Photo: Edward Steichen - U.S. National Archives and Records Administration / Wikipedia • Believed to be in the Public Domain

The ruins of Vaux-devant-Damloup, 1918

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Much of the landscape of the Western Front at the end of World War 1 looked like an uninhabited planet.

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 “We went to the front a week ago today: to Montdidiers, Amiens, Albert, Lens, Arras, St. Quentin and back through the Forest of Compaigne. There is no use my trying to describe the destruction and desolation up there. No description, picture or amount of imagination would give you any idea of it. I was awfully shocked and after seeing it all I marvel that any of them are alive to tell what they have been through. It was just a tiny part of the British front that we saw but it has made a lasting impression on me that will last as long as I live.”

Adelaide Travis, American Red Cross canteen worker

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Devastated lands in France and Belgium from the destruction of World War I are still evident. Examples of affected French towns and villages include Fleury-devant-Douaumont, Pozières, Ripont, Tahure, Regniéville, Flirey, Moussy-sur Aisne, Ailles and Courtecon. Many others ceased to exist.

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Unexploded ordnance from the war still lurked in the soil. Trained crews of disposal experts travelled constantly through the battle areas finding, transporting and destroying live artillery shells, including poison gas ones, ammunition and grenades. Farmers often turn them up in their fields and place the still lethal objects alongside the roads. Teenagers harvesting potatoes in Belgium had be careful because dirt covered German “egg” grenades which look like the pomme de terre. It was estimated that it will take 100 years to find and remove the still potent remnants of the First World War and the global conflict that followed 20 years later.

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Source: John Masefield/authortheworldwar.org