[lars_bergquist]

The US war photographers' use of the four by five inch 'Speed' Graphic plate camera (though with pack film) is of course the reason why US front line photos were mostly posed after the fact – like that flag raising photo. It was freelancers like Capa, without the logistics of an army behind them, that used 'miniature cameras' -– a term which included Rolleiflexes.

The British Armed Forces however used many Leica cameras, including IIIc cameras which could scarcely have been obtained until after the outbreak of hostilities. There is evidence that these were imported via Sweden. The Royal Navy operated a blockade-running 'shipping line' with fast torpedo boats to the Swedish west coast, which mostly transported vitally needed SKF precision ball bearings to Britain. and it seems that some boxes with Leica cameras were also stowed ... there is no documentation available however, and the people who knew are dead now (I was too young to know!)

Cameras in British military ownership (not cameras borrowed pro tem.) were duly marked with the well-known 'broad arrow' brand.

The old man from the Age of the IIIc