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"The unseen photographs that throw new light on the First World War"

• Message 1.Β 

  Posted by Thomas_B (U1667093) on Thursday, 27th May 2010

  
  
  That link leads to the page of The Independent with an article about unseen photographs from WWI. On that page there is an extra link for the photographs to see. It contains over 250 photographs, taken aside from the trenches. The photographs pages have no comment, because they speak for themselves.
  
  Maybe someone here on these boards might see his / her own Grandfather or Greatgrandfather.
  
  
  
  

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• Message 2

  , in reply to message 1.

  Posted by LairigGhru (U14051689) on Thursday, 27th May 2010

  So many of them are visibly poorly-nourished and unhealthy. Some seem to exhibit the "thousand-yard stare" which characterised the expression of those who had been under bombardment and were consequently shell-shocked.
  
  I hope it will prove possible to assign names to at least a few of the people depicted.

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  Posted by U3280211 (U3280211) on Thursday, 27th May 2010

  Some seem to exhibit the "thousand-yard stare" which characterised the expression of those who had been under bombardment and were consequently shell-shocked.Β 
  Fair comment LG, but was the phrase '1000 yard stare' (as a metaphor for shell-shock/ combat stress) used before 1944 and Tom Lea's famous painting?
  But, it was his time in the western Pacific in 1944 as an "embedded" reporter with the United States 1st Marine Division during the invasion of the tiny island of Peleliu that he would really make a name for himself among the readers of LIFE. β€œMy work there consisted of trying to keep from getting killed and trying to memorize what I saw and felt,” Lea says. His vivid, realistic, images of the beach landing, and Battle of Peleliu, would impact both readers and himself. The Price and That 2,000 Yard Stare would become among his most famous works. (1,794 Americans died in a two month period it what many call the war's most controversial battle, due to its questionable strategic value and high death toll.Β  From Wiki, 'Tom Lea'.
  
  The first time I read the phrase "1,000 yard stare" was in Michael Herr's "Despatches" about the Vietnam war. (still a good read).
  
  
  In film, I think it first appears in "Full Metal Jacket" written by Kubrick and Herr.
  
  The Tom Lea picture is used as a cover illustration for the 1993 Flamingo reprint of Mailer's "The Naked and the Dead". imho, still his best work.
  
  As for pictures of WW1 soldiers suffering the turmoil of endless fighting, I doubt that any artist (with camera or canvas) could do better than the awful images created but the German machine gunner and painter, Otto Dix.
  see:
  

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  Posted by Spruggles (U13892773) on Friday, 28th May 2010

  Thomas_B,
  Thanks for the nudge. Seen and reflected upon.

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• Message 5

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  Posted by U3280211 (U3280211) on Sunday, 30th May 2010

  Sprugs.
  
  Same era, different service.
  Since we both have some biplane time in the mix, and just in case you hadn't factored it in to your viewing schedule,..
  
  Ch4 Friday, 21.00. 'Fighting the Red Baron'.
  
  Current RAF fast-jet pilots learn to fly FWW replicas in combat simulation.
  Sounds interesting?
  (Apologies if it was already fully established on your localiser)

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