Cartoon of YMCA Canteen in Potijze, Belgium (1917)
Description:
This lantern slide, “Cartoon of YMCA Canteen in Potijze, Belgium (1917),” shows a drawing by W. Cecil Danforth that depicts ten soldiers of the 3rd Division at a YMCA canteen in Potijze, a small hamlet to the east of Ypres. This drawing was likely created around June 1917, when the Australian 3rd Division undertook its first major engagement of World War I in the Battle of Messines.
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The village was held by the British for most of World War I. This slide is part of Springfield College's collection of lantern slides depicting scenes of World War I. William Cecil Dunford (1885-1969) spent 1916 through 1918 with the YMCA and with the Australian Forces’ Historical Record Department. In 1920 he illustrated a book written by Henry Arthur Foley titled “Three Years on Active Service and Eight Months as a Prisoner-of-War.”
Text on border reads, "3rd Aust. Div. YMCA 1917 - Potijze Ypres"; There are four other lantern slides by W. Cecil Danforth in the collect. The file names are: LS-05-02, LS-05-40, LS-05-08, and LS-05-62.; There is minor damage toward the top left.
Part of the Australian Y.M.C.A. WWI Lantern Slide Series
