WWI in photos

[rbertalotto]

Amazing photographs here:

http://www.theatlantic.com/static/infocus/wwi/wwitech/

[JB]

That link takes me to black and white WWI photos, but I still enjoyed them

[Ysabel Kid]

My paternal grandfather was a "Long Boy" in WWI (a mortar man).

Thanks for the photos!

[M. M. Wright]

The world only turned to color in '39, before that everything was black and white.

[JB]

The world only turned to color in '39, before that everything was black and white.

Perhaps I read it wrong or the original post was edited, but I thought it read "WWII color photos". That's what I why I mentioned "black and white".

[missionary5155]

Good afternoon
Thanks for posting that link. When I was in Germany we went to Verdun in 1973. Those pictures sure awakened that battlefield visit.
Most stunning scene I remember was a section of French trench that was near instantly buried by a large impacting German shell. There were 18 French soilders moving up the trench with shouldered arms. About a foot of rifle barrels protrude from the soil giving evidence how fast they were buried alive in formation.
Mike in Peru

[MrMurphy]

I've seen pics of that spot, the bayonets sticking up out of the dirt. Concussion killed them.


They've found other similar sites, I remember reading of them finding on the Somme a British raiding team, about to head out on a night raid killed by a close-impacting shell. Concussion killed them where they sat in a crater and the dirt buried them effectively instantly.

Rifles were all still in hands, the officer still had his finger on the trigger of his Webley and they were still (buried) all sitting up with their raiding supplies slung or at hand ready to move.

[Centennial]

My Grandfather was in that war. I think in the NY 78th Lightning Division. Once he told me of a big fight that started around 2 or 3 AM. I think that it was part of the Argonne Offensive October 1918. Not sure of the dates or names. All his medals and records were stolen or lost over the years.
I know he was at Camp Dix NJ early 1918 so photo number 37 is close to his time there.
Photo number 24 is US troops on French tanks, September 1918, going to the Argonne front.

[Bruce Scott]

Here is an interesting 1920 New York Times article about the 'Bayonet Trench' which presents a couple differing views about what may have happened:
http://query.nytimes.com/mem/archive-fr ... 5B808EF1D3

[KWK]

The world only turned to color in '39, before that everything was black and white.

Color photography goes back to before WW-I. A few examples from that war are here.

[AJMD429]

The world only turned to color in '39, before that everything was black and white.

Color photography goes back to before WW-I. A few examples from that war are here.

Yep. Here's another, from good-old Wikipedia (and among those in the http://www.worldwaronecolorphotos.com/ KWK linked to above):

The technique used in this one is described here - http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Autochrome.

How spoiled we are now, with our mega-pixel digital phone-cams...!

Anyhow, thanks for the link. Amazing photos, color or not. An unusually brutal war, in that it was one of the first large-scale wars where self-powered machines and chemicals came into play.