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First World War centenary: WW I in Photos (1)

World War I in Photos

A century ago, an assassin, a Serbian nationalist, killed the heir to the throne of Austria-Hungary as he visited Sarajevo. This act was the catalyst for a massive conflict that lasted four years. More than 65 million soldiers were mobilized by more than 30 nations, with battles taking place around the world. Industrialization brought modern weapons, machinery, and tactics to warfare, vastly increasing the killing power of armies. Battlefield conditions were horrific, typified by the chaotic, cratered hellscape of the Western Front, where soldiers in muddy trenches faced bullets, bombs, gas, bayonet charges, and more.

World War I Introduction

One hundred years ago, in the summer of 1914, a series of events set off an unprecedented global conflict that ultimately claimed the lives of more than 16 million people, dramatically redrew the maps of Europe, and set the stage for the 20th Century.

The June 28, 1914, assassination of Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire, by Serbian nationalist Gavrilo Princip set off a chain of events that ended in the outbreak of World War I.

The bodies of Archduke of Austria Franz Ferdinand and his wife Sophie lying in state after their assassination in Sarajevo.

Bloodstained coat worn by Yugoslav Archduke Franz Ferdinand when he was slain by Gavrilo Prinzip in 1914.

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The funeral of Archduke Franz Ferdinand and Duchess Sophie 1914The funeral procession took place in Sarajevo the day after the assassination. Archduke Ferdinand and his wife were embalmed in Sarajevo and were laid in state in Sarajevo’s town hall. The funeral cortege then left from the town hall to the train station in Sarajevo during the late afternoon of the 29th June 1914.

Franz Joseph I of AustriaAfter the death of Crown Prince Rudolf, Franz Joseph's nephew, Archduke Franz Ferdinand, became heir to the throne. On 28 June 1914, Franz Ferdinand and his morganatic wife, Countess Sophie Chotek, were assassinated on a visit to Sarajevo. When he heard the news of the assassination, Franz Joseph said that "one has not to defy the Almighty. In this manner a superior power has restored that order which I unfortunately was unable to maintain."On 21 July, Franz Joseph was apparently surprised by the severity of the ultimatum that was to be sent to the Serbs.A week after the ultimatum, on 28 July, Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, and two days later, the Austro-Hungarians and the Russians went to war. Within weeks, the French and British entered the fray. Because of his age, Franz Joseph was unable to take as much as an active part in the war in comparison to past conflicts.

Germany's Kaiser Wilhelm II Kaiser Wilhelm II, ruler of Imperial Germany beginning in 1888. Oldest grandson of England's Queen Victoria, the Kaiser was a cousin to both King George V of England and Czar Nicholas II of Russia. As Germany's leader, Kaiser Wilhelm was obsessed with maintaining his popularity, and was therefore somewhat erratic in his decision making--torn between the advice of his ministers, his desire to be popular, and his fear of appearing weak-willed. "I alone decide," he once boasted in the manner of an autocrat, but at the same time he was susceptible to manipulation by his advisors.

Germany's Kaiser Wilhelm II The Kaiser reviews his troops as Commander-in-Chief of the German Army. A close look at the Kaiser reveals the withered left arm he was born with. The Kaiser overcame the psychological impact of this obvious physical infirmity by embracing all things military, and always wore a military uniform. He envisioned a Germany that would someday possess an empire to rival Great Britain--an outlook that spurred an intensive arms race between Germany and Britain in the early 1900's--and then led to war in 1914 when the Kaiser gave his unconditional backing to Austria following the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, mainly as a means of preserving Germany's rising status and his own prestige.

George V King of the United Kingdom, Emperor of IndiaGeorge V assumed the British throne in May 1910, following the death of his father, King Edward VII. He made repeated visits to the front throughout World War I, earning him the deep respect of his subjects.

