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Private photos from World War 1

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A plane is a cool thing. A group of people taking a close look.

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Burg Gobern a.d. Mosel

I skipped one photo, that showed only non-descriped flat landscape.


Gobern Castle on the Mosel river.
Spelling should be "Kobern"

Don't know why this is included in the album. Maybe my great-uncle got a few days vacation ;)

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Rowno

Rowno / Rivne

We are back in the Russian Empire / Poland / Ukraine.
This looks like a permanent market to me. Lots of loaded carts in that triangular space in the center, eh? Some streets are pretty busy.

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Heldenfriedhof in Sedan

Heros' graveyard in Sedan, france

Sedan was the site of the decisive battle of the Franco-German war of 1870/71, on September 02 1870, when the Germans took 100,000 POWs, among them Emperor Napoleon III.

This is St. Charles cemetary.
The monument is in a sorry shape today:
http://www.dffv.de/Projekte/Denkmal_Sedan/Denkmal_Sedan.htm

The inscription reads
Kämpfend für Kaiser und Reich, nahm Gott uns die irdische Sonne;
Jetzt, vom Irdischen frei, strahlt uns sein ewiges Licht.
Heilig die Stätte, die ihr durch blutige Opfer geweiht habt!
Dreimal Heilig für uns durch das Opfer des Danks
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Translation:
"Fighting for Kaiser and Reich, God took away from us the earthly sun
Now, free from all earthly, his eternal light shines
Holy be the site, which you sanctified through your sacrifice!
Thrice Holy for us by the sacrifice of thanks"

Yep, the German sounds as pathetic as the translation :D

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This looks more east than west to me. But my guess is no better than the next person's.

The woman fills a bucket with water from this apparent puddle. Would you dare to use it for any purpose? :boggled:

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This image finishes off the first album.
 
Of all the photos, only one shows the cruelty of war. This is from the second album. I won't post the second album until next week (I hope), as I will call it a night and be away for the weekend.


I have no information who this man is, or if he is alive or dead. I only know I don't want to be in his postion. Ever.

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madurobob said:
Train type? The first thing I thought of when I saw this pic: "The Little Engine That Could" :)

That scale on the right looks a lot like a light meter - not sure why it would be burned into the paper like that, though.

Anyway - fantastic pics. Keep 'em coming!
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Yeah, poor little thing ^^ My grandfather was a railroad engineer, operating steam trains. His father and several relatives were working trains, too. I am told they were tremendously strong men - running steam trains was very hard labour.
 
Madalch said:
It could just be the small arms, or it could be the Prussian arms rather than the Imperial ones. I'll check a few books over the weekend and get back to you.
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Thank you!
I am having trouble also figuring out the events of the war in that area, beyond the very general. Apparently, the Austrians did some part, but the Germans did more.
 
Oystein said:
Of all the photos, only one shows the cruelty of war. This is from the second album. I won't post the second album until next week (I hope), as I will call it a night and be away for the weekend.


I have no information who this man is, or if he is alive or dead. I only know I don't want to be in his postion. Ever.
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Equipement is either british or american and I'd hazard a guess at the photo being taken during the Spring Offensive of 1918.
 
Oystein said:
I am not quite sure how to translate "Abfahren" - it is a little ambiguous. "Drahtspulen" is "wire bobbins" or "wire rolls" at any rate. "Abfahren" could mean that someone drives along them (for an inspection?), or that they are unspun.

I would say "Unspinning of wire spindles"

Apparently, they are heavy and need 4 hourses drawn together to be unspun.
I wonder what that row of little crater is at the top left.

The top margin of the photo contains characters:

"B,Fl. 47. 6645, 26.917.900 V. nordwestl.czaro?sk...????"

Something somthing north-west of ...?
I have no idea what that means!

http://www.maraite.net/jean-pierre/DSC_3467.JPG
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47. 6645, 26.917.900 - That could well be latitude and longitude. If so that would place it in modern day Moldova, north west of Chisinau
 
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I'm no expert, but the casualty's uniform and gear look British to me, too. A reminder of how easy most of my generation have had it. This is a treasure trove .
 
Wonderful photographs. Thanks for posting.

I think the aircraft may be an LVG C.VIWP. Can't find any really good pictures but this ain't bad: http://www.aviastar.org/air/germany/lvg_c-6.php

The wingtips are very distinctive (flaring out on the upper and curling in on the lower wings) and the slightly raised observer's cupola (mg mounting ring, presumably) seem to fit, though the cylinder visible above the engine is odd. I'm guessing that's a silencer of some kind on the exhaust manifold. Maybe to make the plane more stealthy for low level reconnaissance. That's just a guess though as i can't find any evidence it was used.

On second thoughts, this photo: http://airmuseumsuk.org/airshow/2003/Shut030823/800/pages/037 LVG C.VI.htm is a bit off. There's no radiator in the centre of the top wing of the plane in your pictures. Maybe a different engine variant, though.
 
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I would contact Gawdzilla, he is involved in an online WW2 project and is an historian. I am sure he could give you some ideas of who to contact with these amazing photos
 
Oystein said:
Dugout near Styr river

So they did this kind of warfare on the eastern front, too :-/
What are the long sticks?
What would the barricades at the bottom left corner defend against?
Is there a "style" to these trenches that would help us identify them as Russian?
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Those are barbed wire barricades. The long sticks are for future construction of more. The long pole forms the center, and the crossbars at the ends and middle support the wire.
 
Oystein said:
The barrack looks the same as in the previous image, but where do the houses come from??

It's winter now; it wasnt in the other photo.

The cross marking on the plane looks German to me. Or is this typical for other nations as well?
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No, that cross identified a German plane.
 
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