Ian Ference's 3D blog on all things stereographic, from classic scopes & stereoviews to historical context & modern analysis
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.
Most people think that the casualties of War are the people killed in fighting. But many lived on, bearing scars, lost limbs, trauma; they did not receive the honors of those that fell. This post explores that notion with casualty stereoviews from A. O. Fasser, and a poem by Wilfred Owen.
A simple image of a skull intentionally staged in a "tunnel" (trench), accompanied by Wilfred Owen's most complex war poem - set in a tunnel... of sorts.
A port or other fortified waterfront in Belgium, photographed by A. O. Fasser, is the subject of today's Month of Remembrance post - along with some brief discussion on maritime combat during the Great War.
Four of A. O. Fasser's stereo photos (from a set on Belgium) are not like the other ones - let's take a look!
Marketed as the collection of a French Artillery Sergeant's personal photography before, during, and after the Great War, I was sold a disparate collection of mostly-junk by an eBayer who didn't know what he was talking about. Here's the story, and one of the few slides that likely had anything to do with the Great War.
A look at the Canon de 75 mm Modele 1897, in use for almost a century, and the central role it played in defending the Meuse Heights in 1916 at the Battle of Verdun.
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.
A look at the next box marked "Belgium" in the A. O. Fasser, as well as a consideration as to why plates in poor condition still need the "deluxe treatment" as regards their conservation.
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.