Skip to main content

Allies > Canadian and Newfoundland

(50) X.25010 - Canadian signallers using a German rifle as a telephone pole, during World War I

‹‹‹ prev (49) X.25009

(51) next ››› X.25011

Download files

Individual page:

Medium image file (1000px) (jpg, 159kb)

Create custom PDF

Select a page:

Thumbnail gallery: Grid view | List view

(50) X.25010 - Canadian signallers using a German rifle as a telephone pole, during World War I

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.

Context
First World War 'Official Photographs' > Allies > Canadian and Newfoundland > (50) X.25010 - Canadian signallers using a German rifle as a telephone pole, during World War I

(50) X.25010 - Canadian signallers using a German rifle as a telephone pole, during World War I
More information
Permanent URL	https://digital.nls.uk/74549212
Description	This photograph provides an example of the resourcefulness that soldiers serving in World War I would sometimes have to demonstrate. Two Canadian soldiers are pictured fixing telephone lines to a captured German rifle embedded in the ground. Discarded ammunition lies in the right foreground. The job of a signaller was to send messages between the lines and command posts. In World War I telephone lines became the main method of sending signals, as the older methods of using lamps and flags would have given away field positions to the enemy. Even when buried underground the phone lines were vulnerable to shells and prone to breaking, and signallers suffered heavy casualties trying to maintain communications. [Original reads: 'Canadian Signallers using a German rifle as a telephone pole.']

Form / genre:	Images > Pictures > Photographs > Photographic prints
Dates / events:	World War, 1914-1918 Campaigns Western Front [Date/event depicted]
Subject / content:	Soldiers Rifles (long guns) Telephone systems Record Type: concept Telephone systems Black-and-white prints (photographs) Propaganda War photography Photojournalism
Person / organisation:	Canada. Canadian Army. Canadian Expeditionary Force [Depicted] Canadians [Depicted] Haig, Douglas Haig, Earl, 1861-1928 [Former owner]
	To find similar items, select the checkboxes next to the characteristics you are interested in, then select the 'Find similar' button.

Canadian and Newfoundland
More information
Description	Photographs from the Haig series that are connected with Canadian troops and the Newfoundland Regiment of the British Army.

Person / organisation:	Canadians [Depicted]
	To find similar items, select the checkboxes next to the characteristics you are interested in, then select the 'Find similar' button.

Allies
Description	Photographs of various nationalities allied to the British.

First World War 'Official Photographs'
More information
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

Form / genre:	Images > Pictures > Photographs > Photographic prints
Dates / events:	World War, 1914-1918 Campaigns Western Front [Date/event depicted]
Subject / content:	War photography Black-and-white prints (photographs) Photojournalism Propaganda
Person / organisation:	Haig, Douglas Haig, Earl, 1861-1928 [Former owner]
	To find similar items, select the checkboxes next to the characteristics you are interested in, then select the 'Find similar' button.