Photographers > Ernest Brooks
(212) C.1774 - Strafing the Hun
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| First World War 'Official Photographs' > Photographers > Ernest Brooks > (212) C.1774 - Strafing the Hun |
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| Permanent URL | https://digital.nls.uk/74545920 |
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| Description | A large field gun points away from the camera over the hills in the background. One soldier is sitting on the gun, three men are loading it and the other five are all lined up ready to fire it. The slang British term used here for German, 'Hun', gained popular usage after Kaiser Wilhelm II urged his troops to 'behave like Huns' to win the war. The Germans also used the phrase 'Gott Strafe England', (God Punish England) during World War I, and this caption is probably a play on that. [Original reads: 'OFFICIAL PHOTOGRAPHS TAKEN ON THE BRITISH WESTERN FRONT - strafing the Hun.'] |
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| Description | Ernest Brooks was the first British official war photographer to be assigned to the Western Front in 1916. Previously a 'Daily Mirror' photographer, he was given the honorary rank of Second Lieutenant. His remit was to take as many photographs as possible, with as much variety as possible. Using his inconspicuous hand-held camera Brooks was free to wander, sometimes capturing his subjects unawares. Many of the images taken by Brooks were used to fuel the propaganda machine at home and abroad. Despite this Brooks, who was very aware of composition and light, produced some very artistic and thought-provoking images. |
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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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