Photographers
Tom Aitken
IIIF Manifest
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| First World War 'Official Photographs' > Photographers > Tom Aitken > (99) N.740 - Party of our brave stretcher bearers who were laid low by a German shell |
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| Permanent URL | https://digital.nls.uk/74549178 |
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| Description | British stretcher bearers killed by a German shell in Peronne, France, during World War I. Bodies lie in a ruined French street with the remains of the stretcher they were carrying twisted between them. The large stones scattered around the bodies give some indication of the force of the shell that killed these men. Although this photograph reflects the human cost of war far more starkly than those staged for propaganda purposes, the caption emphasising the selfless heroism of the victims suggests that the picture was intended for publication in Britain. [Original reads: 'OFFICIAL PHOTOGRAPH TAKEN ON THE BRITISH WESTERN FRONT IN FRANCE. A grim picture from Peronne. A party of our brave stretcher bearers who were laid low by a German shell. They were carrying a wounded German.'] |
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| 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. |
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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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