TOPIC:

Neville, great thread full of interesting, new material and illustrated by excellent photographs. I do not want it to veer off-topic but since Rob mentioned the star shells I thought the below picture is not entirely out of place.

Everhard,

There is a copy of this photograph in Majoor von Wichmann’s album. I have never been entirely convinced that it is “genuine”, and suspect the trails of the star shells have been drawn onto the negative. The long exposure required to capture the fall of a single star shell, let alone eight, would have meant that any moving individuals (such as the mounted men in the middle distance) would appear so blurred that they would look more like apparitions than the living.

It is, nonetheless, a very evocative photograph.

The star shell photo was one of Jan van Hoepen's, and the magnesium trails must have been added by hand, as here's a slightly different version

The print in von Wichmann's album, like so many of van Hoepen's photographs, has passed through Middlebrook's Durban studio. Although somewhat cropped, it is the same version as that posted by Rob above. Along with the descriptive text, Middlebrook's details have been erased and von Wichmann has added the caption: Engländer belechtliten die gegend aus Tugela des nachts durch Leichtkörper. To my eye, this is a rather under-exposed daylight scene.

I wonder whether there are any copies of this photograph without the added star shell trails. Also, were the trails added by van Hoepen or Middlebrook?








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Returning to the theme of searchlights, here are a few photographs, all courtesy of the Transvaal Archive (TAB), showing lamp systems being constructed, installed and used during the later stages of the war.







































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Colonel Wood RE refers to a crew of four civilians, WO100-155p97 "Searchlight crew Balloon section"


Here is McMurtrie's medal with battle bars: