpech's artistic apprenticeship, but also to the dissemination of wartime memories through photography and the illustrated press.