A TIMELESS IMAGE: YOUTH AND COMRADESHIP

An Undated Group Photo of Young Men (Trainees? New Recruits?)

Inspired by the provocative period images that Tony often posts on his excellent blog, Tin Soldiering On, I thought that I would share an image that I found particularly arresting. I ran across the above while noodling around on ebay (where you can find many old military portraits and photos).  This one caught my eye so much so that I went ahead and bought the physical artifact.  It is undated, but depicts a group of German hussars, certainly in the era before the Great War.  And very young troopers they are. 

 

Then again, it may just be that they seem young to my eyes now--when I was in my early years of service, I (and my contemporaries) probably looked just as young to our seniors, even if we didn't think of ourselves as such. Above, portrait of the Meanderer shortly after arriving at his first posting as a 2nd Lt (also in the cavalry).

Speaking of which, perhaps it is just me, but unlike many of the rather formulaic soldier portraits of the time, this one jumps out as very contemporary and relatable: it could be any group of comrades at any time.  As a product,  it seems to be a photo not unlike the ones that they still take and provide today (the photo of the Meanderer, above, was such a one, taken by a contract photographer in 1981: yes, they had color photography then). Getting back to the old(er) photo, the writing on the picture says "Stube 74": which translates (literally) to "Room 74." So my surmise is that these are barracks-mates. Most likely, each group was photographed and the pictures reproduced and made available for purchase (I'm sure that they were sent home to relatives, as were those taken in my day--in the pre-digital age of film). Perhaps other similar groups had more stiff and generic "stand to attention" looks, but this crew seems very lively--you can just imaging them getting ready for the shot, deciding on all having a smoke in their hands and then striking their poses for the photo.  Anyway, enough blather.  As usual, you may clix pix for BIG PIX.  I've done up details of all the young men and posted them for viewing below. 

Seems to me that every face and posture tells a different story. 

Excelsior!