Dragoon Posted 19 April , 2021 Share Posted 19 April , 2021 Loving these postcards Toby! A real insight to a soldier's home from home. Cheers Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toby Brayley Posted 19 April , 2021 Share Posted 19 April , 2021 On 19/04/2021 at 21:17, Dragoon said: Loving these postcards Toby! A real insight to a soldier's home from home. Cheers Chris Certainly some of my favourites, although they fetch an almost unobtainable premium nowadays. Heres some more barrack life cards, with the RMLI. Possibly my all time favourite here... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
RNCVR Posted 19 April , 2021 Share Posted 19 April , 2021 Really superb cards Toby! Thanks for showing them. The conical object shown above the beds in the Sergeant's mess & the last close up photo - would that be their helmet cover? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toby Brayley Posted 19 April , 2021 Share Posted 19 April , 2021 1 hour ago, Dragoon said: Loving these postcards Toby! A real insight to a soldier's home from home. Cheers Chris More than welcome, yes they appear to be the "home service" helmet in the issued cover. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FROGSMILE Posted 19 April , 2021 Share Posted 19 April , 2021 (edited) What different times they were when rifles were regularly kept secured in racks between bed spaces along the barrack room walls. Edited 19 April , 2021 by FROGSMILE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vintagebobt Posted 21 April , 2021 Share Posted 21 April , 2021 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vintagebobt Posted 21 April , 2021 Share Posted 21 April , 2021 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FROGSMILE Posted 21 April , 2021 Share Posted 21 April , 2021 Looks like a character portrayal at a POW concert. Cowboy perhaps, the contrived dress is ironically very close to that of the official uniform of the Frontiersmen units. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vintagebobt Posted 21 April , 2021 Share Posted 21 April , 2021 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Gunner 87 Posted 21 April , 2021 Share Posted 21 April , 2021 These postcards were brought home by my Great Grandfather while serving with the RGA and who spent time posted on Malta. An interesting detail is the ships are named on the first five. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreyC Posted 21 April , 2021 Share Posted 21 April , 2021 1 hour ago, FROGSMILE said: Looks like a character portrayal at a POW concert. The photographer seemed to have had a photo-studio within the confines of the POW-camp or at least close by, as it says Paul Tharau, POW-camp photographer. GreyC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vintagebobt Posted 21 April , 2021 Share Posted 21 April , 2021 1 hour ago, FROGSMILE said: Looks like a character portrayal at a POW concert. Cowboy perhaps, the contrived dress is ironically very close to that of the official uniform of the Frontiersmen units. I have a lot more to post, I will get some more scans done during the week Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FROGSMILE Posted 21 April , 2021 Share Posted 21 April , 2021 4 hours ago, Gunner 87 said: These postcards were brought home by my Great Grandfather while serving with the RGA and who spent time posted on Malta. An interesting detail is the ships are named on the first five. That epitomises the time when Britannia Ruled the Waves with policy of maintaining a navy twice as large as its next rival in strength. Mind boggling now and with a cost to National effort then that was the equivalent of maintaining the NHS now. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FROGSMILE Posted 21 April , 2021 Share Posted 21 April , 2021 3 hours ago, GreyC said: The photographer seemed to have had a photo-studio within the confines of the POW-camp or at least close by, as it says Paul Tharau, POW-camp photographer. GreyC I get the impression that demand from the Cottbus POW camp constituted a significant part of his business. The photographers of all belligerents seemed to have found a lucrative trade among the massed armies that tussled on the world stage. The mad economics of total war. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FROGSMILE Posted 21 April , 2021 Share Posted 21 April , 2021 3 hours ago, vintagebobt said: I have a lot more to post, I will get some more scans done during the week I’m intrigued by the “Gaff Party” which I think might be the chosen name of the Cottbus POW’s camp concert party. It seems to have had a nautical theme given the naval uniforms and that a Gaff was a sailboat. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreyC Posted 21 April , 2021 Share Posted 21 April , 2021 6 minutes ago, FROGSMILE said: The photographers of all belligerents seemed to have found a lucrative trade among the massed armies that tussled on the world stage. Hi Frogsmile, they might have seen this as a welcomed compensation for all the missed normal business due to the war. GreyC Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FROGSMILE Posted 21 April , 2021 Share Posted 21 April , 2021 (edited) 13 minutes ago, GreyC said: Hi Frogsmile, they might have seen this as a welcomed compensation for all the missed normal business due to the war. GreyC Yes I think so, although I imagine that the scale was even better for them given that the war effectively gathered together in a concentrated space a large body of potential customers all contemplating their mortality, and the possibility of leaving some essence of themselves, a lifelike image, for their loved ones. Edited 21 April , 2021 by FROGSMILE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GreyC Posted 21 April , 2021 Share Posted 21 April , 2021 In Cottbus they had two POW camps: in Sielow and Merzdorf, totaling up to 10,000 POWs. That was a fifth of the total population of Cottbus at that time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FROGSMILE Posted 21 April , 2021 Share Posted 21 April , 2021 1 minute ago, GreyC said: In Cottbus they had two POW camps: in Sielow and Merzdorf, totaling up to 10,000 POWs. That was a fifth of the total population of Cottbus at that time. Yes exactly, a quite extraordinary pool of potential customers all conveniently gather in one place. A captive market, as it were.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GWF1967 Posted 22 April , 2021 Share Posted 22 April , 2021 Warrant Officers. Royal Engineer and his Wife. Photograph by "W. Gredy, 168 St. Georges Road, Bolton". Royal Engineers group. 6/4/1919. Royal Army Medical Corps group. 17/4/1918. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FROGSMILE Posted 22 April , 2021 Share Posted 22 April , 2021 (edited) A super set of photos, thank you for posting them. It’s interesting to see the WO in the uppermost photo wearing non-regulation pattern shoes, suggesting he is taking advantage of being away from barracks. In the middle photo just one of the WOI is wearing quasi officer pattern service dress whereas the other two are making do with well cut 02 service dress, such a mixture was common during the war and its immediate aftermath. In the RAMC group photo just the central figure is a WOI, the other fellow, standing at rear and wearing collar badges, is equipped with a 03 pattern leather belt with pistol brace. Edited 22 April , 2021 by FROGSMILE Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vintagebobt Posted 22 April , 2021 Share Posted 22 April , 2021 Some more scans for you all, I will only scan the back if there is some writing on it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vintagebobt Posted 22 April , 2021 Share Posted 22 April , 2021 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vintagebobt Posted 22 April , 2021 Share Posted 22 April , 2021 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
vintagebobt Posted 22 April , 2021 Share Posted 22 April , 2021 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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