The dangerous No mans land!
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The term "no man's land" came into use during World War I to describe the zones of fiercest
fighting between Germany and the Allies. Literally uninhabitable for unhuman beings, these
landscapes were subjects of tremendous fascination for soldiers and those on the "home front" alike,and as such they were comprehensively investigated in essays, poems, drawings and photographs throughout the duration of the War. The rotogravures of The New York Times' Current History Magazine depict no man’s land using scenes of total destruction, vast areas stretching to the horizon with "all signs of civilization completely obliterated." Often illuminated only by the deadly light of exploding shells, these images vividly illustrate the new nature of industrial warfare, its capacity toutterly refigure the world according to its own set of rules.
There were, however, remnants of the old amidst the rubble of this new landscape, and figures still moved through it, though they would have been unrecognizable to those not familiar with the conditions they fought and lived in. The new soldiers fighting in and around "no man's land" areinvestigated in the pages of Current History as thoroughly as the landscapes they moved through, and in these descriptions and photographs may be found the tentative recognition of a crisis that, through its descriptive immediacy, often paints a more vivid picture than the memoirs and retrospectives which followed the War.
Existing language was stretched to accommodate a new set of conditions, and the often-conflicting claims regarding the new soldiers, their machines, and their bodies before, during, and after the War play into the derivative definition of no man's land as an area of uncertainty or ambiguity": in this new landscape the condition of the human was in no way clear.
For newly arrived novice soldiers No Man's Land held a certain allure. Such troops were cautioned against a natural inclination to peer over the parapet of the trench into No Man's Land. Many men died on their first day in the trenches as a consequence of a precisely aimed sniper's bullet.
The composition of No Man's Land could rapidly change as front lines shifted as a consequence of battles and actions. It was at its most static however along the trenches of the Western Front where from late 1914 until the Spring of 1918 the war was not one of movement but rather one of attrition. During this period the area of No Man's Land scarcely varied although its width would vary widely from sector to sector, from one kilometre to as little as a few hundred yards (as at Vimy Ridge for example). In the latter instance troops would be able to overhear conversation from their opposing trenches or readily lob grenades into their midst.
No Man's Land was not however barren of activity. During nightfall each side would despatch parties to spy on the enemy, or to repair or extend barbed wire posts. Reconnaissance missions were similarly common. Injured men trapped in No Man's Land would often be brought in under cover of darkness, as were corpses for burial. Consequently artillery shelling of No Man's Land was common, quickly reducing it to a barren wasteland comprised of destroyed vegetation, mud-soaked craters - and rotting corpses.
fighting between Germany and the Allies. Literally uninhabitable for unhuman beings, these
landscapes were subjects of tremendous fascination for soldiers and those on the "home front" alike,and as such they were comprehensively investigated in essays, poems, drawings and photographs throughout the duration of the War. The rotogravures of The New York Times' Current History Magazine depict no man’s land using scenes of total destruction, vast areas stretching to the horizon with "all signs of civilization completely obliterated." Often illuminated only by the deadly light of exploding shells, these images vividly illustrate the new nature of industrial warfare, its capacity toutterly refigure the world according to its own set of rules.
There were, however, remnants of the old amidst the rubble of this new landscape, and figures still moved through it, though they would have been unrecognizable to those not familiar with the conditions they fought and lived in. The new soldiers fighting in and around "no man's land" areinvestigated in the pages of Current History as thoroughly as the landscapes they moved through, and in these descriptions and photographs may be found the tentative recognition of a crisis that, through its descriptive immediacy, often paints a more vivid picture than the memoirs and retrospectives which followed the War.
Existing language was stretched to accommodate a new set of conditions, and the often-conflicting claims regarding the new soldiers, their machines, and their bodies before, during, and after the War play into the derivative definition of no man's land as an area of uncertainty or ambiguity": in this new landscape the condition of the human was in no way clear.
For newly arrived novice soldiers No Man's Land held a certain allure. Such troops were cautioned against a natural inclination to peer over the parapet of the trench into No Man's Land. Many men died on their first day in the trenches as a consequence of a precisely aimed sniper's bullet.
The composition of No Man's Land could rapidly change as front lines shifted as a consequence of battles and actions. It was at its most static however along the trenches of the Western Front where from late 1914 until the Spring of 1918 the war was not one of movement but rather one of attrition. During this period the area of No Man's Land scarcely varied although its width would vary widely from sector to sector, from one kilometre to as little as a few hundred yards (as at Vimy Ridge for example). In the latter instance troops would be able to overhear conversation from their opposing trenches or readily lob grenades into their midst.
No Man's Land was not however barren of activity. During nightfall each side would despatch parties to spy on the enemy, or to repair or extend barbed wire posts. Reconnaissance missions were similarly common. Injured men trapped in No Man's Land would often be brought in under cover of darkness, as were corpses for burial. Consequently artillery shelling of No Man's Land was common, quickly reducing it to a barren wasteland comprised of destroyed vegetation, mud-soaked craters - and rotting corpses.