Unseen Photographs Shed New Light on World War I

Yes, almost certainly a good proportion were marching off to die.

My grandfather fought in the Somme - and also against the Boers!
All the men in his small Kentish village came back alive (if not intact and undisturbed) from the war, but then a third of them died the next year from the flu.

My great grand father came back too, but not his brother ; another grest grand father came back with only 25% of his lungs. They were all cannon fodder in a horrible war. My great grand father said : "we did not have food delivered everyday, but hard alcohol yes." and "there was a company from Senegal next to us, and the food has not been coming for several days. One day they launched them on the German lines. They came back eating meat. The meat was the German soldiers."

Whoever the guys on the pictures were : thanks from France, again.

You say: Strangely, Liberation Day _ in Holland - used to be held only once every five years, but since 1990, it has been a yearly event.

It always has been a yearly event ansd still is. In 1990 the governement decided to give a bank holiday once in 5 years.

OK, I read thru the article - what exactly is the "new light" that has been shed by these old photos?

I looked through all of the pictures. The look in their eyes! These are some of my favourites, pictures 41, 92, 113, 157, 177, 216, 238. Most the rest are all the same lone soldier in uniform, but these really stood out.

The picture of the tattoo that is mentioned in the article is picture 219... definitely worth a look! Wow! The lighting is exquisite.

Yet I have to agree with Vonskippy. I was left wondering what the "new light" is exactly.

I think that the new light is that pictures of off duty British soldiers in France at this time are very rare. Most pictures that we have are taken at home with uniforms buff and facial hair glistening! Either that or at the trenches. Off duty and in a French garden - not so many! These pictures show a fairly bedraggled lot, even though for sure they must have done their best to spruce themselves up before standing in front of the camera. Also, the picture of the black Tommy is incredibly rare - we know that black soldiers served in the British forces but pics of them are few and far between. Plus social histor - like the tattoo - how many WW1 soldier pics like that do you see? The sheepskin tops, and so on...

guess the new light is about the tattoo :P