Born in Amiens, Somme, under the name Roland Lecavelé (he adopted the pen name Dorgelès to commemorate visits to the spa town of Argelès), he spent his childhood in Paris.
A prolific author, he is most renowned for the Prix Femina-winning Wooden crosses (Les croix de bois), a moving study of World War I, in which he served. It was published in 1919 (in English by William Heinemann in 1920).
Dorgelès served as a juror with Florence Meyer Blumenthal in awarding the Prix Blumenthal, a grant given between 1919 and 1954 to painters, sculptors, decorators, engravers, writers and musicians.[2]