Russia's Czar Nicholas II When Austria-Hungary declared war on Serbia, Russia's alliance with its Balkan neighbor forced it to enter the war against the Central Powers. The tsar assumed control of the Russian army, with disastrous results. In 1917, he was forced to abdicate, and he and his family were executed in 1918.

Look-a-likes Czar Nicholas (on left) and his cousin King George of England--soon to be allies against their other cousin, Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany. Their grandmother, Queen Victoria, had dominated the royalty of old-world Europe throughout the 1800's. She presided as a level-headed matriarch, helping to preserve order among her powerful descendants. But upon her death in 1901, the royals were driven apart by pent up rivalries, pride and national ambition, a scenario that lead to the most destructive war the world had ever known, beginning in the summer of 1914.

Vladimir Ilyich Lenin After the Bolsheviks seized power during the Russian Revolution of 1917, Lenin negotiated the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk. The treaty ended Russia's involvement in World War I, but on humiliating terms: Russia lost territory and nearly one-quarter of its population to the Central Powers.

Woodrow Wilson – President of the United States/Commander-In-Chief of the U.S. armed forcesIn 1918, President Wilson outlined his vision for a post-war world. He aimed to reduce arms, provide for self-determination and create an association of nations to prevent future wars. His ideas faced opposition at home and abroad and the Treaty of Versailles was never ratified by the United States.

John J. Pershing A graduate of West Point and a veteran of the Battle of San Juan Hill, "Black Jack" Pershing was named commander of the American Expeditionary Force when the United States entered World War I in April 1917.

Ferdinand Foch Marshal of France, Supreme Allied Commander Foch led French forces at the First Battle of the Marne, but was removed from command after the Battle of the Somme in 1916. In 1918, he was named Allied Supreme Commander, coordinating the war's final offensives. Foch was present at the armistice ending the war in November, 1918.

A picture taken on 11 November 1918 shows French Marshall Ferdinand Foch (L), Supreme commander of the Allied Forces, and American General John J. Pershing, commander of the American Expeditionnary forces, in the courtyard of Versailles Palace shortly before the signing of the Armistice at the end of World War I. Photo - AFP

Douglas Haig Commander-in-Chief of the British Expeditionary Force Haig commanded British forces at the Battle of the Somme, losing 60,000 men on the first day. By the end of the campaign, the Allies had lost more than 600,000 men--and advanced fewer than eight miles. Haig rebounded with success in 1918, but remains one of the most controversial generals of the war

16 August 1916 Meeting of Principal Military Commanders at the Somme with President Poincaré and King George V Joffre on Left, Foch and Haig on Right

Winston Churchill First Lord of the AdmiraltyIn 1911, Churchill became First Lord of the Admiralty. In this position, he worked to strengthen the British navy. He was pushed out of office after the disastrous 1915 Gallipoli campaign, in modern-day Turkey, which resulted in more than 250,000 Allied casualties.

Georges Clemenceau Prime Minister of FranceAs prime minister of France from 1917 to 1920, Clemenceau worked to restore French morale and concentrate Allied military forces under Ferdinand Foch. He led the French delegation to the peace talks ending World War I, during which he insisted on harsh reparation payments and German disarmament.

Philippe Pétain Commander-in-Chief of the French ArmyPetain became a national hero in France after his success at the Battle of Verdun during World War I. However, during World War II, Pétain headed the Vichy regime, a pro-German puppet government, and as a result has a mixed and deeply controversial legacy.

Paul von HindenburgVon Hindenburg was recalled to service at the outbreak of World War I. By 1916, he and Erich von Ludendorff had assumed near total control of the German war effort, which they led until defeat in 1918. He later served as German president, and named Adolf Hitler chancellor of Germany in 1933.

