Never Before Seen Images From WWI’s Front Lines (Photos)
One hundred years after The Great War began, a collection of images on hundreds of glass plates reveals life behind the trenches in wartime France.
Denise Follveider/Reuters
An undated archive picture shows French soldiers posing outside their shack, dubbed The Chalet, at la Sapiniere near Lachalade on the Argonne front, in eastern France. A viscount in the Armoured Cavalry Branch of the French army left behind a collection of hundreds of glass plates taken during World War I that have never before been published. The images, by an unknown photographer, show the daily life of soldiers in the trenches, destruction of towns, and military leaders. The year 2014 marks the 100th anniversary of the start of WWI.
Denise Follveider/Reuters
French troops from the rear guard eat lunch near Arras, in northern France.
Denise Follveider/Reuters
French soldiers pose in a trench at Suippes on the Champagne front, in eastern France.
Denise Follveider/Reuters
French Gen. Emile Eugene Belin (right) visits the front line near Arras.
Denise Follveider/Reuters
Field Marshall Douglas Haig riding a horse at an unknown location in France, on Feb. 14, 1916. Haig was the British commander in chief during the Battle of the Somme.
Denise Follveider/Reuters
A shelter for machine gunners in a French trench at Apremont-la-Foret, in eastern France.
Denise Follveider/Reuters
A statue of Christ on the cross on a tree at Fricourt on the Somme front, in October 1916.
Denise Follveider/Reuters
A French officer stands near a cemetery amid the graves of soldiers recently killed on the front lines, at Saint-Jean-sur-Tourbe on the Champagne front, on Dec. 19, 1916.
Denise Follveider/Reuters
German soldiers (rear) offer to surrender to French troops, seen from a listening post in a trench at Massiges, in northeastern France.
Denise Follveider/Reuters
French soldiers move a 95 mm cannon, on the rear guard near the front, at an unknown location in France.
Denise Follveider/Reuters
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