21 Colorized Photos Depicting the Reality of World War I
Most people see World War I through grainy black-and-white photographs. But with restored and colorized images, we’re able to see a new side of the war: Faces of young soldiers paralyzed with fear, mud-soaked trenches, and the small pockets of joy that kept those in the frontlines going. These rare glimpses in color bridge more than a century of history, showing why the Great War was one of the most consequential and devastating chapters in history.
1. Men of the Royal Garrison Artillery Haul a BL 6-Inch 26 Cwt Howitzer Into Position on the Balkan Front, May 1917
2. German Soldiers Posing Among Ruins, 1918
3. German Soldiers With a Mauser T-Gewehr Anti-Tank Rifle Take Aim During a Battle in Bray-sur-Somme, France, 1918
4. Safety First: Soldiers and Donkey Wearing Gas Masks, Circa 1917
5. Troops From the 13th Battalion Prepare To Advance on the Village of Veldhoek in Belgium, September 1917
6. Soldiers From the British Army Carry Duckboards Over a Support Line Trench Under Cover of Night, January 1917
7. German Soldiers Use a Sound Locator Device on the Frontlines of Neuve-Chapelle, Northern France, 1916
8. ‘German Soldiers in Winter Gear on the Eastern Front, 1917’
9. ‘An American Soldier Bids Farewell To His Family Before Leaving for France in 1917’
10. A French Soldier Holds a Periscope Rifle While in The Trenches
11. Soldiers of the 8th Battalion, Known as the Liverpool Irish of the 57th Division, Entering Lille on October 18, 1918
12. Russian Soldiers of the 83rd Infantry Samur Regiment Take a Break During the Brusilov Offensive, July 1916
13. A German Soldier Donning a Sawtooth Bayonet and Armor, 1917
14. A Russian Imperial Army Soldier Stands Next to a Horse With a Colt Machine Gun Mounted on Its Back
15. Soldiers of the 1st Bulgarian Army Wearing Fur-Lined Coats Stand Guard in a Snow-Covered Trench on the Southern Front, 1917
16. Members of the New Zealand Machine Gun Squadron Hidden in a Cornfield Near Colincamps, France, June 1918
17. ‘An American Field Hospital in a Ruined Church in France, 1918’
18. German Father and Son From the Same Regiment Read a Letter From Home, 1915
19. German Soldiers Wear Gas Masks While Firing From a Trench, July 1916
20. A French Army Medic Stands in a Devastated Trench, 1917
21. Muslim Soldiers From the Russian Imperial Army Pray Under Supervision in a German Camp in Austria, September 1914
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