Novelist Erich Maria Remarque was drafted into the German army at the age of 18 and was wounded several times. After the war he worked as a racing-car driver and as a sportswriter while working on All Quiet on the Western Front. The book was an immediate international success. Remarque wrote several other novels. Some had popular success, but none achieved the critical prestige of his first book.

(http://www.biography.com/people/erich-maria-remarque-9455107#awesm=~oFu56c0pCtQOxi)