Tom Marshall (PhotograFix) / mediadrumimages.com

 

By Mark McConville

 

THE GRIM reality of World War One has been remembered in a series of 100 colourised images to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the end of the Great War.

A British soldier helps a wounded German prisoner walk along a railway track, 1916.
Tom Marshall (PhotograFix) / mediadrumimages.com

 

An interior view of the dugout occupied by officers of the 105th Howitzer Battery, Belgium: Flanders, West-Vlaanderen, Ypres, Hill 60 ā€“ 27th August 1917. Left to right: Captain Leslie Russell Blake MC Polar Medal (died of wounds on 3rd October 1918); Lieutenant David Ballantyne Ikin; Major Herbert Norman Morris, Officer Commanding.
Tom Marshall (PhotograFix) / mediadrumimages.com

 

The incredible images show Royal Garrison Artillery gunners pushing a light railway truck filled with shells in 1917, a British soldier helping a wounded German prisoner walk along a railway track in 1916 and British officers standing outside the mouth of a German trench in Messines, Belgium, 1917 after capturing it.

King George V sitting next to an army commander, Thiepval, France on the site where Thiepval Chateau once stood. The army commander to his right is pointing into the distance and, according to the original caption, recounting the capture of Thiepval. Tom Marshall (PhotograFix) / mediadrumimages.com

 

New Zealanders walking wounded at the Battle of Broodseinde ridge, the most successful Allied attack of Passchendaele. A YMCA NZ stall just behind the lines allowed the men to get something to drink.
Tom Marshall (PhotograFix) / mediadrumimages.com

 

Other striking pictures show King George V sitting next to an army commander, Thiepval, France on the site where Thiepval Chateau once stood, a soldier receiving a haircut from an Alpine barber on the Albanian front and a group of Irish soldiers recuperating with nurses c1917.

An explosion taking place on the Somme. According to the existing caption it is a controlled explosion set up by the Royal Engineers, to clear the way for the advance. A uniformed soldier, possibly a member of the Royal Engineers, sits on a wooden post watching the explosion.
Tom Marshall (PhotograFix) / mediadrumimages.com

 

British soldiers in a German trench, Messines, Belgium, 1917. Three officers stand outside the mouth of the trench whilst one sits on top of it and one stands inside it. They all appear happy or relaxed, presumably as they have just captured a German trench and all the supplies in it.
Tom Marshall (PhotograFix) / mediadrumimages.com

 

The original black and white photographs were painstakingly colourised by Tom Marshall of PhotograFix to mark the 100th anniversary of World War One ending.

On 22nd May 1915, the Quintinshill rail disaster occurred near Gretna Green, Scotland at Quintinshill on the Caledonian Railway Main Line linking Glasgow and Carlisle.
The crash, which involved five trains, killed a probable 226 and injured 246 and remains the worst rail crash in British history in terms of loss of life. Those killed were mainly Territorial soldiers from the 1/7th (Leith) Battalion, the Royal Scots heading for Gallipoli. The precise death toll was never established with confidence as the roll list of the regiment was destroyed by the fire.
Tom Marshall (PhotograFix) / mediadrumimages.com

 

Royal Garrison Artillery gunners pushing a light railway truck filled with shells, behind Zillebeke, 1st October 1917.
Tom Marshall (PhotograFix) / mediadrumimages.com

 

ā€œI began colourising black and white photos professionally in 2014, coincidingĀ with the centenary of the outbreak of WW1 in 1914,ā€ he said.

RMS Lusitania.
Tom Marshall (PhotograFix) / mediadrumimages.com

 

New Zealand soldiers in the Ypres Salient.
Tom Marshall (PhotograFix) / mediadrumimages.com

 

ā€œAround the world there was a renewed interest in a war that had not been fresh in the public memory for many years.

Soldiers demonstrating the correct use of gas masks, intended to show stages in adjustment of a Small Box Respirator (SBR), 1916.
Tom Marshall (PhotograFix) / mediadrumimages.com

 

ā€œSince 2014 I have been very fortunate to have been able to work with some high profile clients around the world on exhibitions, press articles and books commemorating significant WW1 anniversaries, but I have also been honoured to work on clients personal family photos, which all have unique insights into what was truly the first global conflict.

A group of Irish soldiers recuperating with nurses c1917. Pictured are two different nursing organisations, the Territorial Force Nursing Service (TFNS) and the Queen Alexandra’s Imperial Military Nursing Service (QAIMNS). The TFNS wore a blue grey cape with a scarlet trim, and just visible on the uniforms of the nurses to the left of the image is a small silver ‘T’ which defines them as such.
Tom Marshall (PhotograFix) / mediadrumimages.com

 

Canadian cyclists.
Tom Marshall (PhotograFix) / mediadrumimages.com

 

ā€œTo mark the centenary of the end of the First World War, I have decided to collate 100 images Iā€™ve colourised in tribute to the men and women who lived through the war, and those who lost their lives.

A soldier receives a haircut from an Alpine barber on the Albanian front.
Tom Marshall (PhotograFix) / mediadrumimages.com

 

ā€œI have chosen to include men and women of several nationalities, races and religions, as the entire world was affected by the war, and I hope the photos will show an insight into the lesser known stories and events.

Sappers mining underground, Messine Ridge, 1917.
Tom Marshall (PhotograFix) / mediadrumimages.com

 

ā€œPlease consider making a donation to the Royal British Legion’s Poppy Appeal, or to a local memorial appeal in your home country. Lest we forget.ā€

Irish soldiers of the Royal Dublin Fusiliers prepare to go to war. Taken at Collins Barracks, Dublin in 1915.
Tom Marshall (PhotograFix) / mediadrumimages.com

 

World War One was a global war originating in Europe that lasted from 28 July 1914 to 11 November 1918. Contemporaneously described as the “war to end all wars”, it led to the mobilization of more than 70 million military personnel, including 60 million Europeans, making it one of the largest wars in history.

A female British munitions worker makes shells for the soldiers fighting at the front during WW1.
Tom Marshall (PhotograFix) / mediadrumimages.com

 

An estimated nine million combatants and seven million civilians died as a direct result of the war, while it is also considered a contributory factor in a number of genocides and the 1918 influenza epidemic, which caused between 50 and 100 million deaths worldwide.

Egyptian Expeditionary Force soldiers pose in front of the Great Sphinx and pyramids of Giza, Egypt.
Tom Marshall (PhotograFix) / mediadrumimages.com