Soldiers of an Australian 4th Division field artillery brigade walk on a duckboard track laid across a muddy, shattered battlefield in Chateau Wood, near Hooge, Belgium, on October 29, 1917. This was during the Battle of Passchendaele, fought by British forces and their allies against Germany for control of territory near Ypres, Belgium. (James Francis Hurley/State Library of New South Wales)

Nine European Sovereigns at Windsor for the funeral of King Edward VII in May of 1910, four years before the war began. Standing, from left to right: King Haakon VII of Norway, Tsar Ferdinand of Bulgaria, King Manuel II of Portugal, Kaiser Wilhelm II of the German Empire, King George I of Greece and King Albert I of Belgium. Seated, from left to right: King Alfonso XIII of Spain, King-Emperor George V of the United Kingdom and King Frederick VIII of Denmark. Within the next decade, Kaiser Wilhelm II and Tsar Ferdinand's empires would engage in bloody warfare with the nations led by King Albert I and King George V. The war was also a family affair, as Kaiser Wilhelm II was a first cousin to King George V, and an uncle to King Albert I. Of the remaining monarchs pictured, over the next decade one would be assassinated (Greece), three would keep their nations neutral (Norway, Spain, and Denmark), and two would be forced out of power by revolutions. (W. & D. Downey)

In 1914, Austria-Hungary was a powerful and huge country, larger than Germany, with nearly as many citizens. It had been ruled by Emperor Franz Joseph I since 1848, who had been grooming his nephew, Archduke Franz Ferdinand as the heir to the throne. In this photo, taken in Sarajevo on June 28, 1914, a visiting Archduke Franz Ferdinand and his wife, Czech Countess Sophie Chotek, are departing a reception at City Hall. Earlier that morning, on the way to the hall, their motorcade had been attacked by one of a group of Serbian nationalist assassins, whose bomb damaged one car and injured dozens of bystanders. After this photo was taken, the Archduke and his wife climbed into the open car, headed for a nearby hospital to visit the wounded. Just blocks away though, the car paused to turn around, directly in front of another assassin, who walked up to the car and fired two shots, killing both Franz Ferdinand and his wife. (AP Photo)

Assassin Gavrilo Princip (left) and his victim Archduke Franz Ferdinand, both photographed in 1914. Princip, a 19 year old a Bosnian Serb who killed the Archduke, was recruited along with five others by Danilo Ilic, a friend and fellow Bosnian Serb, who was a member of the Black Hand secret society. Their ultimate goal was the creation of a Serbian nation. The conspiracy, assisted by members of Serbia's military, was quickly uncovered, and the attack became a catalyst that would soon set massive armies marching against each other around the world. All of the assassins were captured and tried. Thirteen received medium-to-short prison sentences, including Princip (who was too young for the death penalty, and received the maximum, a 20 year sentence). Three of the conspirators were executed by hanging. Four years after the assassination, Gavrilo Princip died in prison, brought down by tuberculosis, which was worsened by harsh conditions brought on by the war he helped set in motion. (Osterreichische Nationalbibliothek)

A Bosnian Serb nationalist (possibly Gavrilo Princip, more likely bystander Ferdinand Behr), is captured by police and taken to the police station in Sarajevo, on June 28, 1914, following the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austrian-Hungarian throne, and his wife. (National Archives)

Shortly after the assassination, Austria-Hungary issued a list of demands to Serbia, demanding they halt all anti-Austro-Hungarian activity, dissolve certain political groups, remove certain political officers, and arrest those within its borders who participated in the assassination, among other things -- with 48 hours to comply. Serbia, with the backing of their ally Russia, politely refused to fully comply, and mobilized their army. Soon after, Austria-Hungary, backed by their ally Germany, declared war on Serbia on July 28 1914. A network of treaties and alliances then kicked in, and within a month's time, Germany, Austria-Hungary, Russia, France, Britain, and Japan had all mobilized their armies and declared war. In this photo, taken in August of 1914, Prussian guard infantry in new field gray uniforms leave Berlin, Germany, heading for the front lines. Girls and women along the way greet and hand flowers to them.(AP Photo)

