“No military historian has ever subjected a set of war photographs to a forensic analysis comparable to what Charles Herrick achieves in Back into Focus. He brings to bear a combat veteran’s experience, a dedicated researcher’s commitment to excavating the truth, an ability to navigate military archives and decipher military documents, and the writing skills to make all that he has uncovered accessible and fascinating to even a lay reader. Nothing like this exists in the literature of photography, photojournalism or military history; it set a very high bar.” - A. D. Coleman, Director, Alternate History: the Robert Capa Project.

From the Jacket:

“Renown combat photographer Robert Capa openly admitted that he bent the truth to suit his aim, writing on the jacket of his autobiography Slightly Out of Focus, ‘Writing the truth being obviously so difficult, I have in the interests of it allowed myself to go sometimes slightly beyond and slightly this side of it.’ Despite this, and the fact that his famed photograph “The Falling Soldier” (1936) has been proven to be staged, his D-Day photographs have shaped the narrative of June 6, 1944, for over eight decades.

“Capa reported that he landed in the First Wave of the Normandy landings, taking 106 photographs. Only eleven survived, long explained by a “darkroom” accident.” Painstakingly cross-referencing Capa’s photographs against official SHAEF files, stills and films taken by other cameramen who were or with Capa, and a variety of eyewitness accounts, Chuck Herrick documents the truth behind the fiction: Capa landed almost two hours later, in Wave 13 with the regimental commander, and spent only minutes on the beach - taking a total of 11 photographs.

“This close analysis reveals how many of Capa’s images have been presented in a false context and as a result have been misinterpreted for decades. Building on the work of Allan Coleman and his team, this gripping expose demonstrates how critical it is to re-evaluate even the most iconic of photographs, and explores the impact and influence of photojournalism on the narrative of historical events.”

From the Introduction:

“Any effort to trace the activities of Robert Capa is at least partially an exercise in futility. So much of his legend is, well, a legend, that pinning down verifiable facts is difficult. The persona of Robert Capa was itself fabricated, an invention of Endre Friedmann and his girlfriend who hoped the idea of a mysterious, rich American at the head of their photo agency would bring credibility and boost sales. Having invented this character, young Endre soon stepped forward and assumed the identity of his fictional boss: Robert Capa. Capa burst onto the international stage with sensational images taken as he covered the Republican side of the Spanish Civil War. Though he billed himself as a photojournalist, he was at least as much partisan propagandist, and there is ample evidence that some of his photos of that conflict, to include some of his most famous, were staged events that he passed off as genuine combat actions. Whether one merely considers this aggressive self-promotion and creative marketing, or one recoils at the ethical implications, it set the tone for his subsequent career. With Capa one is never quite sure where the facts ended and the façade began; where the truth withered away, and the legend flourished.”

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Background Photo: “into the Jaws of Death”, photographed by Chief Photographer’s Mate Robert Sargent, USS Samuel Chase, showing the landing of Company A, 16th Infantry Regiment, 1st Infantry Division on beach sector Easy Red at 0740 hours, June 6, 1944