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.
'Jerusalem,
the Holy City, goal of the Crusaders, rescued for ever from the Turks'.
Order
#10441.
'14th
century walls and Lille gate through which British troops entered during
defence of Ypres'.
Order
#10442.
'The
Hun vandal, French village set on fire wantonly by the Germans in their
retreat'.
Order
#10443.
'The
desolate rain-sodden battlefields where bursting bombs add to the terror
of darkness'.
Order
#10444.
'Ingenuous
camouflage used to conceal lines of communication and gun emplacements
from Hun aviators'.
Order
#10445.
'H.E.
shells bursting in Mametz Wood, hotly contested with the Prussian Guard,
finally taken July 1916'.
Order
#10447.
'The
golden sun goes down in peace o'er the desolate waste of no-man's land
on the Somme'.
Order
#10448.
'When
the sluices were opened at Nieuport water and barbed wire brought disaster
to the Hun'.
Order
#10450.
'No man's
land as seen from an artillery observation post'.
Order
#10451.
Keystone
'No man's land, near Lens, France'. Descriptive text.
Order
#10452.
'Delville
Wood shattered in fierce struggles by the S. Africans who heroically resisted
fierce attacks'.
Order
#10453.
'Dixmude
and the Yser Canal, inundated by the Belgians to baulk the enemy thrust
for Calais, Oct. 1914.
Condition
7 (marks and scratches).
Order
#10454.
Price
$5.
'The
battlefront along the Yser Canal, in the bitter winter of 1916, our heavy
guns shell the enemy'.
Order
#10455.
'Hope
Dump, one of many at Ypres, which fed our guns in those obstinate battles
against appalling odds'.
Order
#10456.
'Wire
entanglements blocking the approaches to one of our defensive posts'.
Order
#10457.
'One
of our tanks bogged in all-conquering mud at Poelcappelle, in the final
battle of Ypres'.
Order
#10458.
'Dugouts
along the Yser Canal, near Nieuport, scene of our disaster on the dunes,
July 10th 1917'.
Order
#10459.
'Dugouts
in trenches at Nieuport, where the isolated men of Rawlinson's Army stood
fearlessly at bay'.
Order
#10460.
'The
battlefield at Nieuport, where we hurled back the enemy thrust towards
Calais by the seashore'.
Order
#10461.
'Honthoulst
Forest, where the hidden German howitzers concentrated their fire on the
Ypres Salient'.
Order
#10462.
'Church
at Hollebeke, taken in the memorable attack by the Second Army, July 31st
1917, Ypres Salient'.
Order
#10463.
'Turkish
troops defeated by Allenby in the outlying hills, retreat through Jerusalem
by the Jaffa Gate'.
Order
#10464.
'Thousands
of German prisoners captured in the final rout of the German armies on
the Sambre'.
Order
#10466.
'Haughty
Prussians with machine-guns captured by "Old Contemptibles" in our advance
at Pozieres'.
Order
#10467.
'French
artillery on their way to new positions pass prisoners taken in our big
drive'.
Order
#10468.
Keystone
'Bringing in 1900 German prisoners captured by American forces, France'.
Order
#10469. Descriptive text.
'Examining
a Jerry prisoner to obtain information which enables us to anticipate an
enemy attack'.
Order
#10470.
'At the
bayonet's point our lads rush and capture a German machine-gunner in his
lair at Croisilles'.
Order
#10471.
'Bosche
machine-gun captured and gunner taken prisoner by our advancing troops
at "Plug Street"'.
Order
#10472.
Violets
from Plug Street Wood -
Think
what they have meant to me -
Life
and Hope and Love and You
(And
you did not see them grow
Where
his mangled body lay,
Hiding
horror from the day;
Sweetest,
it was better so.)
Roland Leighton (shot at Hébuterne and died in Louvencourt, 1915)
'Hun
prisoners taken in underground defences on Pilkem Ridge are searched for
identification purposes'.
Order
#10473.
'Dazed
by our bombardment, the Huns pour out of their fortified cellars at Pilkem,
to surrender'.
Order
#10474.
'"Kamerad!"
Bewildered Huns come out of their dugouts at Thiepval in answer to our
bombs'.
Order
#10475.
'Questioning
a Hun prisoner taken from a block house captured in our attack'.
Order
#10477.
'German
prisoners compelled to carry our wounded during the desperate assault on
Trones Wood'.
Order
#10478.
'German
prisoners captured by our victorious troops near the Rufigi River, East
Africa'.
Order
#10479.
'Prisoners
coming in after the repulse at Hangard and Villers-Bretonneux in the "Kaiser's
Battle"'.
Order
#10480.
To page one - Troops on the move
To page four - Guns and gunners
To page five - In the trenches, over the top, fixed defenses, communications, materiel
To page eight - Miscellaneous and war damage
To page nine - The wounded, the fallen, war graves
