A Face from the Great War


A Face from the Great War 

What captivates me most about this image of a young French woman from the Somme region is her saddened face and forlorn gaze. What has she seen and what deep mark has it left upon her? 

Her blackened hands and coarse working dress betray a life of toil and hardship.

Many allied soldiers remembered seeing such woman labouring in the fields, because their husbands or fathers had been conscripted into the French Army. 

‘They appeared strangely ambivalent to the activity surrounding them,’ recorded one, ‘for them the war seemed like just another force of nature to contend with, like floods, famine, or drought.’

Another noted that whenever they sought billets from French women, they responded: Room monsieur - yes, there is the room of my son who was killed at Argonne - of my husband who was killed at  Verdun.’

We have American philanthropist Anne Morgan to thank for this image, and others like it. 

From 1917 to 1921, while residing near the French front line, Morgan marshalled relief aid for French non-combatants. 

She commissioned these evocative photographs to generate a humanitarian response to the plight of French refugees. 

Like my Posts? Preview ‘Night in Passchendaele’ (out Aug ‘23)

https://www.panmacmillan.com.au/9781761265976/night-in-passchendaele/

 http://scottbennettwriter.com

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