355th Battalion Q.M.C., Camp Custer, Mich. (Original Panoramic Photograph)

Camp Custer, Battle Creek, MI: T.F Mock, 1918. Original panoramic photograph, 6 1/2" x 42 1/4", unframed, rolled. Near Fine, faint creases near ends, scant light soiling rear of photo. Stamped in blue ink rear -"Passed by Intelligence Section Office, Chief of Staff". Written in ink rear -" 355th Battalion Q.M.C., Camp Custer, Mich. T.F. Mock Sept. 29, 1918". Unclear whether this is in Mock's handwriting. Theodore F. Mock was listed as the Camp Custer Photographer in David V. Tinder's "Directory of Early Michigan Photographers" published by Clements Library, 2013. Camp Custer, at Battle Creek, Michigan, had over 100,000 US Army troops pass through its doors between 1917-1919. Sept. 29th, 1918 was the day in 1918, after a 56-hour-long bombardment, Allied forces breached the so-called Hindenburg Line, the last line of German defenses on the Western Front during World War I. SCARCE photograph of Negro troops during World War I, with many interesting poses by the soldiers (including a pair in boxing pose !) making this a unique piece of African-Americana and U.S. Military history !. First Printing. Photograph. Near Fine.