Belgian soldiers with their bicycles in Boulogne, France, 1914. Belgium asserted neutrality from the start of the conflict, but provided a route into France that the German army coveted, so Germany declared it would "treat her as an enemy", if Belgium did not allow German troops free passage. (Bibliotheque nationale de France)

The conflict, called the Great War by those involved, was the first large-scale example of modern warfare - technologies still use in battle today were introduced in large scale forms then, some (like chemical attacks) were outlawed and later viewed as war crimes. The newly-invented aeroplane took its place as an observation platform, a bomber, and an anti-personnel weapon, even as an anti-aircraft defense, shooting down enemy aircraft. Here, French soldiers gather around a priest as he blesses an aircraft on the Western Front, in 1915. (Bibliotheque nationale de France)

Between 1914 and the war's end in 1918, more than 65 million soldiers were mobilized worldwide - requiring mountains of supplies and gear. Here, on a table set up outside a steel helmet factory in Lubeck, Germany, a display is set up, showing the varying stages of the helmet-making process for Stahlhelms for the Imperial German Army. (National Archives/Official German Photograph)

A Belgian soldier smokes a cigarette during a fight between Dendermonde and Oudegem, Belgium, in 1914. Germany had hoped for a swift victory against France, and invaded Belgium in August of 1914, heading into France. The German army swept through Belgium, but was met with stiffer resistance than it anticipated in France. The Germans approached to within 70 kilometers of Paris, but were pushed back a ways, to a more stable position, which would become battlefields lined with trenches, fought over for years. In this opening month of World War I, hundreds of thousands of soldiers and civilians were killed or wounded -- France suffered its greatest single-day loss on August 22nd, when more than 27,000 soldiers were killed by rifle and machine-gun, thousands more wounded.(Bibliotheque nationale de France)

Austro-Hungarian troops executing Serbian civilians, likely ca. 1915. Serbians suffered greatly during the war years, counting more than a million casualties by 1918, including losses in battle, mass executions, and the worst typhus epidemic in history.

The Japanese fleet off the coast of China in 1914. Japan sided with the United Kingdom and its allies, attacking German interests in the Pacific, including island colonies and leased territories on the Chinese mainland. (Bibliotheque nationale de France)

View from an airplane of biplanes flying in formation, ca. 1914-18. (U.S. Army Signal corps/Library of Congress)

The Salonica (Macedonian) front, Indian troops at a Gas mask drill. Allied forces joined with Serbs to battle armies of the Central Powers and force a stable front throughout most of the war. (Nationaal Archief)

The French battleship Bouvet, in the Dardanelles. It was assigned to escort troop convoys through the Mediterranean at the start of the war. In early 1915, part of a larger group of combined British and French ships sent to clear Turkish defenses of the Dardanelles, Bouvet was hit by at least eight Turkish shells, then struck a mine, which caused so much damage, the ship sank within a few minutes. While a few men survived the sinking and were rescued, nearly 650 went down with the ship. (Bibliotheque nationale de France)

1915, British soldiers on motorcycles in the Dardanelles, part of the Ottoman Empire, prior to the Battle of Gallipoli.(Bibliotheque nationale de France)

A dog belonging to a Mr. Dumas Realier, dressed as a German soldier, in 1915. (Bibliotheque nationale de France)

"Pill box demolishers" being unloaded on the Western Front. These enormous shells weighed 1,400 lbs. Their explosions made craters over 15 ft. deep and 15 yards across. (Australian official photographs/State Library of New South Wales)

A motorcycle dispatch rider studying the details on a grave marker, whille in the background an observation balloon is preparing to ascend. The writing on the marker says in German: "Hier ruhen tapfere franzosische Krieger", or Here rest brave French warriors. (Brett Butterworth)

American soldiers, members of Maryland's 117th Trench Mortar Battery, operating a trench mortar. This gun and crew kept up a continuous fire throughout the raid of March 4, 1918 in Badonviller, Muerthe et Modselle, France. (U.S. Army Signal Corps)

