Photographers > David McLellan
(22) L.472 - French & British soldiers being taken from the battle-front in a British ambulance train
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| First World War 'Official Photographs' > Photographers > David McLellan > (22) L.472 - French & British soldiers being taken from the battle-front in a British ambulance train |
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| Permanent URL | https://digital.nls.uk/74548598 |
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| Description | Two soldiers receiving attention on an ambulance train, France, during World War I. Although possibly posed, there is an air of serious concentration and concern about the nurse and her casually dressed companion. The soldier they are treating seems to have his eyes shut and there is a lot of bandaging around his hand. His companion, however, appears to be quite relaxed and is joking with him. The rest of the train-ambulance and its layout can be clearly seen in the background. In this image it is clean, tidy and organized, in contrast to the trenches these men have left behind. As the numbers of casualties began to increase the need for an organised and effective medical service became clear. Many hospitals were built behind the lines but due to the continually changing territorial areas they were often not easily reached. Transport by train was one of the biggest features of the war experience and it was just as simple to transport wounded soldiers this way as able-bodied men. [Original reads: 'OFFICIAL PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN ON THE BRITISH WESTERN FRONT IN FRANCE. French & British soldiers being taken from the battle-front in a British Ambulance Train.'] |
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| Description | Formerly a photographer with the 'Daily Mirror’, a newspaper which led the field in pictorial journalism, McLellan was appointed as an official war photographer in December 1917 along with Tom Aitken whose work also features in this collection. McLellan is especially noted for his work capturing the huge scale of operations on the Front. McLellan was one of five official photographers working on the Western Front, for the propaganda department during the last two years of the war. The photographers were driven to the site the authorities wanted them to photograph, which meant that most of their material was also largely censored. This did not, however, mean that the photographer did not get to know the people in the picture. |
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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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