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A universe of beauty, mystery and wonder
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Showing posts with label World War I. Show all posts
Showing posts with label World War I. Show all posts

Sunday, January 17, 2016

WORLD WAR I IN COLOR PHOTOGRAPHS - Images of French soldiers and civilians on the Western Front - Scenes of normal life, war, and destruction

©http://ottersandsciencenews.blogspot.ca/. Unauthorized duplication of this blog's material is prohibited.   Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full credit and link is given to Otters and Science News Blogspot.  Link to this post:  http://ottersandsciencenews.blogspot.ca/2016/01/world-war-i-in-color-photographs-images.html - Thank you for visiting my blog.
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  • Rare colour photos capture what life was like for soldiers away from the fighting on the Western Front
  • Remarkable set of pictures was taken in France in 1917, the fourth year of fighting in the First World War 

  • A French soldier has lunch in front of a damaged library in a square in Reims, in north-eastern France on 1 April 1917
    A French soldier has lunch in front of a damaged library in a square in Reims, in north-eastern France on 1 April 1917

    See additional images in color

    Sunday, May 10, 2015

    THE 1.5 MILLION JEWS WHO SERVED WITH THE ALLIES IN WORLD WAR 2 - THE 250,000 WHO DIED FIGHTING TO LIBERATE OTHER PEOPLE - In spite of the many honors they received, they are almost forgotten - Often they were forced to implement anti-Jewish measures, showing how only by serving with the Israeli Army can Jews defend other Jews.

    PERPLEXED OTTER©http://ottersandsciencenews.blogspot.ca/. Unauthorized duplication of this blog's material is prohibited.   Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full credit and link is given to Otters and Science News Blogspot.  Link to this post:  http://ottersandsciencenews.blogspot.ca/2015/05/the-15-million-jews-who-served-with.html - Thank you for visiting my blog.
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    Key points
    • PM Netanyahu was criticized for mentioning Jewish powerlessness in the 1940s. 
    • In fact, the role played by Jewish soldiers serving with Allied armies during World War II proves that point.
    • An estimated 1.5 million men and women served with honor during WW2.  About 250,000 of them died fighting.  But they were not serving the Jewish people.
    • Jews who served in the Russian, British, and American armies may have been forced to participate in anti-Semitic actions.
    • Jews serving with US forces, for example, were forced to enforce Vichy anti-Semitic laws that continued to be applied during the US occupation of France.
    • Jewish pilots serving with the US and British armies were not allowed to bomb the Nazi death camps infrastructure or railways leading to the camps.  (In their own private conversations the Allies agreed they did not want to deal with too many Jewish survivors after the war.)
    • The British refused for a long time to train the Jewish Brigade out of fear that after the war they would defend the Jews of Palestine.
    • The British sent the Jewish Brigade to fight a battle or two, and only after September 1944.  The British, who were managing the League of Nations Mandate for Palestine, were openly pro-Arab and anti-Jewish.
    • Jews serving in the Soviet Army often had to hide the fact that they were Jews, due to discrimination.
    • Jewish recruits in all Allied armies often volunteered for the most dangerous missions.
    • Overall, Jews received a high number of honors for bravery, but they are now forgotten.
    • All of the above proves that only by serving in the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) can Jews truly defend Jewish interests.
     
    • Medoff-050815
     
     
    Netanyahu and Jewish World War II Veterans
    Another View
    By Rafael Medoff

    May 8 marks the 70th anniversary of V-E Day, when Nazi Germany surrendered to the Allies.

    Recent remarks by Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu about Jewish powerlessness in the 1940s have been criticized for supposedly insulting those Jews who served in the Allied armies. The criticism is unjustified. In fact, one could argue that the role Jewish soldiers played in World War Two actually confirms Netanyahu’s point.

    An estimated 1.5-million Jewish men and women served with honor and distinction in the American, British, Soviet, and other Allied armies during World War II. 