A stretcher bearer patrol painfully makes its way through knee-deep mud near Bol Singhe during the British advance in Flanders, on August 20, 1917. (AP Photo)

British tanks pass dead Germans who were alive before the cavalry advanced a few minutes before the picture was taken. World War I saw the debut of tank warfare, with varying levels of success, mostly poor. Many of the earlier models broke down frequently, or got bogged down in mud, fell into trenches, or, (slow-moving) were directly targeted by artillery. (National Library of Scotland)

Ottoman Turk Machine Gun Corps at Tel esh Sheria Gaza Line, in 1917, part of the Sinai and Palestine Campaign. British troops were battling the the Ottoman Empire (supported by Germany), for control of the Suez Canal, Sinai Peninsula, and Palestine.(Library of Congress)

A German dog hospital, treating wounded dispatch dogs coming from the front, ca. 1918.(National Archive/Official German Photograph of WWI)

The USS Nebraska, a United States Navy battleship, with dazzle camouflage painted on the hull, in Norfolk, Virginia, on April 20, 1918. Dazzle camouflage, widely used during the war years, was designed to make it difficult for an enemy to estimate the range, heading, or speed of a ship, and make it a harder target. (NARA)

An aerial view of the Hellish moonscape of the Western Front during World War I. Hill of Combres, St. Mihiel Sector, north of Hattonchatel and Vigneulles. Note the criss-cross patterns of multiple generations of trenches, and the thousands of craters left by mortars, artillery, and the detonation of underground mines. (San Diego Air and Space Museum Archive)

German soldiers flee a gas attack in Flanders, Belgium, in September of 1917. Chemical weapons were a part of the arsenal of World War I armies from the beginning, ranging from irritating tear gases to painful mustard gas, to lethal agents like phosgene and chlorine.(National Archive/Official German Photograph of WWI) 

A German ammunition column, men and horses equipped with gas masks, pass through woods contaminated by gas in June of 1918.(National Archives/Official German Photograph)

Allied soldiers on a battlefield on the Western Front. This image was taken using the Paget process, an early experiment in color photography. (James Francis Hurley/State Library of New South Wales)

British enter Lille, France, in October of 1918, after four years of German occupation. Beginning in the summer of 1918, Allied forces began a series of successful counteroffensives, breaking through German lines and cutting off supply lines to Austro-Hungarian forces. As Autumn approached, the end of the war seemed inevitable. (Library of Congress)

World War I Technology

Industrialization brought massive changes to warfare during the Great War. Newly-invented killing machines begat novel defense

mechanisms, which, in turn spurred the development of even deadlier technologies. Nearly every aspect of what we would

consider modern warfare debuted on World War I battlefields.

American troops using a newly-developed acoustic locator, mounted on a wheeled platform. The large horns amplified distant sounds, monitored through headphones worn by a crew member, who could direct the platform to move and pinpoint distant enemy aircraft. Development of passive acoustic location accelerated during World War I, later surpassed by the development of radar in the 1940s.(National Archives)

An Austrian armored train in Galicia, ca, 1915. Adding armor to trains dates back to the American Civil War, used as a way to safely move weapons and personnel through hostile territory. (Library of Congress)

The interior of an armored train car, Chaplino, Dnipropetrovs'ka oblast, Ukraine, in the spring of 1918. At least nine heavy machine guns are visible, as well as many ammunition cases. (Southern Methodist University, Central University Libraries, DeGolyer Library)

A German communications squad behind the Western front, setting up using a tandem bicycle power generator to power a light radio station in September of 1917. (National Archive/Official German Photograph of WWI)

A German soldier rubs down massive shells for the 38 cm SK L/45, or "Langer Max" rapid firing railroad gun, ca. 1918. The Langer Max was originally designed as a battleship weapon, later mounted to armored rail cars, one of many types of railroad artillery used by both sides during the war. The Langer Max could fire a 750 kg (1,650 lb) high explosive projectile up to 34,200 m (37,400 yd).(National Archive/Official German Photograph of WWI)

