Once the first world war was over...

[Jingles]

...what happened to the battlefields? I mean, how on earth do you "tidy up" after a war so destructive in such a concentrated area? Once they'd moved the bodies (must've sucked to have that job), did they just let the place be? Or did they start having to terraform it and turn it back into farmland?

I know there were cities that were rebuilt, Ypres in Belgium I know for a fact was built again from the ground up, brick by brick to how it originally was, but what about elsewhere?

[hellheaven1987]

Let them turned back to what it was before that...

Most dead bodies were removed right after battle finished, to prevent spread of disease.

[Azog 150]

There are still deaths amongst farmers in Belgium and France from unexploded artillery shells and land mines, and they are still being handed in to authorities on a regular basis (I believe France still have some kind of specialised organisation for clearing away unexploded ordnance from WW1).

As for bodies and what not, there are still hundreds of thousands of soliders who bodies were never found. Mass graves are still being uncovered (Like the recent example of 6,000 British and Australian soldiers being found). Many bodies were left rotting for months and even years out in no-mans land.

Anyway, I think they just tried their best to turn it back to how it