"Over the Top"Official Caption: "Canadian troops 'going over the top' during training course at a trench-mortar school. This famous image was originally believed to have been taken at the front,but later proven to have actually been a composite of shell bursts at a trench-mortar school near St. Pol and rehearsal attacks". Photo from album which possibly belonged to Lt Reginald Vigars Prenter (RVP), 72nd Bn. "Over the top at the Somme" (in training area behind the lines) Famous photo often passed off as a combat shot, but man on right is thumbing his nose at another photographer who is out in front of him. It was actually taken in a training area behind the lines in a practice assault. Sometimes his hand is erased and possibly fake shellfire added in sky. From the article "Beyond the ‘Taking of Vimy Ridge: The War Photographs of William Ivor Castle" by Carla-Jean Stokes in Journal of Military and Strategic Studies, Volume 18, Issue 2, 2017. Article attached. The first of these “iconic images” is [this] William Ivor Castle’s photograph, Over the Top. It depicts soldiers emerging from a trench, ostensibly going into battle. It was published widely during the war, and was shown during an exhibition of war photographs in London, although it was discovered to having been taken during a training session.6 This photograph continues to be used widely today including for recent Vimy Ridge centenary marketing campaigns — although it is a photograph of soldiers training for the Somme — with or without regard to its having been staged.