    Their courage and sacrifices deserve our unstinting admiration.

    But they were not serving the Jewish people; they were serving in the armies of other nations. 

    When Netanyahu noted that the existence of the Israel Defense Forces represents “the first time in one hundred generations [that] we, the Jewish people can defend ourselves,” he was absolutely correct.

    Jews who served in the Allied armies were not defending fellow Jews. In fact, there were instances when their service involved taking actions that were inimical to Jewish interests.

    Continue reading

    Saturday, December 27, 2014

    NOSTALGIA - RETRO POSTCARDS - The past seen through Christmas greeting cards during the Edwardian and Victorian times, and World War I - Also posters advertising French ski resorts during the 1930s and a magical timewarp view of London past Christmases.

    daily life©http://ottersandsciencenews.blogspot.ca/. Unauthorized duplication of this blog's material is prohibited.   Excerpts and links may be used, provided that full credit and link is given to Otters and Science News Blogspot.  Link to this post:  http://ottersandsciencenews.blogspot.ca/2014/12/nostalgia-retro-postcards-past-seen.html - Thank you for visiting my blog.
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    First World War Christmas cards showing how a company known for its 'saucy' seaside designs turned its hand to rallying wartime spirit have been unveiled 100 years after they first hit the printing press, including this pair which offer Christmas cheer to all - except the German KaiserChristmas card with a little red dressed girl standing in front of a golden background, 'I COME TO WISH YOU A HAPPY NEW YEAR' Four glimpses at the past: 

    1)  Victorian and Edwardian cards

    2)  World War I greeting cards

    3)  Posters for 1930s fancy ski resorts in France

    4)  A timewarp view of London Christmases past.


    Regent Street in 2014 is contrasted with a picture of the street in 1940. The older picture shows Father Christmas may have exchanged his civilian red hood for a warlike 'tin hat' during the Second World War but blitz or no blitz, he is determined to deliver his goods this yearPrinted on fine art cotton paper the prints are limited to runs of only 280 each, making them as exclusive as the resorts they portray



    1)  Kittens, suffragettes and snowball fights: How Londoners were wished a very merry Christmas in Victorian and Edwardian cards.
  • Civil servant Sir Henry began the custom of sending Christmas cards 171 years ago, after looking into using the new 'Public Post Office'.
  • The government worker designed the first card with an artist named John Horsley, with 1,000 of them made and sold for a shilling each.
  • The idea gained traction as postage costs fell thanks to the new railways, and it had spread across Europe by the start of the 20th century.Cute: This card comprised of a single sheet of card printed with a coloured chromolithographed image of five kittens on a snow-lined wall
  •  
    Joy: Another Victorian Christmas card depicting a group of brightly-dressed children dancing to music being played
     
    Rushing: A Victorian greeting card depicting a child posting a letter in time for Christmas, in part of the Museum of London's collection

     The Museum of London has more than 200 Christmas cards, many dating from this period, which are part of its printed ephemera collection.
     
    See more Christmas cards of this period, of World War I period, posters for 1930s ski resorts, and a bonus:  timewarp pictures of London Christmases past.

    Monday, September 1, 2014

    MIRACLES IN WORLD WAR I - Three British soldiers' lives spared when bullets aimed at them hit a Bible, a whistle, and a camera instead

    The Great War soldiers saved by a pocket Bible, a whistle and a camera: Incredible stories of how three heroes cheated death revealed

  • Wilfrid Bush, Ralfe Whistler and Joseph Clucas made incredible escapes
  • Private Bush was saved by his Bible on a battlefield in Ypres, Belgium
  • A bullet destined for Lieutenant Whistler hit his pocket camera 
  • Corporal Clucas’s whistle deflected a shot that would have killed him
  • Tales have been told by Paul Atterbury, an expert on Antiques Roadshow

  • Of all the stories of luck and survival to emerge from the Great War, they are among the most remarkable.  These three British soldiers all cheated death when items in their pockets took bullets that should have killed them.
     
