Great War's Western Front, 1917 - Rare Historical Photos

[packman]

Frank Hurley was an Australian photographer who became the Australian Imperial Forces’ second official war photographer. When he arrived at the Western Front his rank was honorary captain, but the troops, seeing how he took risks to get his pictures, dubbed him “the mad photographer”.

His job was to document the war effort, to provide images to the media, and to capture the heroism of the Australians to show those back home.

What he captured, however, was hell on earth. He shot photographs of battles and their haunting aftermath and was horrified by the scenes of blood, death, and devastation that were so common on the Western Front.

This photo collection from the Third Battle of Ypres (1917), part of State Library of New South Wale, is accompanied by a few excerpts from Hurley’s diary, in which he describes his war experiences in detail, including the horrors he witnesses, the devastation, the pity he feels for the German soldiers, his disgust with the war and frustration over his photo techniques.



Many more:


https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/western-front-photographs-frank-hurley/

[PufPuf23]

1. There are many amazing photo collections at that site. Thank you. kr

[Wounded Bear]

2. K & R...nt

[BSdetect]

3. Both my grandfathers survived that war. Still amazes me that they did.

[housecat]

5. One of mine was there too

[keithbvadu2]

4. Hundred year old voices:::: Mud! F__king mud!

Hundred year old voices:::: Mud! F__king mud!

[Karadeniz]

6. So heart wrenching... I also viewed their animal collection offered at the bottom of this article

and those photos are also amazing. The text on that article is full of info we never knew. All these photos should be part of every high school's world history curriculum... The war to end all wars. The stupid beginnings. Madness.

[Glaisne]

7. Here's The Great War YouTube Channel:

https://www.youtube.com/c/TheGreatWarSeries

[erronis]

8. Haunting and horrific. War is hell and yet some welcome it.

[muriel_volestrangler]

9. Hurley was also the photographer on Shackelton's Endurance expedition

and it's great they saved some of his plates. A true artist.

https://www.atlasgallery.com/artists/frank-hurley

But the pictures were nearly lost when Endurance was crushed and only Hurley’s determination saved them for posterity. With Endurance gradually sinking beneath the ice, Hurley removed all his clothes and plunged naked into the icy waters to save his precious pictures before the ship disappeared beneath the ice.

To his dismay, Shackleton insisted the glass plates were too heavy to carry as the party struggled to drag their lifeboats to open seas. Hurley faced an appalling choice but calmly sat on the ice and painstakingly filtered the 600-plus plates, smashing over 400 deemed unfit to avoid having any second thoughts. The remaining 150 plates thus acquired a priceless status.

https://shackleton.com/blogs/shackleton-x-leica/frank-hurley

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

12. Holy shit, that's dedication!

Incredible.

[BlackSkimmer]

10. Thanks for posting.

Interesting story.

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

11. Wow. The nightmare landscape. I just watched the 1927 film "Wings,"

and it's amazing for the dog-fight footage staged & shot for the movie.

https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0018578/trivia/?ref_=tt_trv_trv

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

13. Fascinating. Thanks for posting.

Oct. 1, 1917. Our Authorities here will not permit me to pose any pictures or indulge in any original means to secure them. They will not allow composite printing of any description, even though such be accurately titled nor will they permit clouds to be inserted in a picture.

As this absolutely takes all possibilities of producing pictures from me, I have decided to tender my resignation at once. I conscientiously consider it but right to illustrate to the public the things our fellows do and how war is conducted. These can only be got by printing a result from a number of negatives or reenactment.

[Dark n Stormy Knight]

14. Thanks again for posting. Here's a cool one from a related piece:

https://rarehistoricalphotos.com/aerial-warfare-of-first-world-war/
A German airplane over the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt.