31. Bouresches wood (Château Thierry Sector.) effect of artillery bombardment on woods, smoke of exploding shells, 1918

Plate 31. Bouresches wood (Château Thierry Sector), from an album of World War I aerial photography assembled by Edward Steichen, in the collection of the Art Institute of Chicago.

Plate 31, from an untitled album of World War I photographs, 1918

Gelatin silver print
Gift of William Kistler, 1977.707

This is likely Bellau Wood, location of an infamous battle waged by the Marines from June 1 to June 26, 1918. Steichen seems to have combined this with the nearby village of Bouresches, also a site of battle, to form the place name “Bouresches Wood.”

Inscribed recto, on album page, lower left, in black/brown ink: “Bouresches wood (Chateau Thierry Sector.) / effect of artillery bombardment on woods / smoke of exploding shelles [sic]”; printed recto, on album page, lower right, in black ink: “Photographic Section. / Air Service. American Expeditionary Forces.”; inscribed recto, on album page, lower right, in blue ink: “31”; unmarked verso