I can't reproduce this, although I couldn't find your final.docx reference file and I used the default and one of mine. Do you still have this issue with the default template?
Also, your solution of adding a one-pixel image reminds me that I used the same solution for a different problem (a pandoc filter for wrapping text around figures, which didn't respect the width I set). Try reducing the size of your image, which is currently 29 inches, to the size you want it in the text, say 5 inches. 

On Thursday, 1 July 2021 at 03:50:14 UTC+3 paul....-QDVy5qH0ceL2fBVCVOL8/A@public.gmane.org wrote:

Thanks for the quick response! I've installed 2.14.0.3 and get the same behavior: no images in the docx unless I put two images in a row. Then the second image displays. Interestingly, when I get the image, I get no caption, and when I don't get an image, I do get a caption.
Thanks
On Wednesday, June 30, 2021 at 5:31:04 PM UTC-7 John MacFarlane wrote:

Can you try with 2.14.0.3, the lastest version? There were some
relevant changes that may have affected this.

Paul Evans <paul....-QDVy5qH0ceL2fBVCVOL8/A@public.gmane.org> writes:

> Hi,
> I'm using pandoc 2.14.0.2 on a 2019 MacBook Pro running macOS Catalina
> Version 10.15.7. I'm trying to convert pandoc markdown to docx:
>
> pandoc -o chapter0.docx --citeproc --reference-doc=../ref/final.docx
> chapter0.md
>
> I'm viewing the results with Microsoft Word for Mac Version 16.50.
>
> At some point in the recent past (like last summer), I was able to include
> JPG and PNG images without any problem, but recently it stopped working.
> After a lot of goofing around, I found a really stupid workaround. If I
> include two images in a row, the second image will display. So I downloaded
> a 1x1 white JPG from Wikipedia, and put it immediately before the image I
> want to display:
>
> ![](JPGs/1x1.jpg)
> ![Figure 1 10 Sep 2013](JPGs/Photo51.jpg)
>
> This works, but I'd really rather not rely on an evil kludge to solve the
> problem. If anyone is so inclined, you can take a look at my setup by
> cloning https://github.com/decretist/Dissertation.git. The Chapter0 folder
> has everything needed to reproduce the problem in its native habitat.
>
> Thanks,
> Paul Evans
>
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