Christmas on the Western Front

This image depicts British soldiers eating Christmas Dinner on the Western Front in 1916 and I found it on the Imperial War Museum webpage in the First World War Gallery.

I believe this would have been an image that may have been seen in England during World War I. Personally when I look at this photo I see war propaganda. In looking at this photo I see camaraderie, death, filth, scarcity and discomfort. But I also see guys sitting around shooting the breeze, enjoying a cigarette and generally looking peaceful. There is also an overwhelming barrenness in the trenches, but I don't see fear. I don't see "we shouldn't be in this war."

Our focus is the soldiers, sitting around in a circle eating their Christmas dinner. There is mud and rocks all around. They are eating (for the most part) on the ground sitting around a tiny makeshift table of some sort. The actual food, if you zoom in seems scarce, nothing like Christmas dinner.  You see a few pieces of what looks like bread, but that's all you can really make out. There is one guy eating, or drinking out of a tin pot- I picture stew. Some of them are eating with their bare filthy hands, some with mittens on. Everything looks dirty. If you look closely you can also see a grave in the background which gives a sense of the seriousness to the war. But at the same time, there is one grave and twelve men very much alive. I would almost bet that this photo was staged. The photo seems to be asking the viewer to feel sorry for the men on the front. They have no comforts. This photo seems to be shouting "Support our Troops!" But while it's asking the viewer to take war seriously, because in war people do die, it doesn't seem to be asking them to be overly alarmed or afraid for their brothers, husbands, fathers, etc. who are there. It's asking them to reach out to the family of the one who was killed. A couple of these guys are actually smiling, sitting back smoking cigarettes. It's a hard day's work, and their filthy, but they are ok. They have a minute to sit back and relax, enjoy a smoke and a good joke with the guys. 

For me, it seems like the real war story is in the background. There is nothing on that horizon, nothing but mud and rocks. War is lonely. War is barren and empty.