The Passion of Former Days: World War One

Showing posts with label World War One. Show all posts

31 July, 2015

World War One Soldiers Swimming

Amidst all the misery and horror of World War One, it's always so nice to get glimpses of the breaks the troops got from all of it. In this post, photos of soldiers swimming, bathing, and/or playing (usually all three) in the water during WWI. They look like they consider it the best thing ever, which, in that period of their lives, it probably was. I'm glad they got it.

Note: Most of these fellows were not at all shy about stripping all their clothes off for a swim, so there is some nudity ahead!

British soldiers splashing in the water at Corfu. Source

British troops in the River Tigris, Baghdad, 1917. Source

Piggyback wading (location unspecified).Source

The Crosses, Row on Row

One hundred years ago yesterday, a young Canadian soldier named Alexis Helmer was killed at the guns during the Second Battle of Ypres. One hundred years ago today, his good friend, a Canadian doctor named John McCrae, was moved to set down those evocative lines, "In Flanders fields, the poppies blow...."

As McCrae himself wrote of the battle, afterwards:

"The general impression in my mind is of a nightmare. We have been in the most bitter of fights. For seventeen days and seventeen nights none of us have had our clothes off, nor our boots even, except occasionally. In all that time while I was awake, gunfire and rifle fire never ceased for sixty seconds, and it was sticking to our utmost by a weak line all but ready to break, knowing nothing of what was going on, and depressed by reports of anxious infantry."*

McCrae was situated at an advanced dressing station, called Essex Farm, the first point of care for wounded soldiers, just behind the front line. Since many men sadly did not make it further, advanced dressing stations were usually joined by hastily constructed cemeteries, Like most front line cemeteries, the crosses were makeshift, the layouts haphazard. After the war, the crosses were gradually replaced by the carved headstones in place today. McCrae's "crosses, row on row" exist only in photographs.

For the centenary of a poem that's struck a chord like few others, a collection of those photographs of wartime cemeteries, in Flanders fields.

* John McCrae, "In Flanders Fields and Other Poems." 1919. Online

Cemetery at the Hospice Notre Dame, Ypres. Source

Ypres Reservoir Cemetery. Source

A British officer and his dog at Wavans War Cemetery (which includes the grave of top British ace James McCudden), 1918. Source

Christmas Greetings from the Trenches

Embroidered silk postcards soldiers at the Western Front sent to their families back home, for Christmas. These kinds of embroidered postcards were very popular among soldiers of World War One, and were made in large numbers by French and Belgian women during the conflict. The Australian War Memorial collection holds over 600, which I intend to return to. The themes are mostly floral and/or patriotic, their reassuring prettiness belying the conditions lived by the men who sent them.

These postcards are especially poignant this year--one hundred years since that first Christmas in the trenches.

A postcard with the same pattern, but a non-Christmas greeting, can be seen here. Source

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Through the Camera Gun

For World War One pilots and observers, a crucial part of training was learning how to accurately operate a plane-mounted machine gun, while flying, with moving targets. Of course actually shooting at the other student pilots wouldn't work, so they came up with a solution: camera guns. The camera gun resembled the regular machine guns used on airplanes, but firing the shutter exposed a frame of film (for more details and pictures, see here). The film would then be developed and the accuracy of the aim could be assessed by the position of the target as captured by the shutter.

The photographs themselves were, of course, not the aim of the endeavour. Exposure, aperture settings, and focus were fixed, and the shots were disposable. I'd actually never seen an example until I stumbled across these images in the collection of the San Diego Air and Space Museum. They come from the personal photographs (possibly in album form; it's unspecified) of an American air force pilot named Frederick H. Morlan who served and just after during WWI. Apparently he liked them enough to keep them!

San Diego Air and Space Museum

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San Diego Air and Space Museum

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San Diego Air and Space Museum

Though the camera guns were of course intended only for target practice, pilots sometimes took pictures just for fun. Peter Hart's book on WWI pilots Aces Falling contains an anecdote of a young pilot who got in trouble for flying where he shouldn't have been... because he took a picture of it! Source

Portraits from the Cockpit

We've seen some of the photographs WWI era pilots took of each other's planes whilst aloft; today, the photographs they took of each other in the air! A lot of these are taken by the pilot of the other guy in the plane (usually an instructor, as all are from training airfields), though a few are from the other guy of the pilot. I think these are amazing. I love the fact that these (very) young guys took cameras up into the air to take pictures of each other. I love that they did this despite the fact that these cameras (probably Vest Pocket Kodaks) can't focus below about six feet and have slow-ish shutter speeds and I love the fact that they still managed some good pictures. I love picturing a biplane pilot turning away from the dashboard to snap a picture of his friend (most of the instructors weren't much older than the pilots). I just love them.

From two seperate collections of the San Diego Air and Space Museum: the collection of Walt Claverie, a pilot who trained in 1912 and taught at Selridge and Rich Fields during WWI; and an album belonging to Paul Aldin Smith, a pilot training at Kelly field in Texas during WWI. Both are terrific views of life as an aviation student and are highly reccomended.

