Pierre Buffault (1866-1942) was a senior French forestry official and was Lieutenant Colonel during the First World War. A fascinating account of the demand for timber during that conflict can be read on the Internet^(a). In his later years he took an interest in Atlantis and in 1936 he expressed his view that Plato’s island had been located in the Atlantic.

^(a) http://www.foresthistory.org/Publications/JofFH/GreeleyDiaries.pdf