Soldier on a U.S. Harley-Davidson motorcycle, ca. 1918. During the last years of the war, the United States deployed more than 20,000 Indian and Harley-Davidson motorcycles overseas. (San Diego Air and Space Museum) 

German infantrymen from Infanterie-Regiment Vogel von Falkenstein Nr.56 adopt a fighting pose in a communication trench somewhere on the the Western Front. Both soldiers are wearing gas masks and Stahlhelm helmets, with brow plate attachments called stirnpanzers. The stirnpanzer was a heavy steel plate used for additional protection for snipers and raiding parties in the trenches, where popping your head above ground for a look could be lethal move. 

Turkish troops use a heliograph at Huj, near aza City, in 1917. A heliograph is a wireless solar telegraph that signals by flashes of sunlight usually using Morse code, reflected by a mirror. (Library of Congress) 

An experimental Red Cross vehicle designed to protect the wounded while gathering them from trenches during World War I, ca. 1915. The narrow wheels and low clearance would likely make this design ineffective in the chaotic and muddy front line landscape.(Library of Congress)

U.S. soldiers in trench putting on gas masks. Behind them, a signal rocket appears to be in mid-launch. When gas attacks were detected, alarms used included gongs and signal rockets. (Library of Congress)

A German soldier holds the handset of a field telephone to his head, as two others hold a spool of wire, presumably unspooling it as they head into the field. (National Archives)

Western front, loading a German A7V tank onto a railroad flat car. Fewer than a hundred A7Vs were ever produced, the only tanks manufactured by Germany that they used in the war. German troops did manage to capture and make use of a number of allied tanks, however. (National Archives/Official German Photograph)

Americans setting up a French 37mm gun known as a "one-pounder" on the parapet of a second-line trench at Dieffmattch, Alsace, France, where their command, the 126th Infantry, was located, on June 26, 1918. (U.S. Army)

American troops aboard French-built Renault FT-17 tanks head for the front line in the Forest of Argonne, France, on September 26, 1918. (NARA)

A German aviator's suit is equipped with electrically heated face mask, vest, and fur boots. Open cockpit flight meant pilots had to endure sub-freezing conditions. (National Archives/Official German Photograph)

The Holt gas-electric tank, the first American tank, in 1917. The Holt did not get beyond the prototype stage, proving too heavy and inefficient in design. (AP Photo)

An unidentified member of the 69th Australian Squadron, later designated No. 3 Australian Flying Corps, fixes incendiary bombs to an R.E.8 aircraft at the AFC airfield north west of Arras. The entire squadron was operating from Savy (near Arras) on October 22, 1917, having arrived there on September 9, after crossing the channel from the UK. (Australian War Memorial) 

Seven or eight machine-gun crews are ready to set out on a sortie in France, ca. 1918. Each crew consists of two men, the driver on a motorbike and the gunner sitting in an armored sidecar. (National Library of Scotland)

German troops load gas projectors. Attempting to exploit a loophole in international laws against the uses of gas in warfare, some German officials noted that only gas projectiles appeared to be specifically banned, and that no prohibition could be found against simply releasing deadly chemical weapons and allowing th wind to carry it to the enemy.(National Archive/Official German Photograph of WWI)

French lookouts posted in a barbed-wire-covered trench. The use of barbed wire in warfare was recent, having only been used for the first time in limited form during the Spanish-American War. All sides in World War I used extensive networks of barbed wire entanglements to prevent ground troops from moving forward. The effectiveness of the wire drove the development of technologies like the tank, and wire-cutting explosive shells set to detonate the instant they made contact with a wire.(Bibliotheque nationale de France)

