The horror of the First World War: Veteran photographer who has covered conflicts for 50 years picks six photographs that show the true desperation of the Western Front
Damien Gayle
For nearly 50 years, photojournalist Don McCullin covered wars across the world, from Biafra to Vietnam to the Troubles in Northern Ireland.
He is known for his hard-hitting, uncompromising coverage, exposing the horror of soldiers fighting to the death and the tragedy of innocents caught in the crossfire.
These six pictures have been hand-picked by the veteran reporter to reveal the desperate reality of life on the Western Front for British soldiers during the First World War.
Mr McCullin said: 'The pictures I have chosen here are mostly taken by the officer class; you don't see many sergeants' names. The authorities wanted people they could trust.
'For the same reason newspaper blokes weren't allowed anywhere near the front; the Army kept it within the Army so they could control what came out.
'Today they keep control by embedding people. They don't like free agents; they worry that the price of sacrifice will be unacceptable for the people back home.'
A daylight raiding party of 9th Cameronians (Scottish Rifles) waits for the signal to go over the top near Arras, March 27, 1917: 'You can sense the tension in the face looking back and feel it in the body language of the others as they prepare to go over the top,' says Mr McCullin. 'It's an extraordinary photograph, a very close shot'
An abandoned trench destroyed by shellfire, Delville Wood near Longueval, Somme, September, 1916: 'Look at this lunar landscape, absolutely destroyed and broken, it looks as if nothing would ever grow again,' says Mr McCullin. 'The only battle I was in that was similarly devastating was the Tet offensive in 1968. The Americans were shelling the city of Hue from offshore, using Phantom fixed-wing planes to dive-bomb and drop napalm. By the time they had finished Hue was totally flattened, destroyed
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