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Fotografía antigua de agencia Segunda Guerra Mundial. Photograph WWII British Official photograph A day with the tanks in the western dessert.

Fotografia del British Official Photograph.

En esta foto vemos unos de los momentos, digamos, tranquilos de una guerra. Unos tanques ingleses se paran en el desierto para que sus tripulaciones puedan descansar toda la noche hasta amanecer.  Se observa por la sombra de los tanques y por lo tapados que están para protegerse del frío del desierto por la noche.
Es una foto sencilla, incluso pudieramos decir bonita, si no fuera porque, por sus elementos sabemos que nos muestra una escena de guerra en toda su dureza.
Como muchas fotos del British Official Photograph lleva un número de referencia al dorso. Puesto en contacto con el Imperial War Museum les facilité el número pero no figuraba en sus datos el fotógrafo de la misma, me indicaron que muchas veces eran soldados o mandos los que hacían las fotos. 
Como dato curioso me mandaron un listado de algunos de ellos que incluyo en este post. 

Al dorso la foto nos informa

A day with the tanks in the western dessert. A typical day in the life of a tank crew patrolling in the Western Dessert. Life for those engaged in this work is full o disconforts but is anything but tedious. Picture Shows Tank crew preparing for the night

  • He buscado identificar el carro de combate y, salvo error, pienso que se trata del modelo llamando Mathilda II

Wikipedia

The Infantry Tank Mark II (sometimes referred to as Matilda II, Matilda senior, by General Staff Specification A12, Waltzing Matilda[7][8], or simply an 'I' tank) was a British infantry tank of the Second World War. It served from the start of the war to its end and became particularly associated with the North Africa Campaign. It was replaced in service by the Infantry Tank Mk III Valentine. With its heavy armour the Matilda II was an excellent infantry support tank, but with somewhat limited speed and armament.  
The Matilda Senior[14] weighed around 27 tons (27 tonnes or 60,000 lb)[15] more than twice as much as its predecessor, and was armed with a QF 2 pounder (40 mm) tank gun in a three-man turret. The turret traversed by hydraulic motor or by hand through 360 degrees; the gun itself could be elevated through an arc from -15[nb 2] to +20 degrees.[5] One of the most serious weaknesses of the Matilda II was the lack of a high-explosive round for its main gun. A high-explosive shell was designed for the 2 pounder but for reasons never explained it was not placed in production. The tank's best weapon against un-armoured targets was thus its single machine gun.[17]
Like many other British infantry tanks, it was heavily armoured; from 20 mm (0.79 in) at the thinnest it was 78 mm (3.1 in) at the front, much more than most contemporaries. The turret armour was 75 mm (3.0 in) all round,[5] the hull side armour was 65 to 70 millimetres (2.6 to 2.8 in), 
  •  Comentemos como cosa, creo, poco conocida que cerca de Madrid hay un museo de unidades acorazadas usadas por el ejército español.

La Brigada "GUADARRAMA" XII como única Gran Unidad Acorazada del Ejercito español, se considera heredera y depositaria de la tradición de todas nuestras unidades acorazadas.
Por ello ha creado un Museo de Unidades Acorazadas donde se conserven los materiales que utilizaron nuestros antecesores y donde se pueda ver como la evolución de estos medios condicionaron sus procedimientos.

Situación

Se encuentra situado en la Base de EL GOLOSO, sede de la Brigada de Infantería Acorazada "Guadarrarna" XII, perteneciente a la División de Infantería Mecanizada "Brunete" nº 1.



  • En el Imperial War Museum de Londres ( tiene, ademas, otras sedes) se encuentra un importante archivo fotográfico de la primera y segunda guerra Mundial que ofrece el servicio de  compra de copias actuales  de sus fotos

“British Official photograph” photographs are divided into different series.
Each photograph has a title and a legend at the back that describes the image and a number always prefixed with a letter.
The letter/s are:

E series photographs (British Army in North Africa and the Middle East) were taken by: No. 1 Army Film and Photographic Unit
BU and B series photographs (Allied forces in North West Europe) were taken by: No. 5 Army Film and Photographic Unit
SE series (Allied forces in South East Asia) photographs were taken by: No. 9 Army Film and Photographic Unit
  • H series (British Army in Britain) photographs were taken by War Office Official Photographers.
  • A series (Admiralty Official Collection) photographs were taken by Royal Navy Official Photographers
  • C series (Air Ministry Official Collection) photographs were taken by Royal Air Force Official Photographers
  • GM series (British forces in Gibraltar and Malta) photographs were taken by War Office Official Photographers.
     
  • Some photographer’s names of these photographs shown here are:

    Capt. Horton, Capt. Keating, Lt. Cash, Sgt. Flack, Lt. C. J. Ware, Sgt. Laing, Lt. Spender, Lt. Taylor, Sgt. Oakes, Capt. d'Eyncourt, Lt. D. C. Oulds, Sgt. Midgley, Lt. O'Brien, Capt. Gade, Lt. L. Pelman, Sub Lt. D. W. Cooksey, Lt. Vanderson & Sgts. Chetwyn, R.H. Morris & G. Morris, Lts. McLaren & Mayne & Sgt. Slade, Sgt. Morris, Lt. J. E. RussellSgt. J. Deakin, Sgt. Taylor, No 9 Army Film & Photographic Unit, Sgt. Chetwyn, Lt R G G Coote.
     
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