The original caption reads: "The Italian collapse in Venezia. The heedless flight of the Italians to the Tagliamento. Captured heavy and gigantic cannon in a village behind Udine. November 1917". Pictured is an Obice da 305/17, a huge Italian howitzer, one of fewer than 50 produced during the war. (National Archive/Official German Photograph of WWI)

A patient is examined in a mobile radiology lab, belonging to the French Army, ca. 1914. (Bibliotheque nationale de France)

World War I Aerial Warfare

World War I was the first major conflict to see widespread use of powered aircraft -- invented barely more than a decade before the fighting began. Airplanes, along with kites, tethered balloons, and zeppelins gave all major armies a new tactical platform to observe and attack enemy forces from above

A French SPAD S.XVI two-seat biplane reconnaissance aircraft, flying over Compeign Sector, France ca. 1918. Note the zig-zag patterns of defensive trenches in the fields below. (San Diego Air and Space Museum Archive)

British Handley-Page bombers on a mission, Western Front, during World War I. This photograph, which appears to have been taken from the cabin of a Handley-Page bomber, is attributed to Tom Aitken. It shows another Handley-Page bomber setting out on a bombing mission. The model 0/400 bomber, which was introduced in 1918, could carry 2,000 lbs (907 kilos) of bombs and could be fitted with four Lewis machine-guns. (Tom Aitken/National Library of Scotland)

German soldiers attend to a stack of gas canisters attached to a manifold, inflating a captive balloon on the Western front.(National Archives/Official German Photograph)

A captured German Taube monoplane, on display in the courtyard of Les Invalides in Paris, in 1915. The Taube was a pre-World War I aircraft, only briefly used on the front lines, replaced later by newer designs. (Bibliotheque nationale de France) 

A soldier poses with a Hythe Mk III Gun Camera during training activities at Ellington Field, Houston, Texas in April of 1918. The Mk III, built to match the size, handling, and weight of a Lewis Gun, was used to train aerial gunners, recording a photograph when the trigger was pulled, for later review, when an instructor could coach trainees on better aiming strategies.(Harry Kidd /WWI Army Signal Corps Photograph Collection)

Observer in a German balloon gondola shoots off light signals with a pistol. (U.S. National Archives)

British reconnaissance plane flying over enemy lines, in France. (National Library of Scotland)

Bombing Montmedy, 42 km north of Verdun, while American troops advance in the Meuse-Argonne sector. Three bombs have been released by a U.S. bomber, one striking a supply station, the other two in mid-air, visible on their way down. Black puffs of smoke indicate anti-aircraft fire. To the right (west), a building with a Red Cross symbol can be seen. View this point today on Google Maps. (U.S. Army Signal Corps)

German soldiers attend to an upended German aircraft. (CC BY SA Carola Eugster)

A German airplane over the Pyramids of Giza in Egypt. (Der Weltkrieg im Bild/Upper Austrian Federal State Library) 

Car of French Military Dirigible "Republique". (Library of Congress)

A returning observation balloon. A small army of men, dwarfed by the balloon, are controlling its descent with a multitude of ropes. The basket attached to the balloon, with space for two people, can be seen sitting on the ground. Frequently a target for gunfire, those conducting observations in these balloons were required to wear parachutes for a swift descent if necessary.(National Library of Scotland)

Attaching a 100 kg bomb to a German airplane. (National Archives/Official German Photograph)

A Sopwith 1 1/2 Strutter biplane aircraft taking off from a platform built on top of HMAS Australia's midships "Q" turret, in 1918.(State Library of New South Wales)

An aerial photographer with a Graflex camera, ca. 1917-18. (U.S. Army)

The bombarded barracks at Ypres, viewed from 500 ft. (Australian official photographs/State Library of New South Wales)

Returning from a reconnaissance flight during World War I, a view of the clouds from above. (Bibliotheque nationale de France) 

end

cast First World War centenary: WW I in Photos (1)

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American and French photographic staff, France, 1917.