Online Collection

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'F.O.O. Dug-out; Indian Village, Festubert, June 1915.'

Pen and brown wash by Lt Richard Barrett Talbot Kelly MBE, MC, RI (1896-1971), Royal Field Artillery, 1915.

An officer looks inside a Forward Observation Officer dugout on the Western Front.

As part of an 18-pounder gun battery crew, Talbot Kelly took part in many of the major offensives of the Western Front, including the Battle of Loos (1915), the Battle of the Somme (1916), the Battle of Arras (1917) and the Battle of Passchendaele (1917). He regularly served as a Forward Observation Officer, tasked with spotting where the artillery shells were landing. The unique vantage point of the battlefields that this job gave him, obviously inspired his illustrations.

NAM Accession Number

NAM. 1994-12-38-1

Copyright/Ownership

Not NAM Copyright, Artist's Copyright

Location

National Army Museum, Study Collection

Object URL

https://collection.nam.ac.uk/detail.php?acc=1994-12-38-1