In 1914, despite being forbidden, many a Kiwi soldier’s kitbag included a portable camera known as ‘The Soldier’s Kodak’. The images they recorded form the basis of this poignant collection of our soldiers from the First World War.
In a major research project, Glyn Harper and the National Army Museum combined official war photographs with more informal images to provide a moving visual history. Originally published in 2008, this book has now been beautifully redesigned as a stunning large-format hardback. While primarily drawn from the Museum’s collection, many photographs from private sources were included. From more than 25,000 photographs, just over 800 were selected - most of which had never been published before. Chosen to depict each theatre of the 1914-18 war, including Gallipoli, Sinai-Palestine and the Western Front, poignant images from the home front were included, along with graphic portraits of wounded soldiers, whose treatment marked the beginnings of modern plastic surgery. Despite the First World War being described as the most important and far-reaching political and military event of the twentieth century, pivotal in forging our national sense of identity, relatively little photographic material had been published from a soldier’s perspective. this new edition contains additional information that has come to light since the first edition regarding many of the photos, as well as some new images. Poignant, stirring and at times unbearable, it records the appalling, brutalising, mundane and touching experiences of those who were there. Lest we forget.