Page six, battle scenes

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. Size differences are due to scanner settings.


'Disaster on the dunes, the Huns blow up the bridges and isolate our hard-pressed battalions'.
Order #10386.
 


'Columns of earth from explosion of a British mine under a German position'.
Order #10387.
 


'Columns of earth from explosion of a British mine under a German position'. Same view as last from further away.
Order #10388.
 


'Trapped German submarine driven inshore and blown clean out of the water'.
Order #10389.
 


'Advance guard of the South African Infantry firing on the retreating Germans'.
Order #10390.
 


'Our fearless men fighting against great odds, mine the bridges and retire across the Crozat Canal'.
Order #10391.
 


'On the run! In hot pursuit we cross the Canal du Nord by improvised bridges, raked by shell-fire'.
Order #10392.
 


'On the run! In hot pursuit we cross the Canal du Nord by improvised bridges raked by shell-fire'.
Order #10393.
 


'On the run! In hot pursuit we cross the Canal du Nord by improvised bridges raked by shell-fire'.
Order #10394.
 
 


'The most terrifying of all bombardments; the merciless gas-shells'.
Order #10395.
 


'In the thick of a gas attack; our lads ready for the enemy'.
Order #10396.
 


'Gas alarm!  Ready with respirators to repel a Hun attack under cover of the deadly cloud at Loos'.
Order #10397.
 


'Gas alarm!  Ready with respirators to repel a Hun attack under cover of the deadly cloud at Loos'. Slight variant.
Order #10398.
 


'South Africans prepare to defend an important wood against gas attack'.
Order #10399.
 


'Through gas and smoke, our troops advance to the final assault of Passchendaele Ridge'.
Order #10400.
 



 
'Following close on our gas attack, we capture a Hun trench (photo from a captured prisoner)'.
Order #10401.
 


'Clouds of smoke mask the movement of our troops from hostile planes venturing over our lines'.
Order #10402.
 


'Smoke-bomb dropped by our airmen to indicate the range to the artillery'.
Order #10403.
 


'One of our mines fired at St Eloy, Ypres - violent struggles for the craters lasted several weeks'.
Order #10404.
 


'The bursting of our high-explosive shells, which nothing could withstand, shatter the Hun defences'.
Order #10405.
 


'In touch with Von Vorbeck's column, drawing fire of enemy hidden in jungle, to ascertain his strength'.
Order #10406.
 


'Our fearless men, fighting against great odds, mine the bridges and retire across the Crozat Canal'.
Order #10407.
 


'At the bayonet's point our lads rush and capture a German machine-gunner in his lair at Croisilles'.
Order #10408.
 


'Under great difficulties our troops carry supplies over destroyed bridges on the Yser Canal'.
Order #10409.
 


'After the bitter struggle for the stricken village of Ghelvelt, lost and retaken several times'.
Order #10410.
 


'Advance guard of the South African Infantry firing on the retreating Germans'.
Order #10411.
Price $6.
 


'Mounted brigade under Gen. Van Deventer executing a far-flung encircling movement'.
Order #10412.
 
 


'Short of ammunition but still they press on, the true bull-dog rush of our troops at Gallipoli'.
Order #10414.
 


'At dawn, in a determined rush, we carry the fortified Hun entrenchments in Trones Wood by assault'.
Order #10415.
 


'Advancing across shell-swept "No Mans Land" in an assault on the Hun lines'.
Order #10416.
 


'Manchesters advancing with Maxim gun to a threatened point'.
Condition 7 (surface marks).
Order #10417.
Price $6.
 


'Our impetuous infantry storm and seize the successive entrenchments of the Wotan Line near Queant'.
Condition 7 (surface marks).
Order #10418.
Price $6.
 


'Holding the line near Dickebush before the final assault on Messines Ridge, June 7th 1917'.
Order #10419.
 


'Holding the line near Dickebush before the final assault on Messines Ridge, June 7th 1917'.
Order #10420.
 


'With dogged courage we overcome stiff resistance and break the Hun lines from Epehy to Bellicourt'.
Order #10421.
 


'With dogged courage we overcome stiff resistance and break the Hun lines from Epehy to Bellicourt'. Taken seconds after the previous view.
Order #10422.
 


'The sergeant calls for volunteers to bring in a fallen comrade from "no man's land" before Bourbon Wood'.
Order #10423.
 


'Our dauntless men pierce the Hun lines at Bullecourt and bomb the Jerry out of their blockhouses'.
Order #10424.
 


'Bombing the Germans out of their deep dugouts at Martinpuich during our advance on the Somme'.
Order #10425.
 


'In the firing line at Passchendaele, we repulse repeated Bosche counter attacks of great violence'.
Order #10426.
 


