Vergennes
ELITE MEMBER
- Joined
- Feb 25, 2014
- Messages
- 8,576
- Reaction score
- 61
- Country
- Location
Incredible colour photographs have shone new light on life among the ruins of World War I.
The stunning pictures show French soldiers reading newspapers, pausing for lunch in ruined towns and cities and clearing the rubble after devastating German artillery raids.
Some of the weapons and machinery of the war can also be seen in extraordinary detail, including a British Sopwith fighter plane and 75mm guns used by French artillery.
The world's first colour photograph was taken in 1861, but the use of colour film did not become widespread until well after the end of the First World War.
The pictures also reveal the human side of the war, as one soldier is shaved by a barber in a French military encampment and another picture shows a girl playing with her doll in the ruins of Reims.
A little girl plays with her doll next to two guns and a knapsack, in the city of Reims in northern France in 1917
Captain Robert de Beauchamp stands alongside his British Sopwith fighter in September 1916, after returning from a bombing raid on Essen in Germany's industrial Ruhr area. The picture was taken shortly before his death at Verdun
French soldiers buying and reading newspapers at a kiosk in Rexpoede, in the far north of France, in September 1917
A French soldier has his lunch in front of a damaged library, sitting by a lamp-post after parking his bicycle in Reims, France
The French line at Het Sas, north of Ypres in Belgium, devastated by artillery fire with soldiers standing in front of shelters
French soldiers clearing the rubble in the ruins of Reims, in 1917. Almost 60 per cent of the city in northern France was destroyed by German artillery and air raids during World War I
The towers of the Cathedral Notre-Dame de Reims can be seen through the damaged windows of another building, in 1917
George 'Pop' Redding, an Australian soldier from the 8th Light Horse Regiment, picks flowers during the war in Palestine
A French section of machine gunners takes position during the Battle of the Aisne on the Western Front in 1917
A soldier is shaved by a barber in a French military encampment in Soissons, while two soldiers wait under a tent, in 1917
Doctors, nurses and medical personnel in front of field hospital number 55, in Bourbourg in northern France
Two French soldiers and a young boy look through the window of a shop selling alcohol in Reims, France, in 1917
A French soldier stands by a table which has German grenades and an aircraft propeller on it, in Reims, France, in 1917
Australians from the Imperial Camel Corps line up at Rafah, Egypt, during the war against the Ottoman Empire in January 1918
A group of French artillerymen with 75 mm guns on the Western Front in September 1916, during the Battle of Verdun
People on the ground watch with binoculars as anti-aircraft guns mounted on vehicles are deployed during the Battle of Verdun in September 1916. Some 25 aircraft had been shot down since February
Two French soldiers from Africa heat up a meal on an outdoor fireplace made of brick, in Soissons, France, in 1917
A man tends to a French military cemetery on the Western Front during the Battle of Verdun in 1916
A wide picture shows Red Cross ambulance trucks joining forces with U.S. postal workers who were deployed in France, in Dieue-sur-Meuse, north of Verdun, in September 1916
Two French soldiers working at the smith's hearth in a forge destroyed by grenades, in Reims, France, in 1917
The stunning pictures show French soldiers reading newspapers, pausing for lunch in ruined towns and cities and clearing the rubble after devastating German artillery raids.
Some of the weapons and machinery of the war can also be seen in extraordinary detail, including a British Sopwith fighter plane and 75mm guns used by French artillery.
The world's first colour photograph was taken in 1861, but the use of colour film did not become widespread until well after the end of the First World War.
The pictures also reveal the human side of the war, as one soldier is shaved by a barber in a French military encampment and another picture shows a girl playing with her doll in the ruins of Reims.
A little girl plays with her doll next to two guns and a knapsack, in the city of Reims in northern France in 1917
Captain Robert de Beauchamp stands alongside his British Sopwith fighter in September 1916, after returning from a bombing raid on Essen in Germany's industrial Ruhr area. The picture was taken shortly before his death at Verdun
French soldiers buying and reading newspapers at a kiosk in Rexpoede, in the far north of France, in September 1917
A French soldier has his lunch in front of a damaged library, sitting by a lamp-post after parking his bicycle in Reims, France
The French line at Het Sas, north of Ypres in Belgium, devastated by artillery fire with soldiers standing in front of shelters
French soldiers clearing the rubble in the ruins of Reims, in 1917. Almost 60 per cent of the city in northern France was destroyed by German artillery and air raids during World War I
The towers of the Cathedral Notre-Dame de Reims can be seen through the damaged windows of another building, in 1917
George 'Pop' Redding, an Australian soldier from the 8th Light Horse Regiment, picks flowers during the war in Palestine
A French section of machine gunners takes position during the Battle of the Aisne on the Western Front in 1917
A soldier is shaved by a barber in a French military encampment in Soissons, while two soldiers wait under a tent, in 1917
Doctors, nurses and medical personnel in front of field hospital number 55, in Bourbourg in northern France
Two French soldiers and a young boy look through the window of a shop selling alcohol in Reims, France, in 1917
A French soldier stands by a table which has German grenades and an aircraft propeller on it, in Reims, France, in 1917
Australians from the Imperial Camel Corps line up at Rafah, Egypt, during the war against the Ottoman Empire in January 1918
A group of French artillerymen with 75 mm guns on the Western Front in September 1916, during the Battle of Verdun
People on the ground watch with binoculars as anti-aircraft guns mounted on vehicles are deployed during the Battle of Verdun in September 1916. Some 25 aircraft had been shot down since February
Two French soldiers from Africa heat up a meal on an outdoor fireplace made of brick, in Soissons, France, in 1917
A man tends to a French military cemetery on the Western Front during the Battle of Verdun in 1916
A wide picture shows Red Cross ambulance trucks joining forces with U.S. postal workers who were deployed in France, in Dieue-sur-Meuse, north of Verdun, in September 1916
Two French soldiers working at the smith's hearth in a forge destroyed by grenades, in Reims, France, in 1917
