Photographers > Tom Aitken
(21) N.406 - Bruce, a well known messenger dog who is always working under shell fire in the line
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 > Tom Aitken > (21) N.406 - Bruce, a well known messenger dog who is always working under shell fire in the line |
|---|
| Permanent URL | https://digital.nls.uk/74549020 |
|---|---|
| Description | Messenger dog with its handler, in France, during World War I. This collie dog worked as a messenger in the front line under constant gunfire. A scrolled up message can be seen attached to the dog’s collar. Dogs were also used in the trenches to kill rats and mice, thereby protecting food supplies. In addition to carrying out messenger duties and various other tasks, a regimental mascot also helped to maintain the troops’ morale. Most of the armies involved in 'the Great War' had specially trained dogs in many of their regiments. These dogs performed a wide range of important tasks, including carrying messages, sentry duty, acting as decoys, ambulance duties and killing vermin. Keeping a pet also helped to raise the morale of the soldiers, by adding an element of domestic home life to the trench. [Original reads: 'OFFICIAL PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN ON THE BRITISH WESTERN FRONT IN FRANCE. "Bruce", a well known messenger dog who is always working under shell fire in the line.'] |
More information
|
|
| Description | Tom Aitken was a newspaper photographer from Glasgow who was assigned in December 1917 as a war photographer along with David McLellan and Armando Consolé. McLellan's work also features in the National Library of Scotland’s Haig Papers. War photographers held a hybrid position during World War I, being part of yet not ultimately responsible to the military. |
|---|---|
|
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
|
|