Rarely Seen Photos of World War I Taken by an American Doctor

Dr. P.A. Smithe was sent by the American Red Cross as a doctor and surgeon to work at a hospital in Vienna. He sailed to Europe in December 1915 and returned home in August 1916, according to his daughter, who donated his images to the National World War I Museum.

Along the way he photographed what he saw in those months, before the Unites States declared war in 1917 against several of the countries whose troops Smithe photographed the most. The images are part of the collections of The National World War I Museum in Kansas City, Missouri.

On July 28, 1914 the Austro-Hungarian Empire declared war on Serbia, which escalated into World War I.

Turkish soldiers ride in horse-drawn carts, still a frequently used means of transportation at the time.

Injured French soldiers standing outside the American Red Cross hospital at Vienna.

Civilians at the Ruhleben Prisoner of War camp. Caption on back: Smithe writes “A typical scene from the Ruhleben Concentration Camp for Englishmen: Glimpse of the theatre hall for English civilian prisoners at Ruhleben. In addition to theatre and music hall performances, as well as concerts, moving picture shows are held in this hall”.

German soldiers escort French soldiers at a prisoner of war camp.

Austrian soldiers with large artillery.

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Lost Tommies Portraits of the Somme: The Unseen “Selfies” of 1916

For much of the First World War, the small French village of Vignacourt was always behind the front lines – as a staging point, casualty clearing station and recreation area for troops of all nationalities moving up to and then back from the battlefields on the Somme. Here, one enterprising photographer took the opportunity of offering portrait photographs. A century later, his stunning images were discovered, abandoned, in a farm house.

Captured on glass, printed into postcards and posted home, the photographs enabled soldiers to maintain a fragile link with loved ones at home. Just like the selfies of today, the portraits were a mixture of the good and the indifferent, the in-focus and the out-of-focus. The images showed British and a few Australian soldiers, in formal or informal poses, during or just before the most murderous battle in the history of the British Empire.

This collection covers many of the significant aspects of British involvement on the Western Front, from military life to the friendships and bonds formed between the soldiers and civilians. With servicemen from around the world these faces are gathered together for what would become the front line of the Battle of the Somme. Beautifully reproduced, it is a unique collection and a magnificent memorial.

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Vintage Photographs Captured Women at Work During World War I

During World War I (1914-1918), large numbers of women were recruited into jobs vacated by men who had gone to fight in the war. New jobs were also created as part of the war effort, for example in munitions factories. The high demand for weapons resulted in the munitions factories becoming the largest single employer of women during 1918. Though there was initial resistance to hiring women for what was seen as ‘men’s work’, the introduction of conscription in 1916 made the need for women workers urgent. Around this time, the government began coordinating the employment of women through campaigns and recruitment drives.

This led to women working in areas of work that were formerly reserved for men, for example as railway guards and ticket collectors, buses and tram conductors, postal workers, police, firefighters and as bank ‘tellers’ and clerks. Some women also worked heavy or precision machinery in engineering, led cart horses on farms, and worked in the civil service and factories.

Women work in a flour mill in England during World War I, circa 1915-1918. (Photo by Reuters/Bain Collection/Library of Congress)

A man and women, one holding an American flag, work in an office at the Brooklyn Navy Yard, Brooklyn, New York, July 7, 1917. (Photo by Reuters/Bain Collection/Library of Congress)

Belgian women workers pose for a photograph as they stand in line holding baskets and shovels near a coal mine, circa 1910-1915. (Photo by Reuters/Bain Collection/Library of Congress)

Two women stand outside the Two Girls Waffle House, circa 1900-1916. (Photo by Reuters/Bain Collection/Library of Congress)

The Onofrio Cottone family finish garments in a tenement in New York, January 1913. The three oldest children Joseph, 14, Andrew, 10, and Rosie, 7, help their mother sew garments and together they make about $2 a week when work is plenty. (Photo by Reuters/Bain Collection/Library of Congress)

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33 Rare Color Portrait Photos of French Soldiers in World War One

Photography is older than you might think and color photography, too, is a surprisingly early technology, having first been demonstrated in the 1860s. Still, many of us see the pre-baby-boomer world in black-and-white, which makes these photographs completely arresting: color pictures of the First World War, which began a century ago today with that infamous moment in Sarajevo. These are not hand-tinted black-and-white pictures like postcards of the era; they were shot that way, in the camera.