San Diego Air and Space Museum

I think this might be Walt Claverie; looks like him (he's adorable, by the way). Source

San Diego Air and Space Museum

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San Diego Air and Space Museum

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Action on the Western Front

The misery of World War One is a recurring theme in this blog, with the implicit question "how could they make anyone go through this hell?". Today we have a new installment, from a new source. The majority of World War One photographs here have been official British photographs (from the National Library of Scotland), made within specific guidelines to be published in the press. While there are nonetheless some striking action shots, and the overall misery can't be denied, their depictions of the war are heavily influenced by the vision the government wanted to project--a), that these men are heroes, and b) overall it's not that bad. Most action scenes are posed and/or performed for the camera in back-line trenches. Well-fed and smiling faces are emphasized, as are peaceful scenes. Most photographs of wounded soldiers emphasize the care they are given. Dead bodies are always identified as Germans; the British dead are pictured only in graves. We've looked also at some Australian WWI photographs, American ones, and even French autochromes, all fitting into this trend.

Recently, though, I found a set of Canadian WWI photographs, from Library and Archives Canada (who are on Flickr, but not the Commons). Though the named photographers-- William Ivor Castle, Henry Edward Knobels, and William Rider-Rider-- were official photographers, there seem to be quite a few different kinds of views. Notably there are more action shots, taken under fire, more similar to later photojournalist war photography. (even if, as should be noted, shots were sometimes altered-- shrapnel bursts from one photograph's sky might have been added to that of a another). Overall there seems to be a more frank depictions of the honesty of war than in the British official photographs, which I feel is worth a long look.

Library and Archives Canada

Troops dig themselves in while shrapnel bursts overhead, Vimy Ridge, 1917. Source

Library and Archives Canada

A tank in a muddy, shelled landscape, Passchendaele, 1917. Source

Library and Archives Canada

The battlefield near Courcelette, October 1916. Source

World War One in the Snow

As if the trenches of World War One weren't bad enough the rest of the year, there was winter to contend with. Soldiers were constantly out in the snow, ice, and generally damp conditions, with little to no extra clothing. Very few British soldiers were even allocated gloves. Though official World War One photographs such as these were generally intended to present the front in the best possible light, there really isn't any way to gloss over this kind of cold misery.

From the National Library of Scotland.

National Library of Scotland

Soldiers in a trench "where bombs take the place of snowballs", as the original caption puts it. Source

National Library of Scotland

Soldiers crossing an icy ditch on the way to the trenches. Source

National Library of Scotland

A working party spattered with snow. Source

Aeroplanes Aloft

Photographs of WWI airplanes in the air, including tricks and antics that the young pilots were encouraged to do. These are from an American aviation training field in Texas, 1917-18. I think most of the planes are training models but I've no idea, if anyone has expertise do share!

The San Diego Air and Space Museum recently uploaded a whole heap of WWI photos, mostly aviation related--they're not in very good condition but there's an incredible variety.

San Diego Air and Space Museum

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San Diego Air and Space Museum

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San Diego Air and Space Museum

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Remembrance Day

Another in the series of portraits of soldiers of the First World War, for the 94th anniversary of Armistice Day. The Imperial War Museum is now doing their own "Faces of the First World War", posting one a day (here); these are all drawn from that collection. For an image focus I've kept captions minimal, but many contributors have added loads of information in the IWM posts, so do follow the links.

Imperial War Museum

Lieutenant William Hamo Vernon, from Kent, killed October 7, 1916, aged 21. Source

Imperial War Museum

Captain W. M. L. Escombe, from Kent. Source

Imperial War Museum

Private Frank Joseph Butterworth of Queensland, Australia, killed August 4, 1916, aged 22. Source

Americans in World War One

The start of a three-part series for the Memorial Day weekend. The Americans may have come to the Great War later than many, but their experience was every bit as intense.

From the LIFE photo archives (though not LIFE magazine, which didn't yet exist), plus one from the Imperial War Museum.

1917-1918, of course.

A young soldier boarding a train for the Front. Source

American troops lined up in London before being shipped to the front. Source

Troops on the move. Source

World War One in (Australian) Colour

We've had colour photographs of World War One in the blog before (here and here)-- French autochromes from the Western Front. But, the French weren't the only ones documenting the war in colour. Australian photographer Frank Hurley (whose colour photographs of Shackleton's Antarctic expedition have also been featured in this blog) took photographs of the Australian forces in the Middle East and at the Western Front with the Paget Process of colour photography. Fascinating stuff.

From the collections of the Australian War Memorial.

Frank Hurley, Australian War Memorial

An Australian Light Horseman collecting anemone flowers in Palestine, c. 1918. Source

Frank Hurley, Australian War Memorial

A derelict British tank at the Somme, 1917 (for the full story of the tank, follow the link). Source

Frank Hurley, Australian War Memorial

Four Australian soldiers with a machine gun, Palestine, 1917. Source

Gallipoli

Today, in 1915, ANZAC (Australian and New Zealand Army Corps) embarked on the Gallipoli campaign-- a long, bloody, and ultimately unsuccessful attack against the Turkish Empire. Like the Canadian experiences at Ypres and Dieppe, the shared sadness and pride triggered deep national sentiment that carries through to this day. On Anzac Day, we remember those who fell and those who fought.

Photographs from Gallipoli, 1915, thanks to the National Library of New Zealand, the Australian War Memorial Collection, and the State Libraries of New South Wales and Queensland.