It was a light hearted jest.
if it had been a single photo taken of a war trophy at sortly after an action. You could reasonably expect to see a degree of emotion even if its just pride. After a while and after multiple engagements you become jaded and these sort of things become little more than , a virtually meaningless rag. Because the odds are you'll soon have to face another one.
The only people who hold value in them are Historians and Generals as it qualified the prowess of a unit.
People look awkward and uncomfortable in period photo's because they are self conscious . As being photographed makes you self conscious especially if you are not familiar with the process.Which is more than likely given the background of most of the troops in this period.
It is costly and time consuming, never infered it was just a couple of randoms knocking out photo's
Being told hold up flags and posing repeatedly for photo after photo on a Sunny day because the brass want some nice pictures is a naff duty when more than likely you could be relaxing with you mates.
Having spent many an hour of my youth guarding western civilization with a pickaxe handle.You become acutely aware of naff duties.
As I suspected and Michael confirmed it's a series of photographs recording a collection of items. More over Micheals photo shows in more detail the structures behind the banners. Which helps qualify the shadows in your photo.
But whats more intriguing is just how young they actually are in Micheals photograph.
It's easy to speculate and muse on the mind set of the individuals in the photos which I'll happily do.
I'm glad you posted it . But what your find shows is how quickly people jump to a conclusion without reading an image.(I'm referring to the source of your find not you area23.) and disregarding any though of context.
My philosophy is. If you need direction on Russian History ask a Russian first.They tend to know where to look.If they dont they often know someone who does.