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Haunting images from WWI

Thanks for the offer argonne, I can handle the adjusting, its the scanning that has me concerned. Going to try it out Monday, play with it and see what the best way to scan will be. Gotta love 10 pt pica done on a typewritter!
 
argonne1918 said:
Color film did not exist until about 1938. Are these hand painted over black and white photos you are talking about? That's what they did with color postcards in that era.
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Hi, argonne1918.


I think you're in for a treat. A usable colour film, Autochrome, was invented in 1903 by the two French brothers Lumière (which, remarkably enough, means Light).


The two ground up potato starch and dyed the granuals red, green and blue, sandwiched them on black-and-white film, and voila — colour slides!


Other sites with Autochrome First World War photos are here and here. There are others. The film was extremely slow, so no action shots were possible.


This is a link to a Google Images search for Autochrome photographs.


The Library of Congress has posted colour pictures of Czarist Russia, as mentioned by helz_belz, and an expanded explanation of the method used to take them.


Once in a while I run more Autochrome searches to see if anything might twig any past-life memories. Sometimes "new" pictures turn up.
 
Thanks for starting this thread. I have learned much about WW 1. I have studied the second world war, but was not that familiar with this one.


I can't imagine the stress these men and women went through. Whether going "over the top" out of the trenches to their likely death, or flying primitive planes over the English Channel (which most didn't return),it had to be hell for them. The willingness to fight the enemy at all cost was overwhelming.


Being on a boat, whether naval or merchant, was not a good option either with the german U-boats sinking a high percentage of the supply boats.


For every person killed there were linups of volunteers to take their place. And for what reason?


It can be said that the only winners were the corporations supplying the arms and equipment and the wealthy bankers that can be argued financed both sides of the war.
 
Tried the scanning out today, set at 400 dpi. I think I may scan the pages in sections, that might work better. Scanning the whole page kinda makes the type hard to read, and I was working on the slightly newer, lighter stuff.


I've been reading it. Interesting stuff.
 
My family has a small collection of Great War postcards. Reading through them a few weeks ago was quite an emotional experience. One, writing to his sister in 1914, wondered what their mother would think when she heard he had volunteered for the Front. I keep wondering whether he survived or not. Unfortunately, there wasn't a full name so I'm not sure it's possible to find out.
 
I created this thread and then disappeared for a little while, but it was fun to read through all the posts tonight. Thanks to everyone for sharing other pictures and information. I loved the color photographs from the war. As others mentioned, the color pictures make the events and people seem so much more real.


Whippoorwill, I especially loved your family photo from the Great War. Thank you for sharing it!
 
The Tank Museum in Dorset have just added the replica tank built for the film War Horse to their collection. They've uploaded a video of it here:

 
I was very intrigued to learn that "tank" was a code word used to conceal the development of the great armored beasts. They resembled cisterns, ergo, the name "tank". Once again, we need to thank Mr. Churchill for his foresight and ingenuity.
 
BriarRose said:
They resembled cisterns, ergo, the name "tank". Once again, we need to thank Mr. Churchill for his foresight and ingenuity.
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And he probably told whoever asked that they were bound for the desert. Remember that the Middle East then was part of the Turkish Empire and allied with the Germans. Did you see the movie "Lawrence of Arabia"?
 
my great-grandfather fought in the Middle East during the Great War. As far as I'm aware he was an infantryman.


tanks were also occasionally used in the UK for warfund-raising purposes, taking them into the towns, in a 'look what we've got, help us raise money to make more to fight the Hun!' kind of way. despite them being on 'our' side, watching the video posted by the museum caused my throat to close up in mild panic!
 
And then I disappeared, seagreen! Thanks for you kind words about my photo and to everyone else who mentioned it.


I couldn't agree more, Helz, they're utterly terrifying things, on our side or not!
 
helz_belz said:
tanks were also occasionally used in the UK for warfund-raising purposes, taking them into the towns, in a 'look what we've got, help us raise money to make more to fight the Hun!' kind of way. despite them being on 'our' side, watching the video posted by the museum caused my throat to close up in mild panic!
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Did you know the "tank" was invented and manufactured in Stockton, California? Stockton was the home of Benjamin Holt, the inventor of the "Caterpillar" tractor. The islands of the surrounding river delta were made of peat soil. Regular tractors would sink their tires in the soil. Caterpillar tractors were the only tractors that could be used on peat soil. The British knew about caterpillar tractors and asked Mr. Holt if they could somehow be armed and made to cross over trenches. I have a book with photos of the tanks being shipped from Stockton. I'll find them and post them here.
 
