Straight from the Daily Mail: “They are the most remarkable pictures of one of the most hellish places on earth. Never seen before, these astonishing photographs, lovingly hand-touched in colour to bring to life the nightmare of Passchendaele, were released this week to commemorate the 90th anniversary of the battle that, between July and November 1917, claimed a staggering 2,121 lives a day and in total some quarter of a million Allied soldiers.
What was once pretty countryside around the Belgian village that gave the battlefield its name was reduced to an infernal swamp where the ground oozed with foul-smelling slime, and mustard gas that blistered the skin and made the lungs bleed.
…
Officially named the Third Battle of Ypres, the hope was that by breaking through German lines at this point on the Western Front, the Allies could reach the Belgian coast and capture the German submarine bases there.
The Allies prepared the way with a massive two-week bombardment in which 3,000 heavy guns sent more than four million shells pouring into the German lines.
Then, on July 31, the troops poured into a No Man’s Land that within days and under torrential rain had become a sodden bog.
It became so deep that men, horses and pack mules drowned in it. What was supposed to be a breakthrough became a battle of attrition.
By November, the British and Empire forces had advanced just five miles at terrible cost, to take the village of Passchendaele – which at least provided an excuse for them to call a halt.
Their one consolation was that the Germans had also suffered grievously.”
No rants here. Just…Wow!
Comment by Warren — July 19, 2007 @ 11:49 am
Wow indeed. War is hell, but WWI was particularly nasty.
My Grandfather on my Mother’s side was actually an infantryman fighting in the trenches during WWI. He even got hit with German Mustard Gas, but managed to get his gas mask on in time to survive, and only got a small dose.
Comment by Jason Jeffrey — July 23, 2007 @ 10:50 am
I’m sorry, but the photos are fakes – cut&pasted and hand-tinted. The one of the German gunners is a composite of 2 well-known WW1 pics. There was colour photography in the War – using a process called Autochrome, the French took colour pictures and two Australians did in the Middle East, but the above aren’t gen.
Comment by James H. Reeve — July 29, 2007 @ 9:01 pm
“these astonishing photographs, lovingly hand-touched in colour to bring to life the nightmare of Passchendaele”
You are correct sir that these were hand-tinted photographs, it says it right there in the description paragraph.
You know that thing over 50 miles away from you…that was the point of the photographs. You missed it.
Comment by Warren — July 30, 2007 @ 7:23 am
Dear Wayne, I am sorry that what I intended as a helpful point has upset you. I’ll explain again, and will type slowly for you. The headline describes these images as colour photographs, which they are not. The Daily Mail is an embarrassing, right-wing newspaper that frequently prints misleading headlines that are not supported in the text, so this is no surprise. The German machine-gunners have been pasted onto a well-known photo from WW1; on the original, a British tank can be seen in the background. I hope that is your definition of a fake. Nor have these photographs been “released this week”. They have been in the public domain for decades. The point of the photographs could be that war is a readful business or that the Daily Mail has sloppy standards of journalism. You decide while sitting at your keyboard trying to come up with some more clumsy sarcasm.
All the best.
Comment by James H. Reeve — August 6, 2007 @ 6:42 am
Ya got me Jimmy-boy! I must concede that the pic of the two gunners is a hack job photo-shop. PLUS, as you said, the title of the article was a bit misleading…but hey, that’s ANY journalism for you since the days of the original Yellow Journalism days of the Spainish-American War. I mean how many regular everyday news commercials for the local TV newscast start with “IS YOUR CHILD IN DANGER OF BEING KILLED AT SCHOOL? FIND OUT TONIGHT AT 10PM ON CHANNEL 4 NEWS!” And then when you actually watch the news, it turns out the 5 minute scare bit is some dumbass thing like “Scientists say there is a 1 in 4 Billion chance that your child could be killed by an meteoriod strike while they are attending school.”
But flat out, the point of the pics was “WWI WAS A HELL OF A CRAPPY TIME! HERE ARE A FEW PICS THAT SHOW YOU JUST HOW BAD IT WAS!” THAT’s what you missed. (Sidenote: I’ll have to look for those actual color pics for WWI. They sound interesting.)
And if you want to talk about nutty journalism, the left-wingers have got the right-wingers beat to HELL in this corner. And no, we’re not talking conservative-right Rush Limbaugh. He ain’t that much “nutty right-wing”. When I say “nutty right-wing” I’m talking “Dr. Savage- Attack Everything, NUKE ALL MIDDLE EASTERNERS, ALL CRIMINALS SHOULD BE SHOT DEAD” right-wing. You really don’t hear too much about that far right-wing newsies. I’d never even heard of “Daily Mail”.
BUT DAMN IF THE AVERAGE PERSON DOESN’T HEAR ABOUT THE NUTTY LEFT-WING NEWSIES. Daily Kaos (”More Proof That President Bush Personally Ordered The Murder Of Pat Tillman And Ordered The Shooting Of Cruise Missles Into The World Trade Center Buildings To Fake The 9/11 Attacks!” will be his next “news article”.), Michael Moore and his far left, way off base, very tilted “documentries”. Hell, even CNN, ABC, and NBC always are quoting the more sever left-wing newsies as “some people beleive…(insert far-left bullshitte)” But when it comes to quoting right-wing newsies the mainstream press “Bob, the right-wing site Daily Mail unbeleivably thinks that yes, there actually were Muslim Terrorists flying those aircraft into the World Trade Center buildings. Why anyone would beleive this, I don’t know.” And don’t even get me started on CBS!
Comment by Warren — August 8, 2007 @ 9:29 am
Wow…
Comment by Max — August 10, 2007 @ 12:31 am
Gangsturrr whattttttt?
Comment by Sir Daniel Link — March 4, 2008 @ 2:09 pm
Why does every single article on the internet end up turning into an argument in the comments section?
Who gives a fuck if two pictures were composited together? Seriously? Go out, live your life, stop being a troll and try to enjoy yourself instead of shitting in the comments section at every opportunity.
Comment by Appeasez — January 3, 2009 @ 9:53 am
Good point there Appeasez. I’m usually just having fun though ragging whoever left the attacking comment. Plus, its a good way to vent to release some steam that otherwise can’t be released. I remember one time I was soooo pissed off at my co-workers and my wife. Couldn’t let myself vent at any of them because they were just doing what they do…but man it pissed me off. So I begged my buddy who runs this site to post something on his site so I could vent. And after I had let it all hang out on this website, I felt much better.
But still, you’re right. Sometimes, such as the case with these photos, the guy should have kept his mouth shut.
Comment by Warren Adams — January 3, 2009 @ 11:07 am
[...] han desaparecido y las carreteras apenas se aprecian dentro de un mar de lodo. Imágenes a color: jasonjeffrey.wordpress.com/2007/07/18/hell-on-earth-the-never-before-s/ 1 comentarios en: Cultura, Fotografía karma: 63 etiquetas: fotografia, bomba, destrucción [...]
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