They were made with a technology called Autochrome, invented in 1903 by two French brothers, Auguste and Louis Lumière. Their color system, first sold in 1907, was surprisingly refined for a first try. The photographic emulsion is overlaid with specks of potato starch, dyed red, green, and blue, and both were coated on a glass plate. Once developed, the photos are not printed; you view that glass plate on a lightbox, like a slide. The Autochrome system was not experimental but commercially available, and it was quite successful.

There are hundreds of Autochromes of the Great War, many of them preserved by the French national library. Most are still-lifes, of shelled buildings and the like, owing to simple technical reasons: Autochromes required a lot of light, so the exposures are slow, and people don’t hold still. But a few do include soldiers and villagers, and it’s almost shocking to see the French blue of the uniforms — not to mention their fastidious tailoring, which you would be unlikely to see in the field today. Without the distance of sepia tones, these faces — their mustaches aside — somehow seem far more modern. (There’s an extra layer of humanity in the 1917 photo below that shows black and white faces in one trench. The black soldier is likely from Senegal, then a French colony, and god only knows what he felt he was fighting for.) They faced the worst weapons of mass destruction that could be conjured at the time, in the form of mustard gas and machine guns. Every one of these pictures captures the best and worst of human invention: one technology used to maim, another meant simply to record history, beautifully.

Group of French servicemen, "Poilus", in front of the entrance of a cote. Woods of Hirtzbach. (Haut-Rhin. France. June 16th, 1917)

Mr. Jacques Regnier, sub-prefect of Rheims. (Rheims The Marne. France 1917)

Mailman making his rounds. (Rheims The Marne. France 1917)

Mr. Andrieu, sub-prefect of Soissons, on foot. Military costume. (Soissons. Aisne. France. 1917)

Bucy-le-Long, section of machine gunners, 4 soldiers in the ruins, drawing. (Aisne. France. 1917)

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Vintage Photos of German Submarine U-118 Washed Ashore on the Beach at Hastings, 1919

After World War I ended, the German Navy surrendered and many of its ships were interned at the Royal Navy's chief naval base at Scapa Flow in the Orkney Islands north of the Scottish mainland. The German submarine U-118, however, was destined for France to be broken up for scrap. While she was being towed, a fierce gale snapped the cable and she ended up like a gigantic beached whale washed ashore on Hasting's Beach, in front of Hasting's finest hotels.

SM U-118 was one of nine huge ocean-going mine laying submarines. Launched on February 23, 1918, she was 267 feet long, displaced 1,200 tons and was armed with a 150mm deck gun, 14 torpedoes and 42 mines. SM U-118 had a lackluster career, sinking only two ships, one just off Ireland's north coast and the other northwest of Spain. She was surrendered to the Allies on February 23, 1919, exactly one year after she was launched. While being towed to France through the English Channel in rough seas, U-118 broke free. Despite attempts by a French destroyer to break her up, she ended up aground on the beach in the middle of the city of Hastings on the Sussex coast in southern England on April 15, just in time for the Easter Holiday.

The stranding caused a sensation. Thousands of people flocked to see this monster that had washed ashore, it's true size evident from the aerial view taken shortly after the beaching. Three tractors tried to drag it back to the sea, but failed. At that point, the city fathers decided to make the best of this instant tourist attraction. The Admiralty put the local coast guard in charge and allowed the town clerk to charge sixpence apiece to visitors wishing to climb onto the deck of U-118. After two weeks, nearly £300 (UK£ 13,200 in 2017) had been raised for the Mayor's Fund for the welcome home of troops planned for later that year.

