In No Mans Land. " In No Mans Land: The Dread Territory Which Belongs to

In No Mans Land. " In No Mans Land: The Dread Territory Which Belongs to

" In No Mans Land: The Dread Territory Which Belongs to Neither German nor Briton" Royal engineers, working in the dark of No Mans Land to construct barbed wire barriers in front of British trenches, are exposed by German magnesium flares, giving this illustration a Caravaggioesque quality. Such work was extremely risky, or " nervy", as one Royal Engineer described it to The Times. He went on to say, "..it is done in the open and out of the kindly cover afforded by a trench... fortunate indeed is the working party if the enemy does not hear the sound of the picket being driven into the ground and open fire..." Flares lasted for 15 seconds, an eternity for men who had to throw themselves flat to the ground and lie inert until darkness returned. Bruce Bairnsfather depicted a similar situation in a cartoon accompanied by a quote from Wolfams aria in Tannhauser. " Oh star of eve, whose tender bean Falls on my spirits troubled dream." Date: 1915

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© Illustrated London News/Mary Evans

Media ID 14117044

Barbed Danger Dangerous Engineer Engineers Flare Flares Laying Lighting Magnesium Mans Matania Trench Trenches Warfare Wire

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