Russian fighters, striving to turn back Hitler’s offensive aimed at the Grozny oilfields, mount a gun on pontoons to take it across a river. One Soviet unit repelled an attack by 100 Nazi tanks and put four out of action. A second German drive, with 70 tanks, was repulsed with the loss of 22, marking Hitler’s failure to capture the valuable Caucasus area before winter sets in, October 1942.

Wire photographs were originally transmitted over phonelines, then later, by satellite. They were first used in the early 1920s. Associated Press became a leader with this. After pigment touch-ups, etc., the print is put into a drum (like a drum scanner). The image gets converted into audio tones that are transmitted. The tones are received and beamed onto photo-sensitive paper. Wire photographs are copies without originals---they are hybrid, transmitted objects. (Britt Salvesen, Curator and Department Head, Photography Department, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, March 30-31, 2022)

This object has the following keywords:

• Artillery
• Caucasus
• European Theater
• Grozny
• Grozny oil fields
• Panzer Divisions
• Pontoon boats
• Rural Rivers
• Soldiers
• Soviet Union
• Winter
• World War II

This object is a member of the following portfolios: