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Propaganda Maps--France, ca. 1935

JF Ptak Science Books  Quick Post

This is certainly a successful design in describing fear and possibility for the near future and the security  (or lack of it) for France. Nothing quite conveys temporal disruption than a consolidated mass of dark and sharp objects advancing on the home front. 

• “La France qui a connu 4 fois l'invasion en 100 ans ne droit pas desarmer sans entre assuree de sa securite. Votz contre le cartel qui vent desarmer la France!” ("France, which has been invaded four times in 100 years, should not disarm with being assured of its security! Vote against the cartel that will disarm France!”)   $50
• 

The image is a moderate Right Wing political propaganda piece extolling people not to vote for a political group (unnamed but Left Wing) that would “disarm France” by referencing the four times that France has been invaded in the last 100 years (1814, 1815, 1870, and 1914). Design by Andre Galland and printed 1932-1936. The fifth invasion was already on its way, coming in 1940, when Germany simply did an end-run around the ill-conceived modern antique of the Maginot Line, after which the very large French army was slow to respond, with France surrendering 46 days later on 25 May 1940.

• In a tiny scroll script in the left margin reads: (translated) Propaganda Center of the National Republicans (Republicains Nationaux).

This is an effective design for sure, showing a mass of infantry and cavalry crossing the northern French border...so massive in fact that most figures blend into an almost-solid black mass save for the white streaks of rifles/bayonets.

I'm not sure what the intended use was for my copy of this image, which was originally produced as a poster, though this copy measures only 27x21cm. I don't know if it was meant as a flyer, or small poster, or if it was simply an illustration in a larger book. It is interesting, regardless. It is certainly worth sharing, though. 

The Ethical Treatment of War Horses (1915)

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I'm just sharing this document on a subject that I've never thought about, and now that I have a chance to think about it, I really don't want to...it is just a tough go, especially considering myself part of what is a horse family with two dogs and four cats.  At the very least I can reproduce the document for this rather forward idea, which was published in 1915, one year into WWI.  

"An Appeal for Help for War Horses". 12x9", 4pp (one large sheet folded). There is a horizontal fold with two long tears in it. Overall, a FAIR copy, maybe a little better than that.  $150

 

Tight One-Page High-Level Recommendation for a U.S. Chemical Weapons Position, 1917

JF Ptak Science Books 

WHITNEY, Willis R. Carton copy of a typed letter to the Secretary of the Navy Josephus Daniels outlining his review of the U.S. chemical warfare capacity, 1917.  $750

On 21 December 1917, thee years into the beginning of World War I and eight months after America entered the war,Willis R. Whitney composed this one-page letter composing the American response to the use of poison gas in warfare. Whitney was founder and head of one the great research laboratories in America—run by General Electric, the GE Lab—and was one of the leaders of the U.S. Navy‘s Naval Review Board (along with Thomas Edison and Hudson Maxim, among others), and wrote to Josephus Daniels, who was at the time the U.S. Secretary of the Navy. 

Whitney was a chemist, a former instructor at MIT, and a Ph.D. under Ostwald, a brilliant, “bearish” intellect in many fields, an innovator, and a leader, a tactician.  He summarized the state of affairs, and communicated quickly and with clarity and without hesitation what he thought must be done, and how America should respond to the German chemical threat. 

The Germans had first used chemical weapons (shells containing xylyl bromide) against Russian troops in Bolimow, Poland.  It was the first foray into a section of the war that caused more than one million casualties and 85,000 deaths. It would be another three months for the first full-scale use of a chemical weapon—in the form of chlorine gas—in the Second Battle of Ypres.  But the time Whitney sent his letter, chemical warfare had been a deeply-established weapon.

Whitney recommends that the U.S. begin production; that several plants be established to produce the chemicals, and to get on the matter immediately, suggesting a man to head the work.  As it turns out the work didn’t begin in earnest for a number of months later, the first large quantities becoming available just after the signing of the Armistice.

{I should note that I purchased this letter--rather, Whitney's carbon copy of the letter--many years ago from the estate of  a U.S. Navy historian.)

When a "Portrait" is "Portraits"--Group Photograph, WWI, 1918

JF Ptak Science Books

In my collection of WWI News Photo Service Agency photographs I would say that half or so of them show  scenes like this--semi-informal group portraits of military support groups.  500 portraits like this seem to be a lot, and I'm not sure why these images are so well represented. Except of course that there weren't that many images (overall) of active-battle scenes. 

These bakers, working at a front-line support station, from my read were probably taking a break, and the photographer took the opportunity to draw them together for the portrait.  I don't know why they're separated so, but they do look as though they have a real camaraderie--it is just a wonderful picture, full of friendship and loyalty, and I'm sure it has never been published before.  

ITEM:  WWI News service photograph, 9x7 inches.  Original.  Good condition.  $225.

In my collection of WWI News Photo Service Agency photographs I would say that half or so of them show  scenes like this--semi-informal group portraits of military support groups.  500 portraits like this seem to be a lot, and I'm not sure why these images are so well represented. Except of course that there weren't that many images (overall) of active-battle scenes. 

These bakers, working at a front-line support station, from my read were probably taking a break, and the photographer took the opportunity to draw them together for the portrait.  I don't know why they're separated so, but they do look as though they have a real camaraderie--it is just a wonderful picture, full of friendship and loyalty, and I'm sure it has never been published before.  

JF Ptak Science Books 

I've written a number of times on this blog about WWI images, many of which are in my own collection of News Service Photo Group images, like the one just below, which can be found here. Many of them are remarkable, astonishing even--especially those relating to soldiers whose war has ended, finding them as prisoners of war.  At least they weren't dead, like the dozens of millions of other soldiers.

 

(Original photograph available at our blog bookstore here.)

I uncovered another of these images, tonight, long misplaced.

Image:  black and white photo, 5x7 inches. Good condition.  $400.00

There were over 8 million soldiers taken prisoner during WWI, that in addition to the 21 million who were wounded and the 9.7 million killed:  38 million.  Plus 6.8 million civilians who were killed: 45 million.  And the numbers for civilians wounded are just, well, not reliable, as they were not really collected, or collectible.  At the end of it all, there were probably between 50 to 75 million soldiers and civilians killed or wounded or taken captive during the war...not including civilians who were killed by the hardships or starvation caused by the conflict.  Big, big numbers.

Some of these soldiers were taken in entire armies, surrenders of hundreds of thousands; and some came in pairs, or singles, as in the photo above.  There are two captured Germans here, the two men in the middle, who are flanked by a British soldier and (I think) a Canadian officer, with two locals in the background.  The short man front-and-center was paraded no doubt for his propaganda value--certainly not five feet tall, slender, with a tiny, not-average face.  The Tommy is certainly enjoying the situation, while the officer maintains composure. 

The photograph was made in 1918, a few months before the end of the war, but there was still fighting to be done, and the value of showing the the British and Allied publics the "face" of a now-wilting enemy must have been considerable.  There was considerable control and tightness over the sort of images allowed to be produced and published coming from the front line, photographs being made by a "pool" of news photographers the contents of which were closely evaluated by military censors before being allowed to circulate to newspapers and magazines.

Tree Rings of Soldiers' Clothes, 1918

ITEM:  Original news serivce photograph, 1918.  8x6 inches.  Good condition.  $250.00

ref:  JF Ptak Science Books   Quick Post

 

Aside from the strong impact that this 1918 image makes, the enormous mounds of clothing of captured German solders that were routinely handled as part of their processing, it struck a deeper chord to an older image still (that we'll see below).  The photograph seems threatening to me, even though the action taking place in it wasn't, it was mundane--the men, who I believe are German POW's, are processing the clothing for disinfection and cleaning.  But the size of the mound reminds us of the magnitude of the numbers of the dozens of millions who were killed during WWI, as well as the millions who were taken prisoner.  What remains to be said about this image is how often that pile of clothing was replaced:  is it a monthly, or weekly, or daily pile?  My guess is that it was more daily than anything else, if for no other reason than there is an enormous oil lamp in the background of the photo, suggesting that the process went on all day and into the night.  My initial reaction is that this pile was replicated often during any given month....

 

And the image it reminds me of are those made of the enormous mounds of buffalo hides, piles readied for shipment away from the Plains by rail. 

I am in no way suggesting that the prisoner were skinned like the buffalo, not in any way.  But they do bear a resemblance in the way that thousands of men or buffalo could be represented in such a compact space, flattened husks of the living thing, gross representations of big numbers. 

Needles and Threads; Sewing in Battle, 1918.

ITEM: 7x5 inches, Western Newspaper Union.  Original photograph, Nopvember 1918.  $150

Ref: JF Ptak Science Books   Post 1307

This fantastic photograph calls to mind the importance of the little things of battle--dry socks, headgear, water, food, scissors.  And of course a good coat in the winter--a good coat that can be kept closed to allow the body to stay warm, or dry.  I mentioned in a post here just yesterday that it was a small thing that may have led to the demise of Napoleon's army in Russia in 1812--the buttons on the overcoats of the soldiers were made of tin, and as tin becomes brittle in severe cold, it is conceivable that the buttons failed and therefore allowed the jackets to blow open much more easily than normal.  Little change that has an enormous impact.  

This photograph--an official French photo published by the Western Newspaper Union in November 1918--shows a group of French telegraphic soldiers, taking a break, and mending their clothes.  The original text for the photograph (below) points out that their uniforms were torn and made shabby by continuously running themselves up and down telegraph poles.  It is important to keep yourself fit and fed and your uniform in good order, so they calmly awaited the repair of their uniforms y the one man with a needle and thread. 

 

Verticals and Lead-Spewing Gargoyles: Spires, Rifles, Bayonettes. Reims, November 27, 1918.

