Dark5 | 5 Famous War Photos that Lied to You @dark5tv | Uploaded 3 years ago | Updated 1 day ago
The “Falling Soldier” photograph depicts a Spanish Republican soldier at the moment he was hit by a sniper.
Formally titled “Loyalist Militiaman at the Moment of Death,” the picture was taken by Hungarian-American photographer Robert Capa at Cerro Muriano on September 5, 1936, during the first months of the Spanish Civil War.
When Capa was interviewed in 1947 about how he was able to capture the tragic moment, he said (QUOTE):
“I was there in the trench with about twenty milicianos. I just kind of put my camera above my head and didn’t even look, and clicked the picture when they moved over the trench. And that was all.
“The camera above my head just caught a man at the moment when he was shot. That was probably the best picture I ever took. I never saw the picture in the frame because the camera was far above my head.”
Capa’s fallen soldier photograph is widely regarded as one of the most incredible war pictures ever taken. But it has had its fair share of controversies since it was first published in 1936.
Detailed analysis of the photo’s landscape revealed that it was likely not taken at the location of the Battle of Cerro Muriano.
By analyzing the mountains in the background, Spanish historians have claimed that the photo was most likely taken in the town of Espejo, 50 kilometers away from Cerro Muriano.
The Spanish nationalist group, the Falange, claimed that the picture was staged. The accusation spread, and half of Spain believed the photo was false.
In his book, “Shadows of Photography,” author José Manuel Superregui pointed out that Capa also contradicted himself during interviews when he said that the militiaman was hit by the burst of a machine gun rather than a sniper shot.
Military historians later confirmed that there were no snipers during the Battle of Cerro Muriano.
In 2009, hundreds of Capa’s original negatives were found in Mexico and sent to the International Center of Photography in New York.
Experts were surprised that there were no original negatives of the so-called Falling Soldier among all the photographs taken during the Spanish Civil War.
The photo was mysteriously missing from the collection…
The “Falling Soldier” photograph depicts a Spanish Republican soldier at the moment he was hit by a sniper.
Formally titled “Loyalist Militiaman at the Moment of Death,” the picture was taken by Hungarian-American photographer Robert Capa at Cerro Muriano on September 5, 1936, during the first months of the Spanish Civil War.
When Capa was interviewed in 1947 about how he was able to capture the tragic moment, he said (QUOTE):
“I was there in the trench with about twenty milicianos. I just kind of put my camera above my head and didn’t even look, and clicked the picture when they moved over the trench. And that was all.
“The camera above my head just caught a man at the moment when he was shot. That was probably the best picture I ever took. I never saw the picture in the frame because the camera was far above my head.”
Capa’s fallen soldier photograph is widely regarded as one of the most incredible war pictures ever taken. But it has had its fair share of controversies since it was first published in 1936.
Detailed analysis of the photo’s landscape revealed that it was likely not taken at the location of the Battle of Cerro Muriano.
By analyzing the mountains in the background, Spanish historians have claimed that the photo was most likely taken in the town of Espejo, 50 kilometers away from Cerro Muriano.
The Spanish nationalist group, the Falange, claimed that the picture was staged. The accusation spread, and half of Spain believed the photo was false.
In his book, “Shadows of Photography,” author José Manuel Superregui pointed out that Capa also contradicted himself during interviews when he said that the militiaman was hit by the burst of a machine gun rather than a sniper shot.
Military historians later confirmed that there were no snipers during the Battle of Cerro Muriano.
In 2009, hundreds of Capa’s original negatives were found in Mexico and sent to the International Center of Photography in New York.
Experts were surprised that there were no original negatives of the so-called Falling Soldier among all the photographs taken during the Spanish Civil War.
The photo was mysteriously missing from the collection…
