Photographers > Ernest Brooks
(295) C.2069 - Beautiful old bridge now well behind the line, has stood all the bombardments
Thumbnail gallery: Grid view | List view
Universal Viewer | 
Mirador | Large image
Images and transcriptions on this page, including medium image downloads, may be used under the Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 International Licence unless otherwise stated. 
| First World War 'Official Photographs' > Photographers > Ernest Brooks > (295) C.2069 - Beautiful old bridge now well behind the line, has stood all the bombardments |
|---|
| Permanent URL | https://digital.nls.uk/74546732 |
|---|---|
| Description | Men, possibly a working party or labour battalion, crossing what is left of a bridge. Some of the men are carrying shovels and pickaxes. The bridge, despite looking on the point of collapse, is still standing. All that is left is a bowed platform for the men to walk across. There are no sides to the bridge and the edge looks badly damaged, yet the men confidently stride across. The hollow below the bridge is a mass of caked mud and rubble. A lot of French buildings and bridges were irreparably damaged during World War I. It took many years for their reconstruction to be completed. [Original reads: 'ON THE BRITISH WESTERN FRONT IN FRANCE - This beautiful old bridge now well behind the line, has stood all the bombardments.'] |
More information
|
|
| 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. |
|---|---|
|
More information
|
|
| Description | Photographs by named photographers. |
|---|
| 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. |
|---|---|
| Shelfmark | Acc.3155 |
|
More information
|
|