‘In 1915 (photographer) Leon Gimpel befriended a group of children from the Grenata Street neighbourhood in Paris who had established their own “army”. He began to visit them regularly on Sundays, helping them to build their arsenal from whatever was to hand, providing direction in “casting”, and recording with his camera the army’s triumphs over the evil enemy, the Boche.
Gimpel was charmed by these children and came to know each of them well: the “chief”, the eldest in the garrison; his friend, who was conscripted to play the unenviable role of the Boche; and Pépète, who was “small, slightly misshaped, rather scrofulous, looking somewhat like a gnome” but who nonetheless played the part of an ace aviator. At the end of each session, Gimpel would reward the troops with barley sugar, causing all to shout with one voice, “Long live the photograph!”‘
Photograph No. 1:
The pilot Pépète prepares for action: ‘Its fuselage was made of a box; the machine-gun of a coffee grinder, to which was added a section of a broom handle, and a propellor which could be rotated.’
Photograph No. 2:
The pilot Pépète shoots down a “Taube” with his machine-gun: ‘In mid-flight, Pépète’s plane is up in the sky, hanging from a street light, and, with a magistral machine-gun sweeping (a coffee grinder, as you remember), the famous pilot has just brought down his enemy, who is now nosediving towards the ground.’
Photograph No. 3;
The famous pilot Pépète triumphs in front of his victim: ‘In a flattering pose, one hand on his plane’s wing, Pépète, with an expression of triumphant joy impossible to describe, contemplates his panting victim, crashed on the ground.’
*see the rest of the army’s victories at… (http://www.retronaut.co/2011/08/the-grenata-street-army-1915/)
