Two Views of a Parade Ground

 

It was a special outdoor event
that needed music.
The regiment's band was ready.

Every soldier was there
lined up according to rank
but without their rifles and swords.

 

The focal point
was a small temporary structure
decorated with pine boughs and flags.

One man commanded everyone's attention.
But he was not a general.
He answered to a higher authority.

The massed troops and their officers
listened attentively. 

The band awaited the signal
to begin playing again.

These two postcard photos record a religious service for a large battalion of imperial German soldiers gathered together on a large parade ground. I do not know the event's purpose or date, only that it occurred during the Great War of 1914-18. Is it a religious dedication or military ceremony? Maybe a funeral? 

The army chaplain on the little altar stage wears a cross necklace as does his assistant chaplain standing nearby. There is no casket so I don't think this is a funeral for an individual. The only guns visible are the two pyramids of rifles placed over snare drums. The soldiers did not have far to march to  get to the parade ground as surrounding buildings are surely military barracks. Nonetheless they are carefully arranged on the plaza which must have taken some effort and planning to stage. Other than the one man wearing a top hat standing next to the band there are no other civilians present. Was he a city official or maybe an undertaker? Whatever this event was it had a special purpose that was not a typical display of military marching drills.  

What intrigues me is that the two photos were taken almost simultaneously from opposite sides of the large plaza. Initially I thought they were photos of different places but the position of the band and the man in the top hat caught my attention and I quickly realized that this event had two cameramen who recorded the occasion at almost the exact same moment. 

The cards have no message and were never posted, but clearly this is a formal service that required a commemorative photograph.  

Fortunately the photographer left a stamped imprint of their name:

Landst. E. Mieschel, 4. Komp. 1. Landst. Inf. Battl. Offenburg

The first word is short for Landstrum which refers to a militia or reserve army unit consisting of  mainly conscripts who are not regular army soldiers. When the German armed forces mobilized for war in July 1914, invading both Belgium, France and Russia, many of these auxiliary infantry units were called up as a defensive force to guard the Fatherland and provide logistical support services. This particular battalion served on both the Western and Eastern Fronts. 

Offenburg, Germany is a small city located in the state of Baden-Württemberg near the Rhine River on the southwestern border with France. But in 1914 the border was further west as the French departments of Alsace and Lorraine were then German territory that had been acquired during the 1870 Franco-Prussian war.

I've been unable to discover anything about the photographer E. Mieschel but I presume he was serving as a German army photographer and not from some local civilian studio. I was curious about the position of the two cameras. Obviously some officer directed Mieschel to take a wide shot of the parade plaza, so higher was better. Was it possible to find the two photographers? 

A camera lens is always at the center of any photo to I drew lines parallel to the centerline for each perspective using points at the band and the corner of the altar stage. The red line is for the camera in the building behind the band and the yellow line is for the camera in the building on the far side of the plaza facing the altar stage. 

Standing at the far right second-floor window of the building  behind the band is a soldier leaning out. On the ledge are small boxes that I think are his cameras. Is it E. Mieschel?

And at a second-floor window on the far side, fourth from the right, is a shadowy figure looking through a viewfinder of a camera mounted on a tripod. Did the photographers have a signal system to coordinate the photos? Did they take more photos? Maybe one day I'll come across another version that might identify the occasion.  

Here is a short German newsreel film from 1914
showing the arrival of army recruits in Wetzlar, Germany.
It has been artfully colorized
by the YouTube channel Glimpses Into the Past.
 They added a soundtrack of piano music
that, I think, makes the film more meaningful
and evocative of the human cost of the Great War.
All the smiles of that summer in 1914 
would vanish by November 1918.

This is my contribution to Sepia Saturday

where everyone is checking out the farmers' market.