With the onset of heavier-than-air flight, it was only a matter of time before warfare incorporated the new adjunct into its far-flung assemblage. World War One saw America late to the scene with forces unprepared for what lay ahead in the battlefields of France and Belgium. One of the men helping bridge the wide gulf to the new industrial levels the Great War brought about was Edward Steichen.
EARLY AERIAL RECONNAISSANCE
Observing military observations from the air went back to French efforts in the late 18th century with hot air balloons during the wars of the French Revolution. Photography began after the end of the Napoleonic Wars. By the 1860’s, cameras could be found in manned and unmanned balloons – tethered kites later, as well.
The problem with kites or balloons was they could not observe over enemy lines beyond what they could see from their tethered locations behind their own lines. The lighter-than-air craft were susceptible to enemy fire. Rigid balloons, zeppelins, could fly over enemy lines, but the craft were too slow to be able to defend themselves well. While they were used, especially in the navy, for aerial reconnaissance during the war and beyond, the airplane soon became the reconnaissance craft of choice.
Italy became the first nation to use an airplane to conduct a reconnaissance mission 23 October 1911 in Libya during the Italo-Turkish War 1911-1912. A year later Greeks, Turks – using German mercenaries – and Bulgarians all got into the act during the Balkan Wars.
GREAT WAR
Experiments with stereoscopy from just before the war by Frederick Charles Victor Laws showed photos with a 60% overlap could create the 3-d effect with a stereoscope. Laws originally flew in a British dirigible in the Number 1 Squadron of the Royal Flying Corps. After the dirigible sailed off into the arms of the Royal Navy, Laws formed the first air recon unit of heavier-than-air craft, Number 3 Squadron RFC.
Both sides used planes to fly recon missions from the initial stages of the war, though the information received took a while for properly appreciation by commanders. Cameras got better as the war went on, including those able to make vertical axis photos. Trench systems became mapped in their entirety by 1915 with the entire front mapped twice daily by the end of the war. Even in the beginning campaigns, the airplane proved vital gaining information on both sides allowing commanders, when they did appreciate the information given, to make important tactical decisions.
Artillery maps developed as did assessments of damage incurred on the enemy. Rapid development of images obtained was another important development. The war participants developed different methods of obtaining the photos, developing and interpreting them. The advance of air reconnaissance led to more advanced techniques in camouflage, as well. Each country’s process was a bit different from the other.
ENTER THE AMERICANS
When the US entered the war in April 1917, the Army was very unprepared for what lie ahead. The small air contingent consisted of training aircraft mainly with no first line combat aircraft of note. A long process lay ahead for the US to even decide on which type of aircraft to use. Of course, there was the problem of how to build them and where to obtain the basic components to erect them.
Aerial reconnaissance was seen as a primary objective for aircraft. The air component of the Army was placed in the Signal Corps, the manager of communications and information systems for the Army. The Signal Corps had experience with balloons since the 1860’s, as well as combat photography added on in 1898. An aeronautical division developed within the Signal Corps in 1907with one officer and two enlisted men.
At the same time as developing balloons for use in the military, airplanes had been procured. In 1911, an aviation company developed with new airplanes ordered to train pilots on. Money was tight, however. The Signal Corps only spent $40,000 of its 1912 funding. In the government, another case of use it or lose it. In 1912, with 51 officers and men in the division, US spending ranked 14th in the world among nations with air sections.
The section doubled in size in 1913 to 114 men and in 1914, the Aviation Section, Signal Corps replaced the Aeronautical Division. The law enacting the new section increased funding while presenting other problems – reduction in pay for students, limiting flying to unmarried lieutenants under 30 years of age among other factors.
Mexican Prologue
By the end of 1914, the Section doubled in size again to 44 officers, 224 men and 23 airplanes. During the 1916 expedition led by General John Pershing into northern Mexico against the revolutionary force of Pancho Villa, a squadron of eight Curtiss JN-3s with 11 pilots and 84 men went south. Flying 540 missions, 19,553 miles over 345 hours and 45 minutes in the air, no observations of hostile troops, however, noted.
The service provided critical means of communication between Pershing’s headquarters and his disparate ground units marching deep inside Mexico. The desert terrain and high altitudes encountered in northern Mexico proved more than a match for the young air section. The poor showing also American technology lagging far behind Europe at the time.
The Yanks are Here
Even with the National Defense Act of 1916 enlarging the size of American armed forces in response to possible European involvement, the Air Section still consisted of only 65 officers – 66 reserve officers, 230 enlisted men and 280 training planes. The rapid expansion after April 1917 was overwhelming to the Aviation Section like the rest of the Army experience. Only three squadrons made up the Aviation Section when the US went to war – one was in the Philippines.
