WAR PHOTOGRAPHER.

Press, Volume LIV, Issue 16404, 26 December 1918, Page 8

WAR PHOTOGRAPHER.

STRANGE EXPERIENCES.

IN FRANCE AND PALESTINE.

"Sensational experiences-and escapes fall to the lot of every man wEo has seen active service. Probably,, however, none are so diversified ae those of the official photographers, whose work takes them into every sphere of a campaign," said Captain Frank Hurley, who became official photographer to the A.I.F. after returning from the Antarctic with Sir Ernest Skackleton. Captain Hurley retained to Sydney recently.

Captain Hurley said that photograI phy played a vastly important • part-in I all the manoeuvres of war. It was the infalliblo photographic record made } from the air which located • the enemy'sI gun positions,''and showed the progress |of his entrenchments and' worksl Practically all maps were, made through its agency, and it'was the supreme medium of recording for all time events that would figure largely in history. Asked as to his experiences on the battlefield, • Captain Hurley 6aid. he had learnt to fully appreciate . the significance of Bairnefather's cartoon, "If fbr knows of a! better '01e,.g0 to it." It' was scarcely an enjoyable sensation to be crouched in the bottom of a shell-hole-while Fritz's "big stuff" (9-4, shells) hurtled over one's-head. "You can," eaid Captain Hurley, "hear'them approaching and see them passing over-; head/ J Jumping up and. snapping, the; burst and dropping low before the splinters reach you is rather exciting*sport.; I often thought that Ti' wcJnld like to have presented to those Boche gunners a few" prints for their kindness. Of course, an occasional : shell falls short j and'then you look for another 'ole not quite so mucky," and epit out and wipe off mud 'plonks.' A HOT CORNER. "One day I Was on/Westhook Ridge. It was a quiet photographing day until a mule train passed by. Then. over came a-heavy Boche barrage, and off.'l scampered to the nearest dug-out. Excitement ran high, and the occupaiits pulled out their franc notes and freely made bets on the chances of t£e mule 3 and their riders reaching safety. Such is the grim humour of war, and the superb moral of our men. They are magnificent. Then ' came a terrific whizz, and no more. Down fell our dug-out, and out we scrambled from the ruins. It was a'dud.'

"This was a. hot corner, so. off we dodged and ducked until we reached Anzao Pill Box, which was on the fringe of the barrage area. Quite 20 men hail congregated in-the lee of its formidable shelter. But we had not been there long before another fiendish whizz and, a mighty throwing .up of mud announced that it was time to quit. It also was a 'dud,' and had-buried itself- in the mud only six, feet away, failing to explode. Twice in an hour had my life been miraculously spared, so I closed my camera for that day : and left. JUMP FROM BALLOON. "Once while I was taking some aerial pictures from a captive balloon a fleet of German bombing 'planes came over. It was a dull cloudy day., and as they were flying high tne cloud? obscured thera. Presently they discharged their freight of 60iue 40 bombs, only about 400 yards away. The detonation • was terrific, and great columns of earth and debris rose high into the air. Quickly we were haulod down, but through a flying rift in a cloud one of the enemy macuines swooped and pepperedlus. THe telephone in the cage rang wildly, and out we jumped, 3500 feet from the earth. Although lam a keen aeronaut, parachute iumping is not in my line. There was hardly time to get the wind up, it was all bo 6udden. The drop till the parachute opened just about drove all the wind out of me. It must have been a sheer fall of 150 feet before the parachute opened, and my whole life passed before me in that time. TJLVs glide to earth I rather enjoyed, and on being hauled out of a muddy Bhellcrater I was able to assume an air of sangfroid which was far from what I really felt. CHASED BY TUBKS. ,

."By far the most ludicrous incident | that ever befel me took placp just after the fall of Jericho, in Palestine. I was very eager to secure the first films of the Jordan, and so, the following morning, in company with Captain Ahearn and Captain Wybird, I set out before daybreak in a motor-car. The road runs almost in a bee-line from Jericho to the Jordan, and-as it was in fair condition wo maHe good speed. Later, we hid ttho car and the driver in a clump of bushes and set off on foot for the Jordan. As wo advanced dawn began to dimly light up the landscape, and ahead wo observed two parties of horsemen, about 25 in all. Imagining them be part of our own patrol we made towards them, They allowed us to come within 300 yarSs, when we were speedily disillusioned as to their identity. Ping, ping—and little sand spurts j jumped up to right and left. was 200 yards away and was being shelled, so I called out to the driver to return at- once, anticipating that had we attempted to run towards it all firo must have been concentrated, and we would either be riddled down by the enemy. Separating, we dodged from bush to bush untilexhausted and I breathless, we tumbled into the nearest shelter. The sniping continued and our position was 6hulled, but we still played 'possum' and all became quietr For four hours we lay there. The sun, blazed down, and* we became so thirsty, that we felt we mast return. I m»-

tioned to Ahearn to break off the twigi from a bush and make them into a screen. With this dummy bush held ahead of us. and twigs stuck into clothing we managed to wriggle on our stomachs out of rifle range. It was a risky predicament; a<- we could eeo horsemen still on "the alert through our frail screen, aud thore was practically no natural cover. Doubtless, the Turks thought that we were an ambtish and that our cameras were, machine-guns; - "I, have takoii about 1200 negatives myself," said Captain Hurley in reply to a question, "and several thousands have.been taken by staff. They aro the property of the Commonwealth Government, the ultimate object being to . use ■ them in the National Gallery and,!' for military purposes." .ij-