Ian Ference's 3D blog on all things stereographic, from classic scopes & stereoviews to historical context & modern analysis
4 "digital prints" from negatives of life in the camp of the 36th Artillery Regiment stationed in Saint Airy Forest at Verdun in January 1918 show snowbound soldiers near one's shelter - as well as a peek into the shelter itself!
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 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.
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.
A new box of slides from Brentano's - stamped "Verdun" on the front - gives me the opportunity to make some side-by-side comparisons of both duplicate and same-subject images from my collection.
The Great War was notorious for many things, and one of the most prominent among them was the use of gas warfare. Herein is explained the main gas weapons used in direct violation of the Hague Convention, their effects, and the reason they were not used much after the War.
While not as commonly represented in exciting sets of stereoviews, photographs and newsreels from the front - or any media really, standing around and shooting the breeze was as much a part of Great War life as ducking for cover during a bombardment or hastily fitting a gas mask. These were men at war, but foremost, they were men living their lives.