This provides further evidence that all the incoming D-Day film from LIFE’s assigned photographers underwent stringent censorship before John Morris ever laid eye on it — the Occam’s-razor explanation for the missing first portion of Capa’s lone 35mm roll of Omaha Beach exposures. […]
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This document proves that John Morris was fully aware of, and an active participant in, that SHAEF/MoI censorship system, which fact he conveniently failed to mention in all of his subsequent accounts of the fictional darkroom disaster that supposedly “ruined” Capa’s D-Day films. […] Recent research has uncovered a treasure: the protocols for annotating and processing incoming films from the photographers assigned by LIFE magazine to cover the D-Day invasion. It is dated May 8, 1944, less than a month before the event. […] The fact that this roll, along with the other films most likely classified top secret, got developed in LIFE‘s darkroom under the supervision of not just darkroom chief H. C. “Braddy” Bradshaw and LIFE staff photographer Hans Wild but also a SHAEF custody officer, precludes any possibility of some fatal neglect during processing. […] Capa’s surviving photos gave no evidence of the onslaught that had hit the beaches, and instead would raise doubt about the strength and significance of the landings. In short, they were precisely the kind of images the Allies wanted the Germans to see. And there’s small chance that was a matter of coincidence. […] |
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