reservists

Leaving New York City [at the outbreak of WWI] to fight for the Kaiser in Europe.

Another Bain/LOC photo of German reservists leaving New York City:

Like this image.... ...this is not Broadway but 5th Avenue. The reservists are marching northward. Behind them is the east side of 5th Avenue north from the 29th Street intersection (visible on far right). We've mapped it on SepiaTown if you'd like to take a look... www.sepiatown.com/813339/German-Reservists-Marching-on-5t...

This is in fact the Gare du Nord (see the name of the hotel "Terminus Nord" and compare the Wikipedia pictures, the Gare de l'Est – note spelling – looks significantly different). The Gare du Nord connects Paris with Brussels, the Gare de l'Est Paris and Strasbourg, and today all the way to Berlin or Munich... PS It looks like the caption on the photograph, even though it is partly obscured, correctly puts this near the Gare du Nord.

Belgian reservists apparently not fond of the Boater so predominate in the rest of the Bain Collection, instead have chosen to wear Fisherman's Caps.

trialsanderrors: Thank you for correctly identifying this train station as the Gare du Nord. We will fix the title to reflect what is written on the negative when we update the database.

On Agence Meurisse photo at Gallica site (probably where Bain got this), caption is "Belges ne pouvant s'embarquer à la gare du Nord (Belgians not allowed to embark at Gare du Nord [?]) So perhaps these are not reservists, but Belgians trying to return to their families from Paris during the German invasion? gallica.bnf.fr/ark:/12148/btv1b9041325k/f1

artolog: thanks for another matching image from Gallica. We will add the additional title and Agence Meurisse to the image description when we update. It would be interesting to know more context about why the Belgians could not embark at this station.

This is the Brasserie Bougeneaux in the Boulevard de Strasbourg, 10th Arrondissement of Paris: Baedeker: Paris and Environs, 1913: Gare de l'Est (PI. B, 24; p. 217) : Brass. Bougeneaux, 9 Rue de Strasbourg, corner of the boulevard ; No. 11, Rest. Schaeffer, good ; No. 13, Rest. de l'Hot. Français (Barbotte); No. 8, Coeurdoux plain, but good; No. 6, corner of Rue d'Alsace, Bouillon Duval; No. 5, Terminus Est, at the hotel (p. 10). — Drouant, 79 Boul. de Strasbourg, corner of Rue St-Laurent, a large and very popular establishment (oysters). Today's view: maps.google.com/maps?q=9,+bd+de+strasbourg,+paris The Bd de Strasbourg does in fact lead directly to the Gare de l'Est (note correct capitalization).

The presence of a flag of known colors clearly visible in the image gives us a rare opportunity to reasonably determine what filter was used over the camera's lens. Assuming that the color pattern is correctly oriented towards us, the stripes would be blue-white-red. From the relative shades of these colors on the flag, and based on my limited filter experience, it seems reasonable this photo was taken with a green filter, which is normally reserved for portraits. But please correct me if I'm wrong!

Interesting idea! I see two problems: 1. the flag might be hoisted on the wrong (red) side – even though the bearer looks like a gendarme, so he should know what he is doing, and 2. the colors might not be standardized as today, in particular the blue might be lighter. I did a little crude test with digital filters off today's standardized tricolore, and in all cases the blue came out darker than the red.