'Our troops charge forward into Bernafay Wood and clear the Bosche out of their entrenchments'.
Order #10427.
 


'Our troops charge forward into Bernafay Wood and clear the Bosche out of their entrenchments'.
Order #10428.
 


'North Country troops bomb Hun machine-gunners out of their lair in Polygon Wood, September 1917'.
Condition. Marks at bottom.
Order #10429.
Price $6.
 


'Our troops occupy Houthouist Forest the combined British and Belgian attack having ousted the enemy'.
Condition. Fault on l/h image.
Order #10430.
Price $6.
 


'Gurkha bombing party bombing up a German trench'.
Condition. Small circular fault on r/h image.
Order #10431.
 
 


'Our gallant infantry charging the German positions, East Africa'.
Order #10432.
 


'A last drop of water to a dying comrade amid the clash of battle'.
Condition. Bottom right corner of mount damaged; image slightly creased.
Order #10433.
Price $5.
 


'A stiff bit of fighting on the Ngura hillsides, East Africa'.
Order #10434.
 


'"Over the top", Leicesters charging a German position'.
Condition. Mount slightly creased in center.
Order #10435.
 


'Machine-gun section of the Manchesters changing firing position'.
Order #10436.
 


'The famous Gurkhas with their deadly  ????, Neuve Chapelle'.
Order #10437.
 


'The Leicesters' fine charge baffle the Kaiser's bid to wipe out the Old Contemptables at Ypres'.
Condition 7 (light crease).
Order #10438.
Price $6.
 


'With scarcely time to consolidate their new position, the Leicesters meet a counter-attack'.
Order #10439.
 
 


'Gurkha battalion repairing trenches damaged by German bombardment'.
Order #10440.
 


'Fearless Colonials coming up to consolidate trench taken in a surprise attack by the first line'.
Order #10441.
 


'The parapet of captured trenches hastily reversed and strengthened to withstand counter-attack'.
Order #10442.
 


'The parapet of captured trenches hastily reversed and strengthened to withstand counter-attack'.
Order #10443.
 


'Dislodging the enemy house by house in obstinate fighting at Langemarck, 3rd Battle of Ypres'.
Order #10444.
 


'Capture of a Hun blockhouse in the Hindenburg line at Croiselles, wrecked by our artillery preparation'.
Order #10445.
 


'Capture of a Hun blockhouse in the Hindenburg line at Croiselles, wrecked by our artillery preparation'.
Order #10446.
 


'Clearing the remaining Germans out of trenches by hand grenades'.
Order #10447.
 


'British infantry driving out the remaining Germans with bombs'.
Order #10448.
 


'Cautiously working their way across the shell-swept plains of Picardy in the great Somme push'.
Order #10449.
 


'Unexpectedly our "cleaners up" come to grips with a party of Germans isolated in a captured village'.
Order #10450.
 


'An enemy block-house seized at Poelecapville and quickly converted into a machine-gun nest'.
Order #10451.
 


'Amid the havoc of war our troops carry on, passing the smoking ruin of Monchy on the way up the line'.
Condition 6.
Order #10452.
Price $5.
 


'Our galland fighters charging over pontoon bridge constructed in four hours'.
Order #10453.
 


'Our cavalry pursues the defeated enemy therough the ruined villages and completes his final rout'.
Order #10454.
 


'With spirit unconquerable, soldiers of King Albert defend the line of the Yser against the Germans'.
Order #10455.
 
 


'The Germans retaliate - a Hun high explosive shell bursting near one of our dumps hidden in a wood'. See next view.
Order #10456.
 


'Column of earth from explosion of a British mine under a German position'. Indicates that any caption would do for an anonymous explosion.
Order #10457.
 


'Highlanders skirmishing through a ruined village linked up with our trenches'.
Order #10458.
 


Keystone '"On all sides round a great furnace flamed" - German attack, North Compiegne, France'. Descriptive text.
Order #10459.
 


Keystone 'French reserves watching their comrades going into "The Valley of the Shadow"'. Long descriptive text.
Order #10460.
 


'In the firing line with the King's bravest, in Mesopotamia'.
Condition. Brown fault on r/h image.
Order #10461.
Price $5.
 


'Our magnificent infantry in the firing line in East Africa'.
Order #10462.
 

 To page one - Troops on the move

 To page two - Troops at rest

 To page three - Transport

 To page four - Guns and gunners

 To page five - In the trenches, over the top, fixed defenses, communications, materiel

 To page seven - Battlefield landscapes, prisoners

 To page eight - Miscellaneous and war damage

 To page nine - The wounded, the fallen, war graves

 To page ten - Officers, victory parades

  Back to stock page