This striking real photo postcard captures a French soldier posing stoically beside a dramatic array of unexploded German aerial bombs, likely during or shortly after World War I. The photograph is a study in both scale and tension: the uniformed man, arms folded, cigarette nonchalantly tucked between his lips, stands shoulder to fin with three massive bombs—each labeled in white script with its weight: 100 kg, 50 kg, and 12 kg. I don’t think it was advisable to be smoking a cigarette near the explosive bombs, but what do I know?The caption below reads:”Bombes légères lancées par avions Allemands” (“Light bombs dropped by German airplanes”). The soldier wears the kepi and uniform of a French infantryman, marked with a unit number “62” on his hat and collar, and a military medal is pinned proudly to his chest. One source identifies the medals as being “The Croix de Guerre, the Bronze Star, the Bronze Laurel Branch. This soldier is highly decorated. His body language suggests a mixture of defiance and grim pride—likely meant to communicate France’s resilience in the face of aerial terror. The oversized bombs dominate the frame and serve as a powerful visual testament to the scale and threat of early 20th-century aerial warfare. One can imagine this postcard being distributed either as propaganda or as a souvenir. (SOLD)
THE CABINET CARD GALLERY 
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