Armed With Cameras

by Peter Maslowski

Overview

A chronicle of the frontline photographers of World War II recounts the sometimes harrowing exploits of the American Military Photographers, men armed with cameras who accompanied the Army, Marines, Air Force, and Navy into battle.

Product Details

ISBN-13:	9780684863986
Publisher:	Free Press
Publication date:	10/01/1998
Pages:	456
Product dimensions:	6.00(w) x 8.90(h) x 1.10(d)

About the Author

Peter Maslowski is professor of history at the University of Nebraska, Lincoln.

Editorial Reviews

Military historian Maslowski (co-author of For the Common Defense ), whose father became an Air Force combat photographer in 1944, here presents in comprehensive detail the virtually unknown story of how U.S. armed forces produced photography (still and motion picture) in WW II for intelligence training, public information and historical use. Included are cameramen's moving, risky personal exploits, often ahead of main forces. The author describes the travel, morale and supply problems they encountered. Drawing on archival research and interviews conducted over 20 years, Maslowski gives new insight into the making of wartime documentaries such as San Pietro and The Fighting Lady , and into the circumstances behind such coups as the photographing of the U.S. Marine flag-raising on Iwo Jima. Combat photography, the author recalls, helped in mapping enemy positions and boosted both war-industry production and War Bond Drives. Maslowski succeeds in giving proper due to these camera warriors, who at the time received little of the recognition given to their civilian counterparts. (Oct.)

Publishers Weekly - Publisher's Weekly

While it may overstate the case to call them ``World War II's most unsung heroes,'' Maslowski's ( For the Common Defense , Free Pr., 1984) history does provide a much-needed record of the men who took on the onerous task of being ``soldiers, skilled technicians, and artists'' all at once. Moreover, most of their work was published without credit or byline. In each branch of the military, photographers were assigned everything from strategic and intelligence work to training films and ``blood and guts'' newsreels intended to raise the fighting spirit back home. Still photographers used the awkward Speed Graphics (unless they had a captured German Leica), while cinematographers, like the author's father, Karl, had to lug around incredibly heavy motion-picture cameras, often under fire and in miserable conditions. Loosely structured and too dependent on the informal reminiscences of the veterans, this is still a welcome addition to military history collections.-- Ron Antonucci, Hudson Lib. & Historical Soc . , Ohio

Library Journal