World War I: Scenes Of Life And Death
Published 25 July 2014
On July 28, 1914, Austro-Hungarian troops fired the first shots during the invasion of Serbia that marked the start of World War I. The conflict resulted in more than 16 million military and civilian deaths, but did not bring about the end to all wars as some hoped and dreamed it would. One-hundred years later, harrowing images from the war retain their power and immediacy. Included in this collection are photos that have been only recently discovered and shown publicly.
An undated photo shows German soldiers crossing a field, offering to surrender to French troops at a listening post in a trench at Massiges, France.
An undated photo shows French soldiers firing a 155 mm mortar from a trench on the front line, at an unknown location in France.
French cyclists of the Cavalry Corps on the Champagne front, eastern France September 22, 1915.
A German gas attack on the eastern front that was photographed by a Russian airman. The 1916 image was titled, "German Frightfulness from the Air."
Italian "Arditi" or shock troops wearing gas masks.
An undated photo shows French soldiers moving a 95 mm cannon at an unknown location in France. A viscount in the Armored Cavalry Branch of the French Army left behind a collection of hundreds of glass plates by an unknown photographer that have only recently been published.
An undated photo shows French soldiers posing in a trench at Suippes on the Champagne front in eastern France. From the viscount's collection.
The retreat of King Peter I of Serbia (left, on cart) and his country's troops, following an invasion of Serbia by forces led by Germany, November 1915.
An undated photo shows Germans soldiers captured during the Battle of Verdun. They are removing their clothes for a body search by French soldiers.
A priest conducting mass for French soldiers on the Champagne front, eastern France in 1915. From the viscount's collection.
A British emplacement after a German gas attack at Fromelles, July 19, 1916.
An American Ford ambulance is parked in a devasted village in Belgium in September 1918.
French soldiers collect the bodies of dead comrades in Verdun, France on October 1, 1917.
An undated photo shows French troops eating lunch near Arras in northern France. From the viscount's collection.
An undated photo shows a dog pulling a Belgian machine gun in northern France.
A French officer stands near the fresh graves of soldiers killed at Saint-Jean-sur-Tourbe on the Champagne front in eastern France, December 19, 1916.