![]() Hazardous remains, whereby the “find” is reported, examined and collected for disposal. There is a system in place in Belgium to deal with such potentially On, frequently still turns up a shell or grenade. The fighting in the area ceased over 90 years ago, there are still daily reports of WW1 ammunition and explosivesĪny current task which involves turning over earth, such as ploughing, road building, foundation building and so Like lumps of iron shell casing, shrapnell balls or bits of equipment can be hard to resist. The urge to walk into a field and look for “rusty bits” Visitors to the battlefields are advised that some battle remains are hazardous and care should be taken whenĮxamining any items found in the woods or fields. Shells by the roadside, ploughed up in the fields of the old Western Front battlefields and waiting for collection and safe disposal. Museums which can offer visitors the experience of life underground in reconstructions of WW1 tunnels and deep There are some sites where tunnels have been made safe. Visiting any WW1 tunnel on the battlefield is dangerous and a tunnel should only ever be entered by the public under supervision or where officially Off, and these particular tunnels with their unexploded mines still pose a potential hazard today. In some cases it is known that the explosive charge did not go Tunnel collapses, underground explosions and suffocation. This was treacherous work and many tunnellers from both sides of the Front Lines died in Some of the tunnels were built with the aim of laying an explosive charge at the far end in order to blow a mine under Who built the tunnels or who lived in them. WW1 graffiti is also aįascinting “find” as any inscriptions or drawings on the walls of the tunnels can help to identify the men Such as greatcoats hanging on their pegs, rubber gumboots, eating utensils and equipment boxes. Battlefield archaeologists have found all sorts of fascinating items Within it have been found to be well preserved. More often than not the construction of an underground tunnel and the artefacts buried Occasionally a deep dugout or tunnel has been discovered in recent years. Underground tunnel system at Wellington Quarry, Arras.Īfter the war many kilometres of underground tunnels which were dug on both sides of the Front Lines by AlliesĪnd Germans were filled in, covered over or allowed to flood. Human remains of many thousands of soldiers who have never been recovered and the ground should be ![]() It should also be remembered that the Western Front battlefields still contain the Having said this, visitors are strongly advised that picking items up from a battlefieldĪrea can be extremely dangerous. There are, however, many remote and less frequently visited battlefield sites which probably still have many Have been well-visited and any battlefield “finds” like buttons or badges are rarely found there any more. With the increased number of visitors to particular parts of the Western Front the edges of many fields and tracks Many private and official museum collections have artefacts like these on show. Such as water bottles, a razor and eating utensils, have been found in fields many decades after the fighting ceased. Metal items which have been preserved in the soil, such as buttons, badges, equipment These sort of remains are likely to have been lost in the ground and occasionally are found when soil isĭisturbed by digging or ploughing. Years of the end of the war roads and buildings had already been rebuilt and the city had begun to rise againĪ British Lee Enfield rifle found at the edge of a ploughed field on the Somme battlefield in 1979. The whole of the ruined city of Ypres as a permanent British memorial to the Great War was not agreed to. The hazardous job of clearing abandoned weapons, battlefield debris, ammunition, filling inĬraters, tunnels, and, in many cases, exhuming soldiers' remains had to be carried out.Īt official levels there were discussions as to whether some places should be left completely untouched. ![]() The huge task of making a new start, rebuilding homes, businesses, farms, churches, public buildings, roads, bridges, Local people who had been forced to abandon their homes and livelihoods were faced with Roads, woods, farms and villages were often The landscape in the fighting lines had been smashed to pieces. Who were returning to their shattered communities. (1)Īfter 1918 the immense task of “clearing up” was carried out by the military and the civilians Trees smashed to stumps in the cratered landscape. ![]()
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