Charles first arrived in the United States in New York City on 21st December 1909. His friend and fellow artist Charles Dana Gibson met him as he arrived and helped establish Hoffbauer in the New York art community. On 8th August 1914, he returned to France and, although he had met his military service obligations, he was a Reservist in the French Army. He enlised in the 274th Infantry Regiment at a Private.
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| German Prisoners of War, Somme, 1916 by Charles Hoffbauer |
While in the trenches, Charles wrote an article for Leslie’s "Illustrated Weekly", entitled “Horrors of Trench Life in France.” He served as an official war artist and also worked as a liaison officer between the Camouflage Section of his unit and the American camouflage unit. He was promoted to the rank of Sergeant and was awarded the Croix de Guerre for bravery during the Battle of the Somme.
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| 15 February 1917 - J. M. Flagg" I Want You" cover. |
Frank Leslie's Illustrated Newspaper, later renamed Leslie's Weekly, was an American illustrated literary and news magazine founded in 1855 and published until 1922. It was one of several magazines started by publisher and illustrator Frank Leslie.
Throughout its existence, the weekly provided illustrations and reports — first with wood engravings and daguerreotypes, later with more advanced forms of photography — of wars from John Brown's raid at Harpers Ferry and the Civil War until the Spanish–American War and the First World War.
