Yves Debay

Yves Debay (24 December 1954 – 17 January 2013) was a veteran French-Belgian war correspondent who founded and reported for the French-language magazines Raids and later Assaut, which is published out of Boulogne-Billancourt, Paris, France. Born in Élisabethville, Belgian Congo (later Lubumbashi, Democratic Republic of the Congo), he first enlisted in the Belgian army in 1975 and later became a tank commander before hiring out as a soldier in foreign armies. In the late 1970s, Debay served in the Rhodesian Armoured Car Regiment during the Rhodesian Bush War, and later in 44 Parachute Brigade with the South African army during the South African Border War. He began a career as a journalist by writing for the Gazette des armes. In 1987, he became a French citizen.

Debay was one of the founders of Raids magazine in 1986 and worked for the French-language magazine for more than twenty years covering military and war issues. In 2005, he founded his own military magazine called Assaut, for which he served as publisher, editor and journalist. As a war correspondent, he covered wars in Afghanistan, both Iraq wars, Lebanon, the Balkans, Libya and Syria. His photographic contributions to the world of research and military history was virtually unparalleled during his career. In particular, as regards researching the subject of international military forces and their combat uniforms, the entire community of collectors and researchers is deeply indebted to his body of work.

Mr. Debay was killed by sniper fire while working in Syria.