The 'Pompeii' of the Western Front:

Archaeologists find the bodies of 21 tragic World War One German soldiers in perfectly preserved trenches where they were buried alive by an Allied shell

Men were killed when a huge Allied shell exploded above the tunnel in eastern France in 1918, causing it to cave in

Nice set of photos come with this article showing some of artifacts recovered including a newspaper that was still readable
www.dailymail.co.uk...

Nice find! good set of photo's, you gotta hope that they were all killed in the collapse. I can't imagine the horror of being buried alive knowing there's no hope of rescue. Nasty...

reply to post by Anon77

Im guessing when the shell went off the roof which was basically mud just dropped on them the reason everything is so well preserved is the lack of air and sunlight,according to the article they had power and running water I never knew the trenches were this well set up,I thought they were basic because they were always moving

reply to post by Bilder


This was probably not one of the very front trenches. They usually had several layers (sometimes 5 layers deep!) of trenches, that one will have been dug out and improved with running water, phones, lighting etc when the front line moved forward. Trench warfare often went months without either side gaining any ground. They just sat there and chucked millions of shells at each other (and dug vast explosive mines under each other) That gave plenty of time to 'Dig in'. It was a war of attrition. Basically 'Bleed the enemy dry'.

reply to post by Anon77

After 94 years they should leave them there and perhaps build a monument its a tomb now and shouldnt be disturbed they had no peace when they were alive and now they are getting no peace in death