dundeesown Posted 10 August , 2012 Share Posted 10 August , 2012 In the DundeeTelegraph tonight a story about the desecration of the War Memorials in and around Dundee has this picture to go with the story,but what has the lad on top of his helmet ? any ideas ? Gary. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spconnolly007 Posted 10 August , 2012 Share Posted 10 August , 2012 Could it be the hessian cover for helmet rolled up and tied in place? Regards Sean Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Joe Sweeney Posted 10 August , 2012 Share Posted 10 August , 2012 I think it might be a ratty Hessian cover with the one side that is not attached well being blown by the wind. Other than that it might be a proto punk with an attached Mohawk adornement. Joe Sweeney Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
spconnolly007 Posted 10 August , 2012 Share Posted 10 August , 2012 it might be a proto punk with an attached Mohawk adornement. Joe Sweeney I think I prefer this answer Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Old Owl Posted 10 August , 2012 Share Posted 10 August , 2012 Other than that it might be a proto punk with an attached Mohawk adornement. Joe Sweeney "Put that man on a charge S'arnt Major." Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dundeesown Posted 10 August , 2012 Author Share Posted 10 August , 2012 So we are going for a cover or Hawkeye Gary Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Mike_H Posted 10 August , 2012 Share Posted 10 August , 2012 That is a well used photo, I reckon it is a retouch that does not appear in the original. ike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tipperary Posted 10 August , 2012 Share Posted 10 August , 2012 looks like the cover on the man nearest camera helmet is on the way off.john Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Steven Broomfield Posted 11 August , 2012 Share Posted 11 August , 2012 So we are going for a cover or Hawkeye Gary Don't see Hawkeye helping. No way that's LBW. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dundeesown Posted 11 August , 2012 Author Share Posted 11 August , 2012 ( Hawkeye ) as in last of the Mohicans. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
findabetterole Posted 2 November , 2012 Share Posted 2 November , 2012 I've seen this picture so many times now over the years, and it still facinates me for some unexplained reason. The whole image that this chaps helmet portrays is so sureal! Personaly, I tend to agree with 'Mike_H'. I do not think that its a part of the period original. Let me try and explain what I mean. Study the details of the items in the photograph, especially those that produce a shadow. Try and imagine the supposed item on the helmet, and visualise the shadow it would produce if it were to be in a certain angle.. say, either rolled up, or just being lifted by the wind! The item is supposed to be some form of helmet cover. The shadow to the right of the helmet addition actually curves away to the right of the helmet from approx the center. Yet the item on the helmet remains at the center. Also, the shadow does not follow what is actually being shown, and appears far to haevy. If you also look a little closer at the supposed cover, it is a series of heavy upward strokes, each stroke equal to the next... not natural, but consistant with a pencil. All this leads me to believe that this is indeed a touched up photograph. A bit of artistic license perhaps? But for what reason? That I'm sure will be debated till the cows come home! Seph Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FROGSMILE Posted 2 November , 2012 Share Posted 2 November , 2012 Personally I think it is just the expedient way that he found to carry a rolled/folded sand bag intended for a specific task. We know that each wave had extra equipment specified for carriage forward. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
bruce Posted 2 November , 2012 Share Posted 2 November , 2012 ( Hawkeye ) as in last of the Mohicans. Then he must be Uncas Bruce Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted 2 November , 2012 Share Posted 2 November , 2012 Does anyone know who took the original, and is this from same series Click ? Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
findabetterole Posted 2 November , 2012 Share Posted 2 November , 2012 Yes Mike... it is from the same series. Seph Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted 2 November , 2012 Share Posted 2 November , 2012 Cheers Seph. It's the Somme right? Is it Brooks? Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
findabetterole Posted 2 November , 2012 Share Posted 2 November , 2012 To tell you the truth Mike... I could not even guess at the photographers name. I have seen this series before though.. many times. If your able to study the actual series, you'll see that quite a few of the shell bursts are pencilled in. Quite common at the time, to sensationalise the shots for the general public. If that were actually the second wave going in... you'd not find the photographer standing where he is. There would be to much lead coming his way. This is actually reinforcements strolling up after the heaviest of the fighting as moved on. The series pans to the right, and the stretcher bear can clerly be seen in a few of the shots dissapearing in the distance. It is the Somme though, but what part, and at what point in the battle is not that clear. Seph. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
FROGSMILE Posted 4 November , 2012 Share Posted 4 November , 2012 I agree that it could quite easily be (and probably is) a contrived scene for the cameras, but that does not stop the soldiers from being dressed and equipped as stipulated by their particular unit and formation for the advance. That said I guess we will never know the truth of it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
findabetterole Posted 4 November , 2012 Share Posted 4 November , 2012 Quite true.... we may never know! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted 4 November , 2012 Share Posted 4 November , 2012 The photograph appears on page 223 of The Illustrated War News Vol 2 Virtual Library Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chris Foster Posted 4 November , 2012 Share Posted 4 November , 2012 Does anyone know who took the original, and is this from same series Click ? Mike Mike, thie "stretcher bearer" photo is part of the the IWM collection No Q1309. Battle of Morval 25-28/09/16, by Lt Ernest Brooks. Link http://www.iwm.org.uk/collections/item/object/205193940 Regards Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted 5 November , 2012 Share Posted 5 November , 2012 Thanks Chris. The image (Battle of Morval) doesn't seem to be available, I think this is the closest Click i wonder if it's in the original? Mike Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dundeesown Posted 5 November , 2012 Author Share Posted 5 November , 2012 Thanks for all the links lads. Gary. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
GRANVILLE Posted 9 December , 2012 Share Posted 9 December , 2012 I thought I'd bring this one back to life after I just read a one-liner in 'Realities of War' by Philip Gibbs which I'm reading yet again. On page 214 Gibbs is writing about Royal Fusiliers & Northumberland Fusiliers coming back from taking German trenches at St Eloi in 1915 when he writes: "Some of them had shawls tied to their helmets". Nothing more is said about it, but it was obviously unusual enough for him to have noted and commented on it. Any thoughts anyone? David PS I perhaps should have added that in the previous sentence he states: "Their steel helmets were covered with sand bagging......". So whatever the shawls were about they presumably were not to do with camouflage? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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