The Great War Illustrated 1915: Archive and Colour Photographs of WWI

686 Pages·2015·76.28 MB·English

by  Jack Holroyd

Dedicated to the One True Sovereign
who was disregarded by the nations when, in 1914, men elected to fight
among themselves on behalf of their own sovereignties First published in Great Britain in 2015 by
PEN & SWORD MILITARY
an imprint of
Pen & Sword Books Ltd,
47 Church Street, Barnsley,
South Yorkshire.
S70 2AS
Copyright © William Langford & Jack Holroyd, 2015
ISBN: 978-1-47382-396-9
PDF ISBN: 978-1-47387-246-2
EPUB ISBN: 978-1-47387-245-5
PRC ISBN: 978-1-47387-244-8
The right of William Langford & Jack Holroyd to be identified as Authors of this Work
has been asserted by them in accordance with the
Copyright, Designs and Patents Act 1988.
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from the British Library.
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Contents

Introduction
Chapter One Losses and Gains – Fighting at Sea
Chapter Two Middle East and the Gallipoli Failure
Chapter Three The Battle of Neuve Chapelle
Chapter Four The Second Battle of Ypres – Hill 60 –
Gas
Chapter Five Zeppelin Attack – Incentives to Join The
Colours
Chapter Six The New Army – The Armaments
Chapter Seven The Battle of Loos
The Taylor Picture Library
In 2002 publisher Charles Hewitt acquired the photographic archive
of military collector and medals dealer, Peter N. Taylor of Barnsley,
and in so doing instantly obtained thousands of potographs of both the
First and Second World Wars. With this book, The Great War
Illustrated 1915, a selection of over 1,000 images is displayed on its
pages; an identification number has been given to the individual
illustrations so that they may be ordered by authors, book designers,
picture researchers and television and film programme makers. The
images are all corrected and brought to the required specification and
generous size requested by printers of books and magazines. The
colour section has been produced by graphic designer Jon Wilkinson.
Peter Taylor has been dealing in medals and militaria for over twenty-
five years, throughout which time he has had the foresight to buy up
collections and albums of photographs, many of which were first
generation press-release prints with an officially sanctioned caption on
the back. In the eighties and nineties photographs of the Great War
could be picked up for a few pence; now at arms fairs they may fetch
up to £50 a print.
One hundred-year-old press release photographs may have incurred damage over
time, such as the sample reproduced here of the hospital ship Braemar Castle
preparing to leave Salonika. Present-day technology can bring about satisfactory
restoration results that render an image suitable for reproduction. The example
shown was heavily scratched, blistered, creased and faded out. A version of the
same subject is shown below after it has been being worked on.
The Braemar Castle served in a variety of roles: as a cross-channel troop
transport for the British Expeditionary Force in 1914; a troop transport in the
Gallipoli campaign in 1915; and a hospital ship from 1915 onward. It was as a
hospital ship in November 1916 that she struck a mine in the Aegean Sea, but
was repaired. The attached picture label on the back reads:
ANOTHER HUN OUTRAGE ON THE RED CROSS
There is no atrocity too vile for the Huns to encompass, no outrage on
Humanity’s laws too fragrant to perpetrate. Close upon the sinking of the
Britannic hospital ship comes news that another stately liner, the Braemar
Castle, bearing the sacred symbol of the Red Cross, has been ‘mined or
torpedoed’ in the Aegean Sea. That all aboard, including homeward-bound
wounded, are reported saved is a mercy that does not lesson the brutality of the
crime. These photographs show the Braemar Castle ready to leave Salonica.
FRENCH OFFICIAL WAR PHOTOGRAPH
Chapter One: Losses and Gains – Fighting at
Sea, 1915
15GW003 The German armoured cruiser SMS Blücher was sunk in spectacular
fashion on 24 January 1915 at the Battle of Dogger Bank.
15GW005 British ‘bluejackets’ loading a torpedo into its launching tube aboard
a Royal Navy cruiser.
The year 1915 began with a shocking bang for the Royal Navy: it was
in the early hours of the morning, 1 January, when a torpedo struck
HMS Formidable, a pre-dreadnaught battleship. Part of the 5th Battle
Squadron carrying out gunnery exercises off Portland, she was
supported by the light cruisers Topaze and Diamond. Submarine
activity had been reported in the area. Formidable was steaming at the
rear of the squadron when a torpedo from U-24 struck the port side.
The captain, Noel Loxley, gave the order to abandon ship. At about
03:05, Formidable was struck by a second torpedo on the starboard
side. The two light cruisers came alongside and managed to pick up
eighty men in the deteriorating weather. At 04:45 she rolled over onto
men in the water and sank quickly. Captain Loxley remained on the
bridge overseeing the evacuation of the ship. Loss of life was 35