‘Under cover of gas and smoke we break through to Serre and Thiepval’, 1916 circa...

‘Under cover of gas and smoke we break through to Serre and Thiepval’, 1916 circa. Stereoscopic photograph, World War One, Western Front, 1916 circa. 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 Germans first used gas against the French during the capture of Neuve Chapelle in October 1914 when they fired shells containing a chemical irritant that caused violent fits of sneezing. In March 1915 they used a form of tear gas against the French at Nieuport, and the following month chlorine gas against the Canadians at Ypres. These early experiments were but a small taste of things to come and as the war progressed all sides developed ever more lethal gases including phosgene and mustard gas. From a collection of 101 stereoscopic photographs entitled ‘The Great War’.