Two members of the coast guard, chief boatman William Heard and chief officer W. Moore, showed important visitors around the interior of the submarine. The visits were curtailed in late April, when both coast guard men became severely ill. Rotting food on board was thought to be the cause, however, the men's condition continued and got worse. Moore died in December 1919, followed by Heard in February 1920. An inquest decided that a noxious gas, possibly chlorine released from the submarine's damaged batteries, had caused abscesses on the men's lungs and brain.

Although visits inside the submarine had stopped, tourists still came to take be photographed alongside or on the U-boat's deck. Finally, between October and December 1919, U-118 was broken up and sold for scrap. The deck gun was left behind, but was removed in 1921. Some of the ship's keel may yet remain buried in the beach sand.

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The Lost Tommies and Diggers: Striking Colorized Images of British Soldiers Who Fought in the Battle of the Somme

Breathtaking images of the unknown British Tommies who fought against the Germans in the Battle of the Somme. The brave soldiers have been brought to life in striking color on the 101st anniversary of the bloody conflict.

The images were taken by French couple Louis and Antoinette Thuilliers as mementos to send home before the soldiers went to fight and die in battle. They were lost in a farmhouse attic for decades before they were rediscovered by Australian television network, Channel Seven.

The WWI photographs were expertly colorized by French bank technician, Frederic Duriez.

“All of these soldiers are traumatized and their looks express the terror and horror of war and fighting,” said Frédéric. “I live near Vignacourt, about sixty kilometers away and there is an English cemetery in my region so, I wanted to praise their courage and loyalty and I visited the farm and the village a short time ago.

“Coloring the uniform wasn’t easy, I had to find the exact hue and the insignia so I had to search the internet for the models that would correspond.”

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12 Harrowing Vintage Photos of Soldiers in Complete Shell Shock

“They were very pathetic, these shell shocked boys.”

Shell shock is a phrase coined in World War I to describe the type of posttraumatic stress disorder many soldiers were afflicted with during the war. It is reaction to the intensity of the bombardment and fighting that produced a helplessness appearing variously as panic and being scared, or flight, an inability to reason, sleep, walk or talk.

During the War, the concept of shell shock was ill-defined. Cases of 'shell shock' could be interpreted as either a physical or psychological injury, or simply as a lack of moral fibre. The term shell shock is still used by the Veterans Administration to describe certain parts of PTSD but mostly it has entered into popular imagination and memory, and is often identified as the signature injury of the War.

In World War II and thereafter, diagnosis of 'shell shock' was replaced by that of combat stress reaction, a similar but not identical response to the trauma of warfare and bombardment.

These photos of soldiers with shell shock are some of the most disturbing pictures of war, for they show a side of war not often discussed – the mental toll it takes on soldiers after it is all said and done.

1. The Eyes Of Madness.

France, September 15, 1916

2. Patient Suffering From 'War Neuroses' As Shell Shock Was Referred To

World War I

3. The Thousand-Yard Stare Of A Young Marine

Marshall Islands, February 1944

4. US Patrol Team Leader In Vietnam

Vietnam, 1968

5. Soviet Soldier Stares Blankly Into The Distance

World War II

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20 Amazing Vintage Photographs of American Troops During World War I

It was 100 years ago this year that the United States officially entered World War I, when Congress voted to declare war on Germany on April 6, 1917.

After more than two years of trying to remain neutral, the U.S. under President Woodrow Wilson joined Allied Powers Britain, France, Italy and Russia against the Central Powers of Germany, Austria-Hungary and Turkey.

From the start of the war in 1914 to its bitter end in 1918, an estimated 17 million people — civilian and military — had died. About 4.7 million Americans, who either volunteered or were drafted, served in the war and about 53,000 died in action. After devastating losses on all sides, the Allies and Germany signed an armistice on Nov. 11, 1918.

These stark images released nearly a century after the end of the war show U.S troops keeping watch in the trenches, injured on the battlefield and arriving back home after the fighting was over.

US soldiers of the 82nd division stand in formation at Camp Gordon in Georgia in 1917 - the year they joined the war effort in Europe.

US soldiers keep watch in a trench in France in this undated photo captured after America joined the war effort a century ago this year.

