Images from WWI

[The Basket]

If you think ww1 is about mud then the war of the Alpini really is something.
Avalanche or accidents rock climbing or the cold in a harsh winter over 1km up a mountain is enough to freeze the balls off a brass monkey.
Problem is in ww1 hell is all around and freezing to death up a mountain is just one hell.
And your military leader was Luigi Cadorna and if you want to know a harsh martinet who killed his troops then the Marshall of Italy is worth a look.
Another battle on the Isonzo for absolute zero.

 

[Graeme]

A US soldier enjoys a lighter moment during gas-mask drill...

 

[Graeme]

ANMEF soldiers pose for a photograph with islanders in Rabaul, December 1914...

 

[Graeme]

 

[Gnomey]

Great shots Guys!

 

[Hansie Bloeckmann]

A US soldier enjoys a lighter moment during gas-mask drill...

View attachment 485527

Don't see any insignia, but he must be a NCO- has a holster for a 1911 on his web belt-right hand side. Big fella, too!

 

[Graeme]

Passchendaele before and after...

 

[Graeme]

Returned soldiers now living their days out in a nursing home...

 

[Graeme]

French dug-out kennels for messenger dogs...

 

[Wurger]

 

[Peter Gunn]

A skillfully sculpted mask applied to a French soldier...

View attachment 484422

Saw this article a while back, a bit of a read but pretty heartbreaking. A peek at the true cost of war. Faces of War | Arts & Culture | Smithsonian

 

[Hansie Bloeckmann]

Returned soldiers now living their days out in a nursing home...

View attachment 485849

My guess- a Hospital in occupied France-any way of knowing where this foto was taken, and when??

 

[Gnomey]

Nice shots guys!

 

[Graeme]

My guess- a Hospital in occupied France-any way of knowing where this foto was taken, and when??

Hi Hansie.
In Australia. Original caption mentions 2,000 returned soldiers living out their remaining life in nursing homes.

 

[Graeme]

 

[Hansie Bloeckmann]

Hi Hansie.
In Australia. Original caption mentions 2,000 returned soldiers living out their remaining life in nursing homes.

Thanks for the clarification. Hansie

 

[vikingBerserker]

I could not begin to imagine.

 

[Hansie Bloeckmann]

I could not begin to imagine.

Indeed- having to live out your life with such a disfigurement- "There is no glory in War- only death, doom and destruction"--Not sure who first said this, but this photo shows the destruction of a human life-and for what gain or purpose, I wonder??

 

[Gnomey]

Harrowing shot.

 

[Hansie Bloeckmann]

Harrowing shot.

Harrow- isn't that a private preparatory school, like Eton??