Squadrons formed as quickly as the Aviation Section was able. Basic flight training provided to pilots before they forwarded to France or England, where they underwent primary training for either pursuit, bombardment or observation units. The Air Service of the AEF developed separate from the Signal Corps stateside. 45 squadrons would form for service at the front – 38 of which operated combat missions – along with 17 balloon companies.
aef Photographic Section
To their other duties, the Signal Corps gained a new task near the end of July 1917 – photographic coverage of American participation in the war. A Photographic Section was established sending an officer with General Pershing to Europe to study the equipment and techniques used by the Allies. The section started with 25 men in August 1917 enlarging to 92 officers and 498 enlisted men by Armistice Day, just over a year later.
A photo unit became assigned to each division with a motion-picture and a still photographer and assistants in each unit. A laboratory to produce the films developed first in Paris and later in Vincennes. Also, important, and indexing system developed separating the 589,197 feet of film shot into 1,099 subjects in chronological order fully captioned – eventually forwarded to the Army War College. Mobile photo labs were developed to support each unit in order to get the results of the photos quickly to the intelligence people interpreting the photos with each division.
THE GREAT CREATIVE GENIUS
Edward Jean Steichen came from the little town of Bivange in the Grand Duchy of Luxembourg – about two miles due south of the capital. The family emigrated to the United States, settling in Hancock, Michigan – copper country of the Upper Peninsula – in 1880. Edward was one and a half years old. The family moved on to Milwaukee, Wisconsin in 1889 with young Edward becoming trilingual – English and German at school and Luxembourgish at home.
At fifteen, Steichen attended Pio Nono College on the south side of Milwaukee where his artistic abilities became first noticed. Soon out of high school, he started an apprenticeship with the American Fine Art Company of Milwaukee drawing and learning to paint in his off hours. Becoming interested also in photography, he bought a used Kodak Detective model in 1895 and he was off and running.
europe beckons
After becoming a naturalized US citizen in 1900, Steichen traveled to Paris to study art further. Well-known photographer Clarence White introduced Edward to White’s good friend Alfred Stieglitz, an even more important American photographer. They met in New York as Steichen traveled to Paris. Stieglitz impressed with Edward’s work bought three of his photo prints.
Two years later Stieglitz had Steichen design the cover for a quarterly photographic journal Stieglitz produced, Camera Work. The journal became one of the most influential in the field of photography in the early Twentieth Century. Steichen’s work found a home in the journal’s pages.
Pictorial Photography
In France, Steichen got into fashion photography working alongside Adolph de Meyer. In 1911, a challenge by a French publisher to promote fashion as fine art through photography resulted in Steichen’s work appearing in the magazine Art et Decoration. Artistic retouches to soften sharp images resulted in images more like paintings drawing upon the viewers imagination – pictorial photography.
The pictorial photographic movement creating the soft-focus emotional response was led by Alfred Stieglitz and then others – like White. Stieglitz started a group in New York known a Photo-Secession carefully choosing photographers to include within his group. Steichen was one of the chosen. Steichen and Stieglitz went on in 1905 to develop the Little Galleries of the Photo-Secession – also known simply as Gallery 291 – exhibiting the works of the group. The studio also displayed works of important modern artists of the day like Pablo Picasso and Constantin Brâncuși, introducing them to America.
After flitting between continents for several years, Steichen brought his new wife and two young daughters to France renting a villa in Voulangis, fifteen to twenty miles east of Paris, about halfway to Château-Thierry. From here, he was able to immerse himself further into the modern art scene of Europe. 1914 ended his time there with the Battle of the Marne. German troops advancing during the battle sent the young family back to the US.
Steichen goes to War
When the US entered the war in 1917, Steichen enlisted. He was eight years older – 38 – than the age limit for the Signal Corps, but his reputation as a famous photographer made him a valuable resource for the struggling Corps. Given the rank of First Lieutenant, he teamed with Major James Barnes to build up the Photographic Section within the AEF.
James Barnes
James Barnes worked with Scribner’s Magazine and Harper’s Weekly in the years after his 1891 graduation from Princeton. After serving in the Naval Reserve during the Spanish-American War, he went to South Africa as a war correspondent. For The Outlook, he covered the Second Boer War from 1899 until 1901. In 1914, he returned to Africa. He worked for the American Museum of Natural History on a photographic expedition across Africa. Steichen described Barnes’ photographic experience, “All he knew about photography was whatever he had learned on a hunting safari when he made a motion picture of wild animals.”
