[monochrome]

Daily Mail UK

Rare photographs capture the daily lives of soldiers and civilians away from the front in WWI

[SpecialK]

Thanks for sharing.

[wizofoz]

Fascinating. The pictures of the African troops in French uniforms really illustrates how much this war was about the colonial powers.TFS

[Kath]

Great history here. Such destruction!

Thanks for posting.

[savoche]

Thanks for sharing. Made me read more about the British mining operations under the German lines. An insane amount of work, and equally insane destruction.

[wizofoz]

Thanks for sharing. Made me read more about the British mining operations under the German lines. An insane amount of work, and equally insane destruction.

If memory serves Australian troops well used to mining operations were extensively used to make these tunnels and plant the enormous explosives. It is one of the reasons Aussie troops are known as 'Diggers'.

[debakarma]

The photographs are living testimony illustrating man's destructive spirit.
The insanity still continues, just the guise, modus and reportage is different. Replace the guns with $$$ and you (might) imagine the difference.

[boriscleto]

If memory serves Australian troops well used to mining operations were extensively used to make these tunnels and plant the enormous explosives. It is one of the reasons Aussie troops are known as 'Diggers'.

Not really. The soldiers who dug the mines were mostly Welsh.

The term 'Digger' dates back to the 1850's in Australia to mean a miner. Its use in a military context does date to WWI, first among New Zealand troops then Australian. It seems to have first been used in 1916 by troops digging trenches in the Salisbury Plain (part of training for deployment), but wasn't in wide spread use until 1917.

[paulvzo]

The photographs are living testimony illustrating man's destructive spirit.
The insanity still continues, just the guise, modus and reportage is different. Replace the guns with $$$ and you (might) imagine the difference.

Amen.

What process were these taken with? I know that there were things like Autochrome, I believe it was, well before Kodachrome. But I though BK (before Kodachrome) the colors were very inferior. Some of those shown have excellent color.

Maybe 1914 Autochrome + 21st century Photo Shop?

[boriscleto]

Amen.

What process were these taken with? I know that there were things like Autochrome, I believe it was, well before Kodachrome. But I though BK (before Kodachrome) the colors were very inferior. Some of those shown have excellent color.

Maybe 1914 Autochrome + 21st century Photo Shop?

The story says that they were shot with Autochrome.

The images, captured using the Lumière brothers’ Autochrome colour process, were all taken in 1917, the fourth year of the First World War. They document how members of the Allied Forces spent quieter moments away from the fighting.

That would be why they are all static photos...you can see the problems Autochrome had in the photo of Chinese laborers and the photo of the Senegalese soldiers. Think of it as the early 20th century equivalent of pixel shift or HDR...

[wizofoz]

The term 'Digger' dates back to the 1850's in Australia to mean a miner

I'm very aware of this, my grandfathers were some of those miners. In fact according to my grandmother, one of my great grandfathers is one of the miners depicted on the original Australian one pound note. (This is anecdotal and I have no proof, but it's nice to have a touch of family history like that.)

Here is a short article about Australian mining corps during WW1

https://rslvirtualwarmemorial.org.au/explore/units/161

''1st Australian Tunnelling Company at Hill 60 which formed a key part of the offensive mining operations in the battle of Messines in June 1917."

The term 'digger' was most certainly used at Gallipoli, which precedes your reference to Salisbury Plain.

Boriscleto, Perhaps we should not stray too far from the wonderful photographs contained in this thread. I would be delighted to have a discussion with you about these other matters elsewhere.

[boriscleto]

I'm very aware of this, my grandfathers were some of those miners. In fact according to my grandmother, one of my great grandfathers is one of the miners depicted on the original Australian one pound note. (This is anecdotal and I have no proof, but it's nice to have a touch of family history like that.)

Here is a short article about Australian mining corps during WW1

https://rslvirtualwarmemorial.org.au/explore/units/161

''1st Australian Tunnelling Company at Hill 60 which formed a key part of the offensive mining operations in the battle of Messines in June 1917."

The term 'digger' was most certainly used at Gallipoli, which precedes your reference to Salisbury Plain.

Boriscleto, Perhaps we should not stray too far from the wonderful photographs contained in this thread. I would be delighted to have a discussion with you about these other matters elsewhere.

We can leave it at "The origin is muddy"

Inside History magazine | The Genesis of Digger by Tim Lycett

[paulvzo]

The story says that they were shot with Autochrome.



That would be why they are all static photos...you can see the problems Autochrome had in the photo of Chinese laborers and the photo of the Senegalese soldiers. Think of it as the early 20th century equivalent of pixel shift or HDR...

Thank you for pointing out I'm a bad reader! Ha ha. Thanks.

[Kerrowdown]

Thanks for the link, made for interesting viewing.

[wizofoz]

We can leave it at "The origin is muddy"

I saw what you did there.....