World War I in colour: Rare photographs capture the lives of soldiers and civilians when all was quiet on the Western Front
Autor: Lambert de Sousa | Publicado: 2016-01-18T06:08:00-08:00


From washing their clothes in village fountains to eating lunches next to bombed-out buildings, these rare colour photographs capture what daily life was like for soldiers away from the battlefield on the Western Front.
The images, captured using the Lumière brothers’ Autochrome colour process, were all taken in 1917, the fourth year of the First World War. They document how members of the Allied Forces spent quieter moments away from the fighting.
In one picture, a group of around half a dozen French soldiers is seen waiting outside a grocery store in Reims, a city in north-eastern France.  Another shows four uniformed troops relaxing as they read the newspaper outside a kiosk in Rexpoede, less than 10 miles south of Dunkirk.
The remarkable set also shed light on the important role Senegalese servicemen played in the force. They are seen relaxing in a room lined with weapon, standing watch in a town and preparing to fight on the frontline alongside their French counterparts.   
And while there are no photos of the gunfight or life in the trenches, the images do hint at the warfare going on beyond these seemingly peaceful snapshots of daily life.  
Charred shells of buildings in Dunkirk were photographed in the wake of one German air raid, while other images show French soldiers camouflaging railway guns ahead of an offensive on German forces.








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Senegalese soldiers serving in the 
French Army as infantrymen rest in a room surrounded by weapons 
in&nbsp;Saint-Ulrich, France on 16 June









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A French 
soldier at a lookout  in&nbsp;Eglingen, France on 26 June 1917. Right, French
 soldiers buy newspapers in Rexpoede on 6 September








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A little girl is seen holding her doll
 as she sits next to two guns and a military knapsack on a street in 
Reims, northern France, in 1917








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This dramatic photograph shows 
soldiers standing on a ridge above a crater 45m deep created by mines 
placed by British forces underneath German positions&nbsp;near Messines in 
West Flanders on 7 June 1917. Some 10,000 soldiers died in the blast








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A French soldier has lunch in front of a damaged library in a square in Reims, in north-eastern France on 1 April 1917








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French soldiers in front of a grocery 
store, with signs advertising liquor and wine in the windows, in the 
market square in Reims in 1917














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A French officer inspects the barbed 
wire around French positions in Soissons, which was heavily damaged by 
artillery fire during the war








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A French observation post with three 
soldiers in a trench reinforced with wooden beams and sand bags close to
 the German lines, taken at&nbsp;Hirtzbach, Department Haut-Rhin, Region 
Alsace, on 16 June 1917








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A camp of workers from the British 
Chinese Labour Corps recruited to participate in the Middle East 
campaign photographed in 1917









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An Algerian guard, left, an Algerian worker, centre, and a worker from Indochina in&nbsp;Soissons, Aisne, France, all in 1917








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Two French soldiers assigned to a 
telephone station wash their laundry in a trough of a fountain, in 
Largitzen, France on 18 June 1917








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Five French soldiers are clearing the 
rubble in the ruins of Reims, which was almost 60 per cent destroyed by 
German artillery and air raids








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Wounded soldiers from the battlefield 
recover at Saint-Paul Hospital in Soissons, which was twice captured by 
the Germans during the war








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Four French guards and Swiss guards at the border between Switzerland and France in Pfetterhouse,  Region Alsace on 19 June 1917











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A horse cart is loaded with furniture 
and personal belongings in front of a leather goods shop on 4 May 1917 
as residents prepared to to leave Reims during the Second Battle of the 
Aisne which ended in defeat for the French forces








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A group of Senegalese soldiers serving
 in the French Army as infantryman have lunch in Saint-Ulrich, Region 
Alsace on 16 June 1917








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A French section of machine gunners takes position in the ruins during the battle of the Aisne, on the Western Front in 1917








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French fire fighters, military and 
civilians try to prevent fires from spreading after the bombings of 
September 2 and 3 in Dunkirk









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Two French 
soldiers are taking care of their laundry using boards set up on the 
trough of a fountain near a farm house in the town of Gildwiller, 
Department Haut-Rhin, Region Alsace on 21 June 1917, left. Right, in a 
trench on the frontline in&nbsp;Hirtzbach on 16 June 1917








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A woman with a cart filled with milk cans and a man with another cart in Rue de Talleyrand, Reims, France on 3 March 1917








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The towers of the Cathedral Notre-Dame
 de Reims  can be seen through the damaged windows of a building in the 
city in 3 April 1917








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Uniformed doctors and nurses stand in front of field hospital 55 in Bourbourg, northern France on 1 September 1917








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Two French soldiers from Africa heat up a meal on an outdoor fireplace made from bricks in&nbsp;Soissons, Aisne, France, in 1917








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Two French soldiers at a narrow 
railroad track near the French near the village of Boezinge, north of 
the city of Ypres on 10 September 1917








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Two Senegalese soldiers, both of the Bambara people, serving in the French Army pictured in&nbsp;Balschwiller, France on 22 June 1917








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French soldiers dressed in their blue 
military uniforms camouflage a 370 mm railway gun in&nbsp;Noyon, Region Oise,
 on 5 September 1917








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Two French soldiers and horses in the 
cloister of the abbey de Saint-Jean-des-Vignes, which was heavily 
damaged by artillery fire








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French soldiers of the 370th Infantry Regiment are eating soup during the battle of the Aisne, on the Western Front in 1917








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Three Swiss border guards, left, stand
 opposite a French guard at the border between the two countries 
in&nbsp;Beurnevesin on 19 June 1917








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A group of Swiss border guards behind a fence between Switzerland and France, in the Department Haut-Rhin, on 19 June 1917








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Damaged buildings after the bombings of September 10 and 11 in the town of RosendaÎl, near Dunkirk, on 11 September 1917








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Eight French soldiers stand on top of a 370mm railway gun which they are camouflaging on 5 September 1917








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A military cemetery on a hillside in 
the town of Moosch in Alsace containing graves of the Chasseurs Alpins, 
the elite mountain infantry of the French Army








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Two ambulance vehicles in front of a 
building near the village of Boezinge, north of the city of Ypres, that 
was devastated by artillery fire




Fonte: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3403612/All-quiet-Western-Rare-colour-photographs-capture-daily-lives-French-soldiers-away-battlefields-WW1.html