Almost
all of my World War One material is by H. D. Girdwood, an English company,
who sold their views under the trade name 'Realistic Travels'. Most of
their views are of a higher quality than WWI views by Underwood although,
due to the high gloss, they do not scan very well. They will therefore
almost all be of far higher quality than they appear on the screen.
Please
click here for a high quality
scan which gives a true indication of the quality.
Underwood
photographers were not present on the battlefield sites between 1916 when
the Kaiser said he could not guarantee the safety of war photographers,
and the end of hostilities in 1918. Girdwood's views therefore have more
immediacy and action. They were issued in sets of between 50 and 500 views
so the numbering sequence is pretty muddled. Customers could also pick
out the views they required and so a box or collection may have non-sequential
numbering. They come on Underwood-type mounts or on lighter mounts with
curved or beveled edges. These are interchangeable and most views appear
on both types of mount.
Our
valued American customers may ask why there are practically no US troops
in these views. The reason is simple; despite Holywood rewriting history,
most of these views were taken between 1915 and 1917 when the USA was a
neutral country.
These are ALL condition 8, 9 or 10 and priced at $8 each unless otherwise mentioned.
'R.E.'s
mine and counter-mine Messines Ridge which dominated Ypres, blown up and
stormed, June 7th 1917'.
Order
#9371.
'Sappers
and miners at work on a tunnel under hill overlooking the Ypres salient,
blown up April 1916'.
Order
#9372.
'The
Labyrinth, Arras, taken in deadly hand-to-hand fighting, proves a haven
of rest to our weary men'.
Order
#9373.
'A section
of the Seaforths with their Stokes mortar in the trenches; a peep through
the periscope'.
Condition
6 (yellow marks are surface stains. Also slight surface scratches).
Order
#9374.
Price
$5.
'A German
shell expected, bomb gun section of Seaforths taking cover'.
Order
#9375.
'Amid
bursting "crumps" with trench mortar ready, Seaforths watch through periscope
for the Bosche'.
Order
#9376.
'Seaforth
Highlanders firing trench mortar, showing shell in its flight in mid-air'.
Order
#9377.
'The
work of clearing up the captured trenches is made hazardous by enemy booby
traps'.
Order
#9378.
'Seaforths, in a
front line trench, with bayonets fixed, snatch a moment's respite'.
Order
#9379.
'A company
of the Black Watch in a trench with dug-outs below the death line'.
Order
#9381.
'Waiting
in trenches near Arras for our creeping barrage to lift before pushing
on'.
Order
#9382.
Keystone
'"Down in a shell crater, we fought like Kilkenny cats" - Battle of Cambrai'.
Order
#9387.
'At dawn,
in a determined rush, we carry the fortified enemy position at Contalmaison
by assault'.
Order
#9389.
'A booby
trap nearly bowls over one of our souvenir hunting lads'.
Order
#9394.
'Infantry
digging communication trenches and laying cables to connect up advance
positions'.Order #9395.
'Gurkha
battalion repairing trenches damaged by German bombardment'.
Order
#9397.
'Engineers
repairing a light railway which suffered badly under heavy bombardment'.
Order
#9398.
'Light
railway pushed forward by ROD through old canal at lens, to bring up supplies
for the front line'.
Order
#9399.
'Cable
section laying cable - each wagon holds several miles'.
Order
#9400.
Keystone
'Repairing field telephone lines during a gas attack at the front'. Descriptive
text.
Order
#9401.
'Air
line section of signal corps putting up telegraph line along a Flanders
canal'.
Order
#9402.
'A busy
field telephone during an engagement'.
Order
#9403.
'A busy
telegraph office at a GCHQ base behind the trenches'.
Order
#9404.
'Signal
section putting up telephone wires communicating with headquarters'.
Order
#9405.
'A listening
post waiting for the cover of darkness before advancing'.
Order
#9406.
'Hazardous
work! A listening-post in a shell-crater in "no-man's land" near Lagnicourt'.
Order
#9407.
'Artillery
observation officer in forward post reporting our barrage during the advance
on Woncourt'.
Order
#9408.
'Awaiting
the great Hun attack, observation officer and signallers at St Quentin
keep a sharp look-out'.
Order
#9409.
Keystone
'Entrenched Highlanders on the lookout using mirror periscope'.
Order
#9410.
'A dispatch rider with S.O.S. messages for a signal station near
a French tower'.
Order
#9412.
Price
$10.
'Bombing
up a trench; how the Gurkhas drove out the enemy'.
Order
#9415.
'Officer
watching his section file into a dugout to avoid a Bosche straf'.
Order
#9416.
'Reinforcements
going forward thro' communial trenches to support men holding out at St
J????'.
Order
#9417.
'Leaving
for a night raid at Messines into the ??? darkness of "No Man's Land"'.
Order
#9418.
'A defensive
post in a shell-swept building, held by our troops'.
Order
#9419.
'Marchovlette
Fort, Namur, levelled by Hun howitzers in their ruthless smash through
Belgium, Aug. '14'.
Order
#9423.
'German
guns on the Belgian coast protecting their flank against a naval landing
by our Fleet'.
Order
#9424.
'German
long range gun which shelled Dunkirk from Moewe, a distance of 39 miles'.
Order
#9425.
'German
concrete fort and dugout'.
Order
#9426.
'Smashed
by bombs from our aeroplanes, a German fortified redoubt protecting Ostend
from the sea'.
Order
#9427.
'Built
to guard against our naval raids on Ostend, the famous Tirpitz battery,
with Hun inscription'.
Order
#9428.
'"India-rubber"
house which resisted all bombardments in the Hun attempt to force the Yser
Canal'.
Order
#9429.
'A unique
sand blockhouse, the only means of fortification in the deserts of South-West
Africa'.
Order
#10351.
'Ploughing
soil for which he fought midst tragic reminders of the desperate struggle
at Frezenberg'.
Order
#10352.
HAVE you
forgotten yet?...
For the
world's events have rumbled on since those gagged days,
Like traffic
checked while at the crossing of city-ways:
And the
haunted gap in your mind has filled with thoughts that flow
Like clouds
in the lit heaven of life; and you're a man reprieved to go,
Taking
your peaceful share of Time, with joy to spare.
But the
past is just the same--and War's a bloody game...
Have you
forgotten yet?...
Look down,
and swear by the slain of the War that you'll never forget.
Do
you remember the dark months you held the sector at Mametz--
The nights
you watched and wired and dug and piled sandbags on parapets?
Do you
remember the rats; and the stench
Of corpses
rotting in front of the front-line trench--
And dawn
coming, dirty-white, and chill with a hopeless rain?
Do you
ever stop and ask, 'Is it all going to happen again?'
Do
you remember that hour of din before the attack--
And the
anger, the blind compassion that seized and shook you then
As you
peered at the doomed and haggard faces of your men?
Do you
remember the stretcher-cases lurching back
With dying
eyes and lolling heads--those ashen-grey
Masks of
the lads who once were keen and kind and gay?
Have
you forgotten yet?...
Look up,
and swear by the green of the spring that you'll never forget.
Siegfried Sassoon. 1920
To page one - Troops on the move
To page four - Guns and gunners
To page seven - Battlefield landscapes, prisoners
To page eight - Miscellaneous and war damage
To page nine - The wounded, the fallen, war graves
