'Staff Officer from GHQ in dug-out studying details before the opening of our offensive', 1917 (c)

Stereoscopic photograph, World War One, Western Front (1914-1918), 1917 (c).

Shelters like this were rarely impervious to shell fire but did offer some protection from the dangers of the Western Front. This photograph illustrates how pokey and cluttered dug outs could be but also shows how soldiers did their best to make themselves comfortable.

Stereographs consist of two identical photographs paired in such a way that when seen through a special viewing instrument, a stereoscope, they appear as a three-dimensional images. The photographs were mounted on thick card that was given a slight curvature to increase the illusion of depth.