wartrophy

A photo of booty at the very same location in the LOC/Bain photostream. Accordingly, the caption should read "Neufmontiers." Interestingly, there's a sapling in the photo with the Turcos that has disappeared in this photo with the French soldiers. Also, there is an impressive pile of rifles in this photo (see lower left side of the frame) that wasn't there when the photo of the Turcos was taken.

Anybody know if the soldiers looking at the booty are German or French? German, I would guess.

A related Bain shot, wounded Germans in the same spot:



Another from the same town:

Thanks TLV 1970 for catching the spelling error. We'll make the correction next time we update the record. I'm not sure, artolog, if the "F" indicates French soldiers. I wish that I knew more about their uniforms. We'll look forward to more information as it comes in.

Other Bain/LOC photos of Turcos, taken early in World War I (1914):

From Wikipedia: The tirailleurs from Algeria subsequently served in the Crimean War, the Second Italian War of Independence, the French intervention in Mexico and the Franco-Prussian War (1870), as well as in various French colonial campaigns in Tunisia, Indochina, Morocco, Madagascar and Algeria itself. During the Crimean War the Algerian tirailleurs acquired the nickname of "Turcos" (Turks) by which they were widely known over the next hundred years. The name reportedly arose from comparisons between the Algerian troops and the Turkish allies serving alongside the French and British forces at the siege of Sebastopol.[2] The Turks (from Turkey) were allies of the Germans in WWI.

Cropped from original Agence Meurisse photo shown at Bibliotheque Nationale de France's Gallica site, with following caption:
"Neufmoutiers : marocains examinant leur butin de guerre "
[Neufmoutiers: Moroccans examining their spoils of war]






Pub. Date 1914

artolog: Thanks for linking us to the original Agence Meurisse photo. We will include this info. next time we update.

This must have been very precious to him, it has been repaired instead of discarded when it ripped.

It's a sad thought that this was a trophy... a touching thought that he had it in his hand to the last...

This was probably a remembrance sent to the soldier by his wife, sweetheart or mother from back home. Such things magnify the atrocity of war.