Photographers > John Warwick Brooke
(531) D.783 - Fatigue party going up to the trenches through a ruined village
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| First World War 'Official Photographs' > Photographers > John Warwick Brooke > (531) D.783 - Fatigue party going up to the trenches through a ruined village |
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| Permanent URL | https://digital.nls.uk/74548454 |
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| Description | Soldiers moving through a ruined village, France, during World War I. Soldiers carrying equipment make their way through a ruined village. Four of the men are shouldering the weight of what looks to be lengths of timber. It is possible this wood is destined for a road or bridge. Due to a shortage of building materials at the Front, bricks and other debris from ruined buildings were often used in vital road and bridge construction. Fatigue duty involved work of a non-military kind, such as digging, cleaning or constructing. Although not mentioned in the caption, this photograph is one of many taken on the British Western Front in France and Belgium. Like so many of the images in the Haig papers, it is impossible to say where on the Front, or exactly when, this photograph was taken. It is generally believed, however, to have been taken by the British official photographer, John Warwick Brooke. [Original reads: 'A fatigue party going up to the trenches through a ruined village.'] |
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| Description | John Warwick Brooke, of the Topical Press Agency, was the second British official war photographer to go to the Western Front in 1916. The demands placed on he and his colleague, Ernest Brooks, were heavy. They had to take as many photographs as possible, with as much variety as possible, a difficult task for two men covering an army of over two million. Despite this, Warwick Brooke managed to take what would become some of the most memorable images of World War I. As an officially appointed photographer, Warwick Brooke was assigned to the Western Front to follow the progress of the British Army. During his time there, between 1916 and 1918, Warwick Brooke is estimated to have taken over 4,000 photographs. |
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| Description | Photographs by named photographers. |
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| Description | Black-and-white photographs mainly of the Western Front during the First World War. Official British war photographers took many of them for propaganda purposes. Unless otherwise stated, titles are the photographs' original captions. From the papers of Field Marshal (Earl) Haig (1861-1928). The Haig Papers also contain Douglas Haig’s diaries. |
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| Shelfmark | Acc.3155 |
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