Photographers > John Warwick Brooke
(102) D.1283 - Three officers of the Gordons chatting at entrance of a dug-out
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| First World War 'Official Photographs' > Photographers > John Warwick Brooke > (102) D.1283 - Three officers of the Gordons chatting at entrance of a dug-out |
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| Permanent URL | https://digital.nls.uk/74548088 |
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| Description | Dressed in their regimental kilts and army tunics, these three officers from the Gordon Highlanders are sharing a joke and cigarette at the entrance to their underworld dugout. The fresh earth on the dugout’s roof suggests this is a new dugout. All three men are wearing puttees on their legs. Derived from the Hindu word, 'patti’, army puttees were a type of protective cloth or wool legging, that were wound round the leg from the ankle to the knee. The dugout in the photograph would have been located somewhere behind the front line. Frontline dugouts were adjoined to the trench system, to give the men somewhere to shelter in during a bombardment. Dugouts behind the frontline were made more comfortable, and men could sleep and relax in them when on a short leave from the front line. Interestingly, the word dugout was also used to refer to elderly officers and men who had retired from the armed forces, but had volunteered to rejoin the services again in an administrative or training role. [Original reads: 'OFFICIAL PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN ON THE BRITISH WESTERN FRONT. Three Officers of the Gordons chatting at entrance of a Dug-out.'] |
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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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