19. A WWl camera in the Somme

I've been doing a lot of family history research in the past year or so and discovered that my grandad, James, fought in the Somme in 1918 aged just 18 years. I managed to get hold of his military record, identify his regiment and download the war diaries for his battalion, the 1st East Yorkshire. Using this information, I was able to track his route at the Western Front and even download the relevant trench maps.

When we visited the Somme in May 2025 to walk in his footsteps, the Vest Pocket Kodak (1913) was an obvious choice to take on the road trip. Known as the soldier's camera, it was a very popular folding camera with a metal case. I previously took it on an epic train journey from London to Istanbul, described in post 11, but couldn't wait to get it out of the display cabinet again. The VPK takes 127 film, which comes on a reel with paper backing. I decided to buy ready cut Rera Pan iso 100 film, but I have also cut my own in the past from the much cheaper 120 film. Negatives are approximately 6x4cm and generally easy to handle in my darkroom (an internal bathroom).

The war diaries give an incredible insight into the activities of the battalion. In March and April 1918 the 1st East Yorkshires had suffered terrible losses.

On 30th April, they were at Buysscheure, about 30km SE of Calais when a new draft of men arrived to replace some of those lost. Second Lieutenant Ward and 36 OR (other ratings) including my grandad James joined the regiment.

A few days later they marched to Saint Omer, where they caught the train which would take them on a circuitous route via the outskirts of Paris, eventually arriving 2 days later near Reims, 20km from the front line.

By 23rd May they were 'In the Line' - in trenches near Cauroy-les-Hermonville.

The war diaries described a terrible battle in the last few days of May, summarised as 7 killed, 63 wounded and 322 missing. Many of those initially listed as missing were later revised to have been killed. It was a disaster and the regiment were forced to withdraw over 2-3 weeks to Abbeville near the coast, to regroup and reassemble. By the end of July, James and his regiment were back in the trenches around Mailly-Maillet, about 30km NE of Amiens.

We highlighted current roads on the trench map to match up locations mentioned in the war diary. Then we went looking for the locations. Most trenches have long since disappeared; filled in or allowed to disintegrate naturally. But it is sometimes still possible to see evidence of where they once were, and a couple have survived as memorials.

This communication trench is at Auchonvillers, nicknamed 'Ocean Villas' by the troops. It was found by the owners of the guest house and tea room on the site, and has been maintained to show a small slice of the reality of trench life. The trenches were dug as a series of interconnecting 'roads', with deliberate bends and turns to minimise damage from exploding artillery.

The 1st East Yorkshire Regiment were in or very close to this trench on 9th August 1918, under bombardment from enemy shelling.

Walking down into the trench by the wobbly stone steps, sandbags piled up to prevent the walls from collapsing, I tried to imagine what it would be like to live in such conditions.

Frankly, I couldn't.

A huge area of trenches at Beaumont-Hamel has been allowed to grass over naturally, but is otherwise preserved as a memorial.

James and the 1st East Yorkshire spent several weeks in this area, Beaumont-Hamel was mentioned more than once, including a specific reference to the Y ravine, which we located.

The battle of Gouzeaucourt in September 1918 resulted in further huge losses. We wanted to pay our respects to some of James' comrades who he would have fought alongside, and who were not lucky enough to come home.

We downloaded a spreadsheet (Commonwealth War Graves Commission) of soldiers from his regiment who were buried or commemorated in the Somme. We identified several who all died on 10th September 1918 and were buried at Gouzeaucourt. Then we went to find them.

I can't begin to describe how it felt to track down the graves of young men who might have been my grandad's friends. It certainly felt absolutely 'right' to take some time composing photographs with a WW1 camera, assisted by my usual Nikon.

What people often don't realise is that remains of soldiers from WW1 are still being found today, mostly by agricultural machinery or during building excavations. The CWWG and other organisations attempt to identify the soldier from personal effects or with the help of DNA . The soldier is then buried with full military honours, as if they'd died yesterday.

At Thiepval we visited the Historial de la Grande Guerre, where there is an immersive museum and a memorial to over 72,000 soldiers who died in the first battle of the Somme (1916) with no known grave.

As the Somme River meanders through the relatively flat north east corner of France, in some marshy areas ponds (étangs) have developed to create wetlands, especially near Bray-sur-Somme. These attract a wide variety of birds and small wildlife and are beautiful, peaceful places. Nearby, the Petit Train de la Haute Somme steams happily up a zig-zag incline on the last remaining section of a military train network built during WW1. You might just be able to spot it below running alongside the Canal de la Somme.

Visiting the Somme with a specific person and regiment in mind was really poignant. We found a trench, fields, cobbled streets, a bridge, sunken lanes, two canals, villages and tiny hamlets all mentioned in the war diaries.

After we got home and I developed the films, I was initially disappointed in the quality of the negatives, I've seen much better from this camera. It was very warm in May and sometimes the car became very hot, so perhaps the film degraded whilst we were travelling. But that is the nature of film photography, you just don't know until you develop. And thankfully I had another camera for this one-off trip.