The Battle Awaits

Accession Number
2013/2.326

Title
The Battle Awaits

Artist(s)
Dmitri Baltermants

Artist Nationality
Russian (culture or style)

Object Creation Date
1941-1945; printed 2003

Medium & Support
gelatin silver print on paper

Dimensions
16 in x 20 in (40.64 cm x 50.8 cm)

Credit Line
Gift of Thomas Wilson '79 and Jill Garling '80

Subject matter
In this photograph, a Soviet soldier in a rounded helmet and long coat peers through binoculars toward the left-hand side. Four additional soldiers man anti-tank guns in the middle ground, appearing almost to dissolve into the dense fog, or smoke, which covers the upper register of the image. This fog serves to obscure not only our view of other soldiers in the Red Army, but also those in the Nazi German army. This image forms part of Baltermants’ larger project—as an official photographer to the Kremlin—which, spread across numerous portfolios, aimed to document scenes from the Soviet Union’s fight against Nazi Germany during World War II (1939-1945), known in the USSR as the Great Patriotic War.

Physical Description
In the lower-right foreground, a soldier with a round helmet peers through binoculars. In the middle ground, other soldiers man an anti-tank gun while fog and/or smoke fills the upper register of the photograph.

Primary Object Classification
Photograph

Collection Area
Photography

Rights
If you are interested in using an image for a publication, please visit http://umma.umich.edu/request-image for more information and to fill out the online Image Rights and Reproductions Request Form.

Keywords
armies
battles
fighting
journalistic photography
war photography
wars

5 Related Resources

Death and Dying
(Part of 8 Learning Collections)
Dmitri Baltermants photographs from WWII
(Part of 3 Learning Collections)
Combat, Battle, Warfare
(Part of 3 Learning Collections)
World War II Images 
(Part of: Examples of Student Research in the Exchange)

& Author Notes

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