Going into Position through a Ruined Town

Harvey Dunn's charcoal, pastel, and watercolor study captures American Expeditionary Forces soldiers advancing through a devastated French village during World War I. Twelve infantrymen in olive drab uniforms and steel helmets move purposefully past collapsed buildings and rubble, their Springfield rifles at ready, gas masks slung, supply packs secured. A soldier guides a horse-drawn ammunition cart through the foreground. Dunn, official artist for the U.S. Signal Corps, documented trench warfare and combat conditions with unflinching technical precision. His drawings became vital historical records of the American soldier's experience on the Western Front, combining reportorial accuracy with the visual immediacy of field sketches.