Rarely Seen Black and White Photos of World War I From the Front, ca. 1915-1916

A Viscount in the Armoured Cavalry Branch of the French Army left behind a collection of hundreds of glass plates taken during World War I that have never before been published. The images, by an unknown photographer, show the daily life of soldiers in the trenches, destruction of towns and military leaders.

A French officer stands near a cemetery with recent graves of soldiers killed on the front lines of World War I at the Saint-Jean-sur-Tourbe on the Champagne front, eastern France on Dec. 19, 1916.

French soldiers stand in German trenches seized after being shelled on the Somme front, northern France in 1916.

A French soldier aiming an anti-aircraft machine gun from a trench at Perthes les Hurlus, eastern France.

Field Marshal Horatio Herbert Kitchener (2nd left) meeting French General Albert Baratier (right), on horseback, as French Marshal Joseph Joffre looks on (2nd right), on the Champagne front, Eastern France in 1915.

French soldiers moving a 95 mm cannon, on the rear guard near the front, at an unknown location in France.

French General Emile Eugene Belin (right) visiting the front line near Arras, Northern France.

French troops from the rear guard eating lunch near Arras, Northern France.

Carcasses of animals strung up before being cooked for soldiers, on the Champagne front, eastern France.

A shelter for machine gunners in a French trench at Apremont-la-Foret, eastern France.

A French soldier after taking a shower, at the rear guard near the front line, at an unknown location in France.

German soldiers (rear) offering to surrender to French troops, seen from a listening post in a trench at Massiges, northeastern France.

French soldiers firing a 155 mm mortar from a trench on the front line, at an unknown location in France.

Germans soldiers, captured during the Battle of Verdun, taking off their clothes for a body search by French soldiers, in Eastern France.

A dog pulling a Belgian machine gun at an unknown location in northern France.

French General Joseph Joffre (2nd right) congratulating and awarding medals to soldiers, who fought in the Battle of Verdun, in Verdun March 1916.

French soldiers posing outside their shack, called "The Chalet", at la Sapiniere near Lachalade on the Argonne front, eastern France.

French troops in trenches above Ablain-Saint-Nazaire in the Artois front, northern France, in 1916.

French officers inspecting trenches on the Argonne front, eastern France May 1916.

(via The Big Picture)