British soldiers man a line of shell craters, 1917 circa (b/w photo)

British soldiers man a line of shell craters, 1917 circa. Photograph, World War One, Western Front (1914-1918), 1917 circa. The soldier nearest the camera is armed with a Lewis Gun, the British Army’s most widely used machine gun during World War One. Each Lewis Gun required a team of two gunners, one to fire and one to carry ammunition and reload. All of the members of an infantry platoon would be trained in the use of the Lewis Gun so that they could take over if the usual gunners were killed or wounded. From an album of 22 official photographs.