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.
Difference in size is due to scanner settings.
'A party
of Leicesters creeping through the captured German trenches'.
Order
#9386.
'The
work of clearing up the captured trenches is made hazardous by enemy booby
traps'.
Order
#9387.
'Inch
by inch our lads patiently hack their perilous way through the tangled
maze of wire at Oppy'.
Order
#9388.
'Evening
in our reserve trenches at Beaumont Hamel, our troops rest on the conquered
ground'.
Order
#9389.
'Hazardous
work! A listening-post in a shell-crater in "No Man's Land" near Lagnicourt'.
Order
#9390.
'In the
firing line before La Boiselle, awaiting the signal for the dash up the
"Sausage Valley"'.
Order
#9391.
'Over
the top, amid bursting gas and tear shells, ??? determined assault on the
fortified Somme villages'.
Order
#9392.
'Artillery
observation officer in forward post regulates our barrage during the advance
on Woncourt'.
Order
#9393.
'Waiting
in trenches near Arras for our creeping barrage to lift before pushing
on'.
Order
#9394.
'Amid
bursting gas and tear shells in a stubborn struggle we repulse the Boche
on Kemmel Hill'.
Order
#9395.
'At dawn,
in a determined rush, we carry the fortified enemy position at Contalmaison
by assault'.
Order
#9396.
'Booby traps and hidden
bombs prove dangerous to our troops clearing evacuated villages'.
Order
#9397.
'In desperate
fighting throughout the night we valiantly resist the furious enemy onslaught
at Mory'.
Order
#9398.
'Our
troops leaving by a sap on a night operation to cut off the Huns holding
on to Villers-Bretonneux'.
Order
#9399.
'Our
troops make use of a Jerry dugout captured in the great Allied Advance
at Bapaume, Aug. 1918'.
Order
#9400.
'Digging
reserve trenches at Salonica; a welcome rest'.
Order
#9404.
'A British
infantry maxim gun going into action'.
Order
#9407.
Keystone.
'French soldiers resting in the trenches'. Long descriptive text.
Order
#9409.
Keystone.
'Camouflaged trenches in Chemin des Dames Sector'. Long descriptive text.
Order
#9411.
'The
Labyrinth Arras, taken in deadly hand-to-hand fighting, proves a haven
of rest to our weary men'
Order
#9413.
'With
dogged courage we overcome stiff resistance and break the Hun lines from
Epehy to Bellcourt'.
Order
#9414.
'Holding
the line near Dickebush before the final assault on Messsines Ridge, June
7th 1917'.
Order
#9415.
'Zero
hour, prompt to the second our lads go over the top'.
Order
#9416.
'Zero
hour! Prompt to the second our men go over the top in a grand assault on
Wytschaete Wood'.
Order
#9417.
'An enemy
block-house seized at Poelscap??? is quickly converted into a machine-gun
nest'.
Order
#9418.
'Gurkha
battalion repairing trenches damaged by German bombardment'.
Order
#9419.
'Engineers
repairing a light railway which suffered badly under heavy bombardment'.
Order
#9421.
'Light
railway pushed forward by ROD through old canal at lens, to bring up supplies
for the front line'.
Order
#9422.
'Cable
section laying cable - each wagon holds several miles'.
Order
#9423.
'Air
line section of signal corps putting up telegraph line along a Flanders
canal'.
Order
#9425.
'A busy
field telephone during an engagement'.
Order
#9426.
'A busy
telegraph office at a GCHQ base behind the trenches'.
Order
#9427.
'Signal
section putting up telephone wires communicating with headquarters'.
Order
#9428.
'R.E.
Signals; lorry winding up telegraph wire'.
Order
#9429.
'A listening
post waiting for the cover of darkness before advancing'.
Order
#9430.
'An open-air
lecture on signal rockets and lights'.
Order
#10351.
'Awaiting
the great Hun attack, observation officer and signallers at St Quentin
keep a sharp look-out'.
Order
#10352.
'A dispatch
rider with S.O.S. messages for a signal station near a French tower'.
Order
#10354.
Price
$10.
'Bombing
up a trench; how the Gurkhas drove out the enemy'.
Order
#10355.
'Officer
watching his section file into a dugout to avoid a Bosche straf'.
Order
#10356.
'Reinforcements
going forward thro' communial trenches to support men holding out at St
J????'.
Order
#10357.
'Leaving
for a night raid at Messines into the ??? darkness of "No Man's Land"'.
Order
#10358.
'In the
front-line trenches, stretcher bearers removing a wounded officer picked
off by a German sniper'.'.
Order
#10359.
'Company
of Black Watch in a trench, keeping below the death line'.
Order
#10360.
'Amid
bursting crumps, with trench mortar ready, Seaforths watch through periscope
for the Boche'.
Order
#10361.
'Enemy
seen, Fire! Pulling the trigger of a trench mortar - the shell on its deadly
flight in mid-air'.
Order
#10362.
'R.E.s
mine and counter-mine Messines Ridge which dominated Ypres, blown up and
stormed, June 7th 1917'.
Order
#10364.
'Sappers
and miners at work on a tunnel under Hill 60, overlooking the Ypres Salient,
blown up April 1915'.
Order
#10365.
'A defensive
post in a shell-swept building, held by our troops'.
Order
#10366.
'Sinews
of war at Anzac for attack on Lone Pine ??? Sari Bair in final bitter struggle
for The Narrows'.
Order
#10368.
'Stores
at Sedul Bahr, showing the famous SS River Clyde'.
Order
#10369.
'Evacuation
of Gallipoli & removing stores and transport from Helles Bay'.
Order
#10370.
'Hun
defences on the Mole, Zeebrugge, stormed by our gallant Marines in the
night of April 22nd 1918'.
Order
#10371.
'Even
the last resort of the Huns, dubbed the pill box, failed to stop our offensive'.
Order
#10372.
'Marchovlette
Fort, Namur, levelled by Hun howitzers in their ruthless smash through
Belgium, Aug. '14'.
Order
#10373.
'German
guns on the Belgian coast protecting their flank against a naval landing
by our Fleet'.
Order
#10374.
'German
long range gun which shelled Dunkirk from Moewe, a distance of 39 miles'.
Order
#10375.
'German
concrete fort and dugout'.
Order
#10376.
'Smashed
by bombs from our aeroplanes, a German fortified redoubt protecting Ostend
from the sea'.
Order
#10377.
'Built
to guard against our naval raids on Ostend, the famous Tirpitz battery,
with Hun inscription'.
Order
#10378.
'"India-rubber"
house which resisted all bombardments in the Hun attempt to force the Yser
Canal'.
Order
#10379.
'A unique
sand blockhouse, the only means of fortification in the deserts of South-West
Africa'.
Order
#10380.
'Ploughing
soil for which he fought midst tragic reminders of the desperate struggle
at Frezenberg'.
Order
#10381.
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
