Artillery in the Mud

Category

Library Item

Item no

32742

Title

Our Artillery in the Mud of Flanders: Man-Hauling a Field-Gun.

Description

From the Illustrated London News published November 10th, 1917, page 572. Drawn by Frédéric De Haenen from an official photograph. Full title: Crossing a battlefield in pouring rain, through mud nearly to the axle-trees: heaving a gun forward with drag-ropes, while the team-horses wait near by.

Artist / maker

Unknown

Date

1917

Size

39.6 x 26.7 cm

Type

Press cutting; Reproduction

Location

Reference Library

Harsh weather combined with the horrors of the war on the Front created the iconic vision of muddy trenches and fraught-looking soldiers that have come to visually define the First World War. Severe and enduring rain made trench life not only muddy and miserable but also dangerous, sometimes forcing soldiers to choose between drowning or facing heavy enemy fire.

The rain and mud also posed a problem in moving heavy artillery or communicating within the lines. The ground was sometimes so slippery and muddy that it rendered horses and oxen useless in pulling field guns and other weaponry into position, and made communication between front and rear strongholds extremely diificult.

Read first-hand reports of history as it happened with free access to the Scotsman Digital Archive.

You can search the entire 1914-19 archives of the Illustrated London News online.

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Related subjects

Events > Wars > World wars

Landscape > Land > Battlefields

Military > Arms and armament > Guns

People > Military activities > Soldiers

Places > Europe > Belgium

Transport > Land > Horse and riders