US soldiers are seen returning to emotional scenes in Washington DC in after serving in the First World War that took place between 1914 and 1918.

US Marines form a line France in this image that has been released 100 years after America joined the conflict.

US soldiers are captured playing baseball as they take a break from life in the trenches.

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Remarkable Colorized Photos Reveal What Life Was Like For French Soldiers During World War I

These colorized photos were brought to life by French bank technician, Frédéric Duriez. The images were provided by the Valois collection which belongs to the BDIC.

“By colorizing these photos, I reduce the time that separates us today from this conflict,” said Frédéric. “A black and white photo does not attract the attention of young people, if you color it, then people will look at it with curiosity. After this, we see the greater the misery and distress of these French fighters.”

The stunning photos show men reading their mail in the safety of a shelter, smiling in the trenches in Souain and trying to grab some important sleep on top of sandbags. In others, soldiers can be seen bathing their horses in a river and the wounded on their evacuation route.

The total number of casualties in World War I was more that 38 million. By the end of the war, over eight-million men had been called up to fight in the French army. France suffered 4.2 million casualties during the war with 1.3 million people dead.

“I love the color and facial expressions of the people,” added Frédéric. “I get good reactions from people and I am surprised at this, many tell me that they are impressed by the colous I use and that it highlights the characters.”

Two soldiers sleep in La Harazee, in the north of the country close to the French border with Luxembourg, in July 1917.

German prisoners are pictured arriving from Tilloloy after being captured in August 1918.

French soldiers wearing blue uniforms are pictured mounted on the back of horses as they trudge through a river in Louppy-le-Petit in 1916.

The wounded were evacuated on makeshift stretchers in the muddy and damp surroundings in October 1917.

A pipe-smoking French soldier looks over his shoulder as he and two comrades shelter in a trench.

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Vintage Photos of a Giant Pyramid of Captured German Helmets From WWI in New York, ca. 1918

Pyramid of German helmets near Grand Central Terminal : black-and-white photoprint, ca. 1918.

Closeup of Pyramid

Though kind of macabre, to celebrate the end of World War I in 1918, this massive pyramid was constructed near Grand Central Terminal using the helmets of captured and killed German soldiers. The label on the back of the original photograph says:

"View of the employees of the New York Central / Railroad, assembled in Victory Way, showing the pyramid of captured / German helmets, with Grand Central Terminal in / the background." Two cannons are shown at the left and right.

There must be over a thousand pointed helmets in that stack, and despite all that the Germans did, celebrating the death of that many people just seems wrong.

(via Viewing NYC)

Body Armor of the First World War, 1914-1918

During the First World War, the size and scale of some of the weaponry produced devastating wounds and losses on soldiers. In order to provide some protection to the men in the front lines, armies explored the possibility of providing them with different types of armor.

Soldiers in the British army at the outbreak of the war were not provided with much in the way of protective clothing. The British military uniform for the time was made of hard-wearing brown khaki which did, at least, provide a measure of camouflage in the fields of France and Belgium but was not designed to provide any protection to the body of the wearer.

The British and French armies began to equip men with steel helmets in 1915 in a bid to protect the heads, one of the most vulnerable parts of the body in trench warfare, of their men from falling debris and glancing blows from bullets or shrapnel. Despite the utility of these helmets, they still left something to be desired. The German-designed Stahlhelm provided better protection to both the head and the shoulders of their soldiers. These helmets became so synonymous with the German army that allied nations proved reluctant to design similar headwear in case it led to confusion in the trenches.

A German member of a “Trench Attack Squad” poses in steel body armor and two stick grenades. The armor, capable of stopping a pistol round but only superficially helpful against rifle fire, also helped protecting against bayonet and other edged weapons thrusts.

A soldier wear body armour made of linked steel plates covering his chest and abdomen, ca. 1914.

A suit of heavy body armour used by the Americans in France, ca. 1917.

American soldier trying on captured German body armor, 1918.

A man models a steel helmet covered with a built-on chain screen to protect a soldier's eyes from rocks, shells and other fragments during World War I. It was created by E J Codd Company of Baltimore, Maryland.

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