Barnes enlisted in the Army when war came serving fist as head of the Princeton Aviation School. Tabbed in August 1917 to head the photographic division of the Aviation Section, Barnes given the rank of major. With him, four other officers gained selection. As Barnes admits regarding Steichen, in his autobiography, From Then Till Now, “Without his aid and advice, which I gratefully acknowledge, the Photographic Division might, at any time, have gone on the rocks.” While Barnes did not know nearly as much about photography as Steichen, he outranked him.
Teamwork
Together, the group found a building to serve as a laboratory in Washington, DC. Then, they began to gather men with some experience. Through a request to the War Department, the British sent Major C. D. M. Campbell – the head of the British Photographic Division – over to help the Americans. Major Campbell with an opportunity to lecture on the importance of aerial photography on the battlefield was able – through his photographs and slides showing facts and figures – to show how important and relevant the field was to those fighting the battles.
Both Barnes and Steichen went to France in October to set up the photographic operation for the AEF. Barnes leading and Steichen as technical advisor, an office was set up. The duo continued to impress the importance of aerial photography to those who were to command. As they organized the new group, they developed training materials, procured equipment, and worked to standardize the new field across not only the American, but other Allied armies, too. Here, Steichen’s prewar fame came handy as other Allied staffs quickly recognized his expertise.
Steichen in charge
Laboratories, training, print distribution, supply channels, categorization all developed from nothing. Barnes transferred back to take charge of the new United States School of Aerial Photography in Rochester, New York – home of Kodak.
The newly promoted Captain Steichen assuming overall responsibility for the AEF aerial photography section. Steichen showed leadership and managerial skills as the department grew both in size and importance. Here, he went from a solo photographer becoming a collaborator and producer, skills serving him long after the war. Steichen also strove for sharpness and clearness in the pictures, opposite of pictorialism he delved in before.
The Art Institute of Chicago’s website shows a series of pictures Steichen chose for a photo album. The album demonstrates the distance the AEF Photographic Section covered in such a short time. For instance, by the time of the Meuse-Argonne Offensive in late September 1918, more than 50,000 prints developed and distributed in the five days leading up to the battles.
But beyond taking the photos, developing them, categorizing them and distributing them, the need for interpretation also arose. Here, Steichen appealed for men with expertise with photography. Artifacts of the photo process would not be mistaken for battlefield information or vice versa. In this regard, upper-ranking authorities chose to ignore the now Major. The task remained within the hands of young men working in the divisional and corps level intelligence departments – G-2 in the US Army.
The Process
Cameras
Photographs started with equipment. 87% of the equipment used by the AEF Photographic Section ended up procured from foreign sources. The equipment and supplies simply did not exist in the US at the time. Cameras, of course, along with film plates, were primary. Most pictures came from 18 by 24 cm cameras fit with a 20-inch lens and focal plane shutter. Three different cameras were used: a 26-cm camera for initial coverage of an area; a 50-cm camera for closer views of certain areas of interest; and a 100-cm for very close-up views. All cameras used twelve18 by 24 plates which the observer changed after each exposure.
semi-automatic camera
A late addition to the cameras used was the De Ram semi-automatic camera developed by a French lieutenant. This camera held fifty plates. After the observer pressed the release for the first exposure, the plates would change, and the next exposure was ready. This allowed both the pilot and observer to focus more on defending the aircraft than having to worry about changing plates for a subsequent exposure while trying to defend the plane.
Two problems arose with the De Ram. First, weight. The camera with fifty plates weighed 90 pounds, a significant amount for a First World War plane to carry. Next, the entire camera, which sat in a vertical position inside the fuselage next to the observer’s seat, needed complete removal from the aircraft at the end of a mission. The whole camera then went to a dark room for film development. Steichen was very enthusiastic about the camera to better ensure the safety of the observation plane.
A third problem came about in the choice of certain cameras for certain planes. The AEF’s main plane for observation was the two-seat DH-4 Liberty. The De Ram camera only fit in Salmson 2A2 planes. Fifteen De Rams flew in American planes by the end of the war with another almost 200 cameras under production.
Aircraft
Aircraft and the personnel used to run them were separate from the Photographic Section, of course. Observation planes comprised a significant part of the AEF’s Air Service. Of the 32 squadrons at the beginning of the Meuse-Argonne Offensive, 13 were observation units. By Armistice, the number was 18 of the now 45 squadrons.
