Guns, Gas Masks and Pigeons

Guns, Gas Masks and Pigeons

Advertisement

Soldiers in the trenches, men advancing across no man’s land, heavy weaponry – these are all well-known sights from World War One, the brutal conflict that began a century ago this year.

But in addition to these scenes, a selection of previously unpublished pictures from a private collection also reveals more unfamiliar aspects of the war, from squadron athletics to pigeons used to send messages at the Front.

Philadelphia, United States. REUTERS/Archive of Modern Conflict London

The images offer an insight into varied and contrasting aspects of the conflict and its fall-out.

In the picture above, for example, U.S. soldiers model international gas mask designs at the Chemical Development Laboratory in Philadelphia, after the end of the war.

Protection against chemical weapons was a concern during a conflict in which poison gas was used to devastating effect.

The designs shown here range from the relatively simple “British black veil mask” (centre, far left) to the much bulkier “British motor corps mask” (bottom, third right).

FRANCE. REUTERS/Archive of Modern Conflict London

Here, a man stands by a German pigeon loft at the Western Font in 1916.

Pigeons were used by both sides in the First World War to relay messages and were an important form of communication on the battlefield.

Sequence:

In this sequence of images, showing an aspect of the war at sea, a German U-boat sinks an Allied merchant vessel.

Sequence image
Sequence image
Sequence image
Sequence image
Sequence image
Sequence image

Reuters/Archive of Modern Conflict London

Play Pause
1 / 14

Slideshow

An officer with the German Air Force sits on a dead wild boar outside the house where he was stationed on the Western Front, 1918.
France. Reuters/Archive of Modern Conflict London

An officer with the German Air Force sits on a dead wild boar outside the house where he was stationed on the Western Front, 1918.

German officers of Flieger Abteilung 280 have a party at a house where they were stationed in the summer of 1918, not long before the end of the war.
France. REUTERS/Archive of Modern Conflict London

German officers of Flieger Abteilung 280 have a party at a house where they were stationed in the summer of 1918, not long before the end of the war.

Officers stand at Air Training School 5 in Hannover in 1918.
Hannover, GERMANY. REUTERS/Archive of Modern Conflict London

Officers stand at Air Training School 5 in Hannover in 1918.

Officers of the Imperial German Air Service compete at a squadron athletics meeting near the Western Front.
FRANCE. REUTERS/Archive of Modern Conflict London

Officers of the Imperial German Air Service compete at a squadron athletics meeting near the Western Front.

A building is pictured after a German “Friedrichshafen” seaplane crashed into its roof.
GERMANY. REUTERS/Archive of Modern Conflict London

A building is pictured after a German “Friedrichshafen” seaplane crashed into its roof.

German officers stand under an observation balloon.
GERMANY. REUTERS/Archive of Modern Conflict London

German officers stand under an observation balloon.

Sailors take part in morning exercises aboard a German Navy warship in 1917.
REUTERS/Archive of Modern Conflict London

Sailors take part in morning exercises aboard a German Navy warship in 1917.

A German navy diver descends into the water.
REUTERS/Archive of Modern Conflict London

A German navy diver descends into the water.

Women work in a munitions factory in France in 1916.
France. REUTERS/Archive of Modern Conflict London

Women work in a munitions factory in France in 1916.

Italian heavy artillery stands on the Italian Front.
Italy. REUTERS/Archive of Modern Conflict London

Italian heavy artillery stands on the Italian Front.

An Austro-Hungarian soldier lies in a bunker.
REUTERS/Archive of Modern Conflict London

An Austro-Hungarian soldier lies in a bunker.

British troops advance at the Battle of the Somme.
France. REUTERS/Archive of Modern Conflict London

British troops advance at the Battle of the Somme.

Captured German prisoners lie on the ground in Longueau.
. Longueau, France. REUTERS/Archive of Modern Conflict London

Captured German prisoners lie on the ground in Longueau.

An Allied aircraft flies over the Western Front.
France. REUTERS/Archive of Modern Conflict London

An Allied aircraft flies over the Western Front.