Bruce Bairnsfather in The Bystander, England, December 4, 1918
Image © The British Library Board. All Rights Reserved.

apparently it’s maid day or somethin soooo here’s a gas mask maid/cleaner cause

German soldier wearing an early pattern gas mask, 1915.
Also, how I went to the grocery for the last two years.

This haunting series of gas-masked soldiers is from Turkish photographer F. Doruk Seymen, aka dorukseymen. The weapons seem too “modern” for the Diesel Age (although in an alternate history it’s possible that the Armalite family of rifles arrived a few years early) but the uniforms, masks and overall vibe are perfect.

Hungarian National Defense Association exercise in the meadow next to Hármashatárhegyi airfield, 1965. From the Budapest Municipal Photography Company archive.