The Salmson 2A2 made up the bulk of the AEF’s observation planes. The AEF Air Service purchased 705 of the craft used in ten squadrons. American-built Liberty DH-4s came onto the scene late with 1,213 planes delivered to France by the end of the war. Only 196 went the front serving in twelve squadrons. 229 Breguet 14A2s were another important observation plane though many served as bombers, as well.
Aerial photography was much more difficult process than ground photography where a camera sits firm on a tripod. In the air, the plane flew at a hundred miles an hour. The camera was usually suspended pointing vertically down from inside the fuselage. The camera suffered continually vibrated from the engine, air turbulence and anti-aircraft explosions. Photos were taken at over 16,000-foot elevations.
Weather played a large role. As Steichen wrote, “The ground photographer chooses his weather; the General Staff chooses the aerial photographer’s weather.” Photo days could become crammed with missions because of poor weather days – a problem during both the St Mihiel and Meuse-Argonne Offensives.
He also made a case for the use of observers trained in photography. Several missions flown by non-combatant photographic officers gained better results in cases of special photographic requirements. Steichen learned to fly before the war. The Art Institute of Chicago’s website notes he may have taken a few test flights. No evidence shows Steichen taking operational photographs during the war.
Photographic Section takes over
Back on the ground, speed became essential. Information on the ground was always changing. The most up-to-date information needed by ground commanders at the front.
Exposed plates were hurried off to laboratories – or in the case of the De Ram, the entire camera. Here the plates were developed, washed and dried. Two prints were run off each plate, identified and located on a map and a preliminary interpretation made. The first prints normally took 1-2 hours.
Laboratories in the field were primitive. Sometimes tents needed to be used. One end set up with a wooden framework covered with tar paper and opaque curtains. Steichen notes light-tight could equal air-tight with the result being sauna-like conditions.
The Photographic Sections normally had access to a truck and trailer set up with a small darkroom and drafting room. The men then needed to get inventive to create a printing laboratory, dug outs and cow sheds for example. Printing out the photos was a very important feature as well as distribution. Steichen noted the production of 1,300,000 prints taking place between 1 July 1918 and the Armistice.
Photos were important in making maps. Tracing paper put over photos used to create maps easier to read than vertical photographs. Mosaic pictures developed observation planes flying particular patterns over the countryside. Most photos were taken vertically, but oblique photos taken out of the side of the aircraft could also provide useful information. These photos were especially useful for observers not trained in vertical photo interpretation.
Aftermath
“The future of aerial photography is naturally bound up with the future of the Air Service, and as a function of the Air Service is full of possibilities as a peace-time development.” Noted Steichen in 1919. Aerial mapping and photography held many possibilities. Within the Army, however, the interwar period made for tough times for the continual flowering of the Photographic Section. Steichen and most of the photographically inclined officers quickly left the service.
For Steichen, he returned to Voulangis in France for a couple of years after the war. His experience working as a part of a team and utilizing “Straight Photography” versus pictorialism led into a very lucrative career back in New York as the father of fashion photography. His work at Vogue and Vanity Fair made him the most famous photographer of his time.
During the Second World War, Steichen, at 62, sought to re-enter the service. This time the Army turned him down. The Navy, however, gave him a chance to lead a special unit bypassing the official Navy photo organization. Steichen’s unit basically ran a public relations campaign for the Navy – Your Navy at War. His focus was on the men serving. His instructions to his photographers included, “Above all, concentrate on the men. The ships and planes will become obsolete, but the men will always be there.” This would eventually serve him as a model for his most famous 1955 photographic exhibit produced for the Museum of Modern Art, The Family of Man.
Sidenote:
Another famous American sharing Luxembourgish roots was Franklin Delano Roosevelt through his mother’s family, the Delanos. In Luxembourg, the De Lannoy family previously owned the Clervaux Castle in the northern reaches of the little duchy. The castle is where Steichen’s most famous photographic exhibit, The Family of Man created in 1955 for the Museum of Modern Art in New York, resides today.
Sources – The Art Institute of Chicago has a great website from which to start any exploration of Edward Steichen from.
For his work in World War One, if you can find a copy of Von Hardesty’s Camera Aloft – Edward Steichen in the Great War a great find. Von Hardesty is a a curator in the Division of Aeronautics at the Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum in Washington, D.C. and has several books to his credit.
The Museum of Modern Art has this collection of his works online.
For his time in the Navy in WW2 try here to start. And for his interwar work at Vogue, start at the Smithsonian.
A good summary article of his Great War work can be found in this article he wrote following the war.
He also wrote up a history for the Photographic Section in Gorrell’s History of the American Expeditionary Forces Air Service 1917-1919 found in the National Archives M990 – read with subscription on Ancestry.com’s Fold3.com.