Winston Churchill came up with the idea of armored caterpillers after he witnessed the terrible slaughter of trench warfare during The Great War of 1914-1918. He directed that they be called "tanks", in order to trick the Axis Powers into thinking that they were for another purpose than as weapons.
 
Some interesting articles:


The Thankful Villages there are a handful of places in the UK where everyone who went to WW1 came back, they're known as the Thankful Villages. There are even some of these where all those who went to serve in WW2 also returned, they are the Doubly Thankful Villages.


Lethal relics from WW1 are still emerging Shells and mortars are still being ploughed up from the fields of France and Flanders, and they're still causing casualties today.
 
This is the first I've heard about the "Thankful Villages". Somehow, it seems very important, in more than just a forum sense. It has an almost mythical quality, and there's a lesson there. Does anyone else feel that?
 
Of course! cover face It's the Shire! Tolkien was a WWI veteran, and lost many friends and comrades. The fire bombing reminded me that even the Shire didn't totally escape the long reach of the "dark", but it's heart remained untouched.
 
Yes, we saw a documentary on Tolkein that discussed how his wartime experiences shaped his creation of Middle Earth.
 
Oh Helz, thank you so much for sharing that link. I've just sat and looked through every single image. I feel so moved to see all those faces. How wonderful and touching and terribly sad. But how amazing too, to see the friendships there amongst comrades. :-)


Obviously I was looking for familiar faces and cap badges, alas, nothing struck me, but it's an amazing thing to know that things like these photographs exist.


Thanks again.
 
Yes, thank you for these links. I had never heard of "Thankful Villages". At the beginning of WWII the US had something similar to the "Pals Battalions". Relatives were allowed to serve together. Have you ever heard of the "Sullivan Brothers"? I think they joined the Navy together and served on the same ship. But then the ship was sunk, by a U-boat I think. The public was shocked that all the sons in that family were wiped out. A movie was made about it. And the government decreed that from then on relatives were not allowed to serve together. And sole surviving son's were exempt from combat, even as late as Vietnam.


I also was not aware that shells and other munitions were still being dug up in farm fields. I remember that during the 50's, 60's, and 70's uxb's, unexploded bombs, would be found in cities during construction. Mostly in London left over from the Blitz. Many of the German bombs were time bombs and the timers stopped working. There was a "Masterpiece Theater" series on this even. The bomb squad during the war did NOT rely on volunteers. The person doing the disarming had to wear a microphone and describe what he was doing. At the other end someone was taking notes. If the bomb suddenly exploded the next person would know what NOT to do.
 
argonne1918 said:
Yes, thank you for these links. I had never heard of "Thankful Villages". At the beginning of WWII the US had something similar to the "Pals Battalions". Relatives were allowed to serve together. Have you ever heard of the "Sullivan Brothers"? I think they joined the Navy together and served on the same ship. But then the ship was sunk, by a U-boat I think. The public was shocked that all the sons in that family were wiped out. A movie was made about it. And the government decreed that from then on relatives were not allowed to serve together. And sole surviving son's were exempt from combat, even as late as Vietnam.
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There was a programme on the BBC a few years back, and an accompanying book ('Not Forgotten' by Neil Oliver) that looked at names on war memorials. There was one where 4 brothers had all served and all died in the war - their name was Souls.


I'm not sure if it was official or not, but the eldest son was often spared serving in the war if they were the main breadwinner for the family. Of the 5 brothers in my great-grandfather's family, only the youngest 4 served, the eldest stayed behind to look after the family.


Some bombs under London may even have been from WW1 as well, bombs were dropped in that war too, but not many people know about it. They were dropped from airships. Cleopatra's Needle on the Embankment still shows damage from one of these bombs dropped in 1917.

Oh Helz, thank you so much for sharing that link. I've just sat and looked through every single image. I feel so moved to see all those faces. How wonderful and touching and terribly sad. But how amazing too, to see the friendships there amongst comrades. :-)
Obviously I was looking for familiar faces and cap badges, alas, nothing struck me, but it's an amazing thing to know that things like these photographs exist.


Thanks again.
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No problem Whippoorwill, its good to know the links I (rather obsessively!) post are being enjoyed! Not had chance to look through all the images yet, and haven't recognised anyone, but one pic (of the photographer's wife and daughter in a winter garden) did stir something for me, something to do with bare winter trees and bitter, bitter cold...
 
That was an interesting presentation, helz. Thanks for posting it. The tiny scrap of French I learned in high school helped me follow along. Does anyone know why the images vibrate?
 
BriarRose said:
Does anyone know why the images vibrate?
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It looks like it's deliberate. Maybe so you can see the 3-D effect. But it's very annoying. It was probably done by a young person. They did it because they can.
 
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