Bien que ce blog soit consacré à ma production photographique, je ne peux pas résister au plaisir d’y insérer cette page pour rendre hommage à mon oncle Frantz Adam, dont j’ai découvert plus de 600 photos, dont 500 négatifs qu’il a réalisées durant la guerre de 14-18.
Frantz Adam un jour d’été 1916
Elles retracent l’histoire que lui et ses camarades du 23ème régiment d’infanterie ont vécue durant ces 4 années. Il était leur médecin chef.
J’ai consacré plus de deux années à scanner et restaurer ces images. Très fortes, à la fois dures et émouvantes, elles témoignent très humainement d’un évènement incompréhensible.
J’ai ainsi découvert que cet oncle, que j’ai connu agé, était un photographe d’exception. La Presse m’en a convaincu en 2008 quand l’AFP les a ajoutées à son catalogue et que de nombreux magasines (Le Point, Match, VSD, l’Express, Réponses Photo, Le Monde) y ont consacré un nombre significatif de pages.
Depuis, ces images sont régulièrement diffusées.
Un livre a même été réalisé par André Loez, historien, et Alain Navarro, journaliste de l’AFP. Publié à La Découverte : Ce que j’ai vu de la Grande Guerre
French soldiers of the 23 RI have a break in a trench under the snow
9 french soldiers of the 23RI wash themselves at a trough in a farmyard in winter time.
3 young french soldiers of the 23RI read their mail in a farm yard
9 french soldiers from the 23RI come back
A watchman of the french 23RI looks through an embrasure in winter time.
A french soldier from the 23RI wears a women’s headdress.
A french comapny of the 23RI pose for a group photo around a bomb crater and the tree of a borcken tree.
the coffin of a dead soldier is honored in a trench by a troop commanded by a french officer.
the whole 23RI and four civils pose for a photograph in a village.
A medical aid station build in a forest of the Vosges.
A french soldier from the 23RI stands at attention.
A french soldier from the 23RI reads a letter in a trench.
Dr Frantz ADAM reads a medical newsletter in front of his medical aid station.
3 french soldiers from the 23RI stay under a shelter made with pine branches.
A french soldier of the 23RI plays with two very young children in a farmyard.
4 french soldiers from the 23RI emerge from a beech bush.
A french military medical assistant sits and reads in an aid station in the woods
in a billiard room, a french officier of the 23RI poses in a fancy dress. he wears a military coat on his shoulders and a clergyman hat. His has a big beard. he smokes a cigarett, hold a walking stick and one glove. On the billiard, lyes the camera box of the KODAK VEST POCKET used to take the picture. The man holds a small notice indicating « CULT IS RESTORED » [Une salle de billard. un officier français fortement barbu, du 23RI pose déguisé. il a sa gabardine jetée sur ses épaules et un chapeau de prètre. il tient comiquement une pancarte indiquant « CULTE RETABLI ». il tient une canne et des gans. sur le billard, est posé l’étui de l’appareil photo utilisé : un VEST POCKET KODAK. au mur une image du Pape et une carte indiquant « CARTE GENERALE DES OPERATIONS EN EUROPE 1914 »]
2 women and 8 french soldiers and officer of the 23RI poses behind a billiard table.
9 french officers from the 23RI rest in a forest.
A french military medical assistant vaccinates a women with a group of soldiers looking at them.
French soldiers from the 23RI bath and play in the Meurthe river.
4 french soldiers from the 23RI carry a wounded man on a stretcher
9 french soldier from the 23RI pose under a shelter made of pinewood branches.
7 convalescent soldiers sit on a bench in the park of the hospital of BOURG EN BRESSE.
3 french soldiers inside a medical aid station on the front. One man is disease, one read a news paper.
french soldiers go forward during an attack
2 french soldiers from the 23RI pose straight-faced in a trench
A french soldier drives a horse wagon loaded with mortar torpedos
A superb french officer of the 23RI holds his uniform hat.
Dr Frantz ADAM (2nd to the left) and his brother Emile (first to the left) with 4 soldiers of the French 23RI in a tavern behind a table.
A group of german prisonners follow a french soldier ridding a horse.
two german prisonners receive a piece of bread.
Two wounded soldiers lay in the ruins of the battlefield.
Before the beguinning of the Somme battle, german prisonners dig a raw of grave in a big cimetery while a group of french soldiers are watching them. The dimensions of this holes are impressive.
Dr Frantz ADAM shouting with his hands like a megaphone.
a mummified head of a german soldier lays on the ground beside the remains of his body
a naked putrefied cadaver of a french soldier lay in the ruins of a blasted trench.
a mumified cadaver cover by vermin and a skull lay on the ground.
A french soldier rolls a cigarett before attack in a trench
3 french soldiers warming up in a trench.
VILLERET 5 décembre 2018
Merci pour ce magnifique travail de votre grand-père et de vous, pour la restauration.
Kathrin 24 mai 2023
Merci beaucoup d’avoir sauvé ces précieux documents du passé dans le présent afin de les préserver pour l’avenir.