View of Cambrai from the Canadian Front Line on October 1st
View of Cambrai from the Canadian Front Line on October 1st
Dead German soldier outside Cambrai, in France, during World War I. A photograph from the Canadian front line, probably taken in the final months of the war. The pretty view of the town of Cambrai, looking peaceful and deceptively untouched by the war, is juxtaposed with the terrible image of a dead German soldier lying in the foreground of the photograph. Although the year is not specified, it is almost certain that this caption refers to 1st October 1918, and the Allied Cambrai offensive, where Canadian troops were at the forefront of the fighting. By this stage of the war the German army was accepting very young volunteers, and it is likely that the soldier pictured was still a teenager when he died. [Original reads: 'A view of Cambrai from the Canadian Front Line on October 1st. Dead German in foreground.'].