Battle of Passchendaele: Remarkable images transferred into vivid colour
REMARKABLE images showing soldiers laughing and joking amid the horrors of the Battle of Passchendaele have been transferred into vivid colour to commemorate the centenary of one of the First World War’s most dreadful conflicts.
Pictures show soldiers chatting to the locals, washing clothes and smiling at the entrance to a German trench during the battle, which claimed the lives of over half a million men between July 31 and November 6 1917.
Troops from Britain, New Zealand, Canada and Australia are all shown in the images, which were transformed by professional photo colouriser Tom Marshall.
I decided to colourise these images as a tribute to the men pictured
Mr Marshall said: “I decided to colourise these images as a tribute to the men pictured. I believe that colour adds another dimension to historic images, and helps modern eyes to connect with the subjects more than with a black and white photo. I have found that black and white images are too often sadly ignored, especially by younger generations, and by colourising the photos I hope that more people will stop to learn about the subjects and what the men went through 100 years ago.”
Passchendaele is infamous not only for its vast number of casualties, but also for the awful conditions men had to endure, as heavy rains turned the battlefield into a quagmire, trapping troops, horses and equipment.
PASSCHENDAELE IN NUMBERS
• 325,000: The estimated Allied casualties. The Germans lost between 260,000 and 400,000.
• 103: Days the battle lasted between July 31 and November 10, 1917.
• 4.25m: Shells fired at German lines from 3,000 big guns in the two weeks before the battle started.
• 30: The weather in Flanders during the offensive was the worst in the area for 30 years, reducing much of it to a quagmire.