    The incredible escapes of Wilfrid Bush, Ralfe Whistler and Joseph Clucas have now emerged 100 years after the outbreak of fighting.

    Tuesday, July 29, 2014

    GHOSTS OF THE FIRST WORLD WAR - OLD IMAGES OF WWI SOLDIERS superimposed on today's Britain

    Old and new: A 'male' MKIV tank at the Lord Mayor's show in 1917 in London, and a man crossing the road outside the Bank of England earlier this month

    Despite so many of Britain’s streets being packed with history, it can be hard to imagine what was happening on them 100 years ago.
    But these composite images show how places across London and further afield looked during the First World War compared to now.
    In one photo, German prisoners of war are seen being marched on their way to Southend Pier in Essex accompanied by guards in 1914.
    This archive image from the war has been matched with a present-day photo of the seafront in the sunshine, taken earlier this month.
    Posted: Australian soldiers outside Egypt House in London, where The Australian Bank is housed in 1917. Officer workers are also seen outside on July 11 this yearFurther up the east coast, wartime bomb damage in Lowestoft, Suffolk, has been matched up with a modern-day view of the same street.
    And a view of London’s Sloane Street shows US troops marching in 1918, compared to a photo of it as a present-day shopping metropolis.
    The new photos by Getty Images photographer Peter Macdiarmid have been matched up with archive shots from various image banks.  Other composites include images of Brighton, Bournemouth, Bristol, Royal Tunbridge Wells in Kent and Great Dixter in East Sussex.
     
    Read more and see additional pictures
     
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    Thursday, July 17, 2014

    WORLD WAR I SOLDIERS' CARVINGS FOUND - Their messages of love, faith, and patriotism carved in caverns during the war

    Voices from the depths of hell: Photos show their messages carved into walls of vast network of caverns where men lived and died during the First World War

  • Photographer Jeff Gusky and writer Evan Hadingham explored the forgotten caverns of the Great War
  • The underground chambers are decorated with signatures, slogans and even elaborate carvings by soldiers
  • Although better than the trenches, conditions in the cavern were unpleasant and the danger of war was ever present.

  • U.S. troops of the 26th 'Yankee' Division, billeted in an underground quarry at Chemin des Dames, carved some 500 engravings during six weeks in 1918. These include names, addresses, religious and patriotic symbols, and other images.


    Read more and see additional pictures
    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2694921/Voices-depths-hell-Photos-messages-love-faith-patriotism-carved-walls-vast-network-tunnels-men-lived-died-First-World-War.html

    Photo - Jeffrey Gusky - National Geographic

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    Sunday, June 1, 2014

    WORLD WAR I - THE CHRISTMAS TRUCE OF 1914 RECREATED - When Germans and British soldiers played football together in France

    Photo Daily Mail
    From the trenches to the beach: The poignant moment that two warring countries united over an impromptu football match is recreated in Teesside to commemorate the Great War. 

  • The football match spontaneously broke out in No Man's Land in Flanders, France on Christmas Day 1914
  • It signalled a truce along the Western Front, as British and German soldier lay down their weapons for one day only
  • After that, the war continued for four years, claiming more than ten millions lives
  • Now that historic game has been recreated on Saltburn beach, Teesside, to commemorate the Great War 

  • The two teams dressed up in vintage army uniforms and played the game, which ended up with a 5-2 win to the 'British' side.   There was also a field of 8,000 poppies laid to create a temporary 'war cemetery' in tribute to the fallen. A Tiger Moth plane also flew overhead, scattering 40,000 poppy petals onto the crowds below.

    The 1914 game was one of many unofficial ceasefires that took place along the Western Front around Christmas 1914 during that war.   The truce began after a German messenger walked across No Man's Land on Christmas Eve to broker the temporary ceasefire.

    Read more and see pictures
    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2645659/d.html

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