Rear Area – Then and Now –
A Thematic and Photographic Inventory

After the Germans had reached the northern and eastern area of the Festungsgürtels um Verdun at the end of August 1914, and furthermore at the end of September 1914 the Frontbogen von Saint-Mihiel had been formed by the advance of Prussian and Bavarian troops (Armee-Abteilung Strantz (Army Detachment Strantz)), and the fighting in the area of the Argonnen-Hauptkammes had also transitioned to trench warfare, logistic and infrastructural facilities were created in almost every town and village in the rear of these front sectors to control combat operations as well as to supply and accommodate the troops.

The sector located in the rear of a fighting army, the so-called operations area, which could not be reached or could only be reached with difficulty by enemy artillery, was called the rear area. This resulted in a very complex organizational structure that extended from the Quartermaster General at the Obersten (colonel) Heeresleitung (OHL) through the respective rear area inspectors of the individual armies, the rear area command posts down to individual local command posts. Thousands of civilian officials and soldiers, mostly members of Landwehr and Landsturm units, i.e., older age groups, were integrated into the rear-area system. Often disdainfully discredited by the fighting troops as “rear-area stallions,” they organized the entire logistical communication with the fighting troops as well as their supply with everything necessary. Subordinate to the rear-area administration was also the entire railway and light railway system in the territory in question, public order and jurisdiction for both civilians and soldiers, as well as the supply and medical services. Local auxiliary workers were recruited in large numbers, who were employed primarily in the construction sector, agriculture, and mining.

During the four-year period of German occupation, millions of photographs of the villages behind the actual combat line were created in France, which were sent by soldiers as field post postcards or taken home to be developed. Images of the actual combat events were very rarely produced. Strict censorship rules applied in order to maintain the support of the domestic population and a positive image of the war events at home. Already at the beginning of the war, an “Instruction for War Photographers and Cinematographers” (General Staff, December 28, 1914, III. C. 3094. Pr.) meticulously stipulated what was allowed to be photographed, when, and where.

Thus, photographs of combat operations in the rear area were staged, and battlefields were photographed only days after the actual fighting. Private photographs were strictly forbidden for the ordinary frontline soldier in the immediate front area, and location information on maps or in text was also prohibited, from which conclusions could have been drawn about the deployment locations of individual units. This explains why place names on postcards were often painted over rather poorly than well.

Primarily, photographs were taken of localities and landscapes in and around the rear-area villages and towns. The photos were taken by soldiers who were there in rest quarters, military hospitals, or as rear-area personnel. Today, the pictures mostly convey a peaceful image in contrast to the actual situation in which the thunder of artillery could be heard the entire time and the war remained omnipresent for the soldiers even far behind the front lines.