ITEM:  original photograph, 8x6 inches, printed 1918.  Good condition.  $350

Ref:  JF Ptak Science Books  Post 1267

Verticals and Anticipation after Four Grueling Years

In developing a history of vertical lines I thought that I would look at single vertical lines, but having just stumbled across this in our WWI News Photo Service archive, I just could not resist.  There is of course plenty of vertical arrangement here--just orders of magnitude more than what I was setting out to find.  So it goes.

(The image is available from our blog bookstore, here.) And the detail:

 And another:

I find this a soaring image, in its own odd way--this is a celebration scene, after,all, a decoration exercise, a military display of French forces that liberated the town of Reims, all taking place in front of the battered cathedral. Notre-Dame de Reims was the place of the coronation of French kings, and was a spectacular 13th century structure built on top of other buildings stretching back the site's inhabitation to at least the 5th century.  

But German artillery shelling caught the cathedral right at the beginning of the war and very nearly wrecked it.  The building was badly damaged by fire, a fire caused by the Germans, which spread along the scaffolding on the building which fed the wooden supports and superstructures, the flames finding its way throughout the building.  The fire was hot enough to melt the lead in the roof, which poured down as molten rain and out of the mouth-spouts of the building's gargoyles. 

As I brought out the further figures against the base of the cathedral one can clearly see the enormous stands of sandbags, the piles stacked up twenty feet or so behind the makeshift wooden fence.  IT was some sort of protection for the building, but not muc. 

This was yet another battle for the city, this one taking place 1550 years or so after the first, the Alemanni defending against the Romans; and then 104 years after the next major encounter, this between Napoleon and a Russian/Prussian force.  The liberating battle (the Battle of Reims, or the Second Battle of the Marne) took place 15 July 1918 to 6 August 1918, and it was a major failure for the German army, and spelled the collapse of the Spring Offensive, opening the door to the end of the war.  There were more than 135,000 Allies killed or wounded in this campaign (including 95,000 french troops), plus another 130,000 German troops.

The process of victory in front of the wounded church seems exhausting and exhilarating, bu tnot without a good sense of anticipation.

World War I Photographs--German Prisoners, Mass Scene, 1918

Original photograph, printed 1918. 9x6 inches.  Good condition. $150

This image comes from a collection here of First World War news service photographs,  showing German prisoners being readied for transport home, and dated 20 November 1918.  This group had evidently surrendered just before the armistice was signed, and was sent directly and instantly  to a staging area for transport back to the Fatherland.  The way that many newspapers obtained the war images that they published in their papers was via a semi-centralized pool of war images.  The newspaper would request, say, a photo of German prisoners, and would contact one of these photographic agencies—in this particular case, it was the Central News Photo Service of 26-28 Beaver Street, NYC—and purchase the rights for republication, and then print it in the newspaper along with the story.  In almost every case the photo would be accompanied by a caption mimeographed onto an attached piece of cheap paper, and in this case it reads:  “Waiting to Return Home/a photo just received showing a batch of enemy troops who surrendered just before the signing of the armistice, joyously discussing the coming of peace and the opportunity of returning home to their families.”

I seriously doubt that the copy editor could read the minds of either the photographer or the troops in the photo.  I would imagine that they were definitely joyous about going home ALIVE to their families, but when looking really closely at the picture the thing that seems to dominate the actions of the people is food.  Or cigarettes.  But mostly when looking hard at the faces in the photo, the men just look tired.

Looking very closely at these types of images has always been fascinating; look close enough, under high magnification, and the large photo becomes composed of dozens of smaller photos.  The whole is an assemblage of vignettes, each in themselves a work of art.

Continuing in a more odd tone, I’m also reasonably convinced that after looking at hundreds of faces in a photo like this that you’ll find a picture of yourself.

I did.  This section is a 3200 dpi scan of a 15x10 mm section, and I am undoubtedly and unquestionably the bald bearded man (one of the few people in the image without a hat) at center-bottom. 

Airwar over Gallipoli--New, Massive Aeroplane-delivered Bombs, 1915

JF Ptak Science Books

Weekly issue of  27 November 1915 for The Illustrated London News. 14x10", 24pp, illustrated with photos throughout, plus ads.  Complete issue for the week, removed from larger bound volume.  Nice condition.  $35

War Images “Almost as Tall as a Man!  Great Bomb Used by the Allies Airmen at Gallipoli”, as seen on the front cover of The Illustrated London News for 27 November 1915. The campaign at Gallipoli was more than half done, more than half-way closer to the finish, which found the Allies retreating in the midst of high misery, gallant action, and broad death and destruction, with more than 390,000 soldiers from both sides being killed or wounded during the 10 months of the campaign. It was a miserable experience–hot in the summer, cold in the winter, with frostbite, rotting corpses, dysentery, bad food, poor sanitation, supply difficulty, and ultimately a costly stalemate which was supposed to have ended up in an Allied route to Russia. 


The use of bombs by aircraft was still in its infancy at this point, the idea coming into use just a few years before the beginning of the war in 1914–the practice was quickly adapted. This image shows the development of an enormous bomb, though its details and destruction force “are left to the imagination of the reader”
See: Airwar over Gallipoli/Dardenelles