Ian Ference's 3D blog on all things stereographic, from classic scopes & stereoviews to historical context & modern analysis
The Germans were late to bring tanks to the Great War; while the Allies built over 5,000, the Germans built a mere 20. This essay examines the history of those 20 A7V-class tanks, and takes a closer, stereoscopic look at two of them.
A month-long French offensive known as the Second Battle of Verdun is the subject of this 10-slide series put out by the SDV division of LSU. Featuring scenes from the recaptured regions surrounding Esnes, the series really portrays the devastation caused by 4 million shells impacting a region localized around a few miles of space.
Bad puns aside, LSU really screwed the pooch on a 45x107mm glass plate stereoview - not only did they print the image horizontally reversed, but they managed to rotate the right-hand frame of the stereo pair by 180º. In this post, we explore the printing process that must have been employed by LSU in making an extremely goofy glass plate.
On 1 April 1915, an MoS-3 piloted by Sergeant Jean Navarre took to the skies - where it encountered a German Albatros B.II. Some sharpshooting by the observer, Lieutenant Jean Robert, brought down the biplane - leading to the capture of the craft and its occupants, and the first victory for the MS 12 Escadrille, and medals for Navarre and Robert.
Sometimes, whilst one is sorting through a newly acquired collection, a new slide or card proves just captivating - and one winds up just admiring it through their favorite stereoscope for minutes on end. This was one from my latest acquisition which had this effect on me.
In the final post in the Month of Remembrance series, we take a look at a merry band of soldiers preparing to "execute" what I've decided to call a "Snowboche" - a simple end to a complex series, much like the Great War itself.
A simple cross sits above a pile of German corpses - in a 1,000-year-old village that was completely leveled in a year, and finally came to be home to the largest military cemetery in France.
As I head out to what I often describe as "a snowbound hellhole" of a hometown to celebrate Thanksgiving with my family, I share an image of soldiers trudging through an *actual* snowbound hellhole on their way to battle.
Today, on the centenary of the Great War's effective end with the 11 a.m. Armistice, I present 100 stereographic (and 2D) photographs from a soldier's-eye point of view. Lest we forget.
An extremely brief Great War post about some German soldiers throwing in the towel, as a result of some unforeseen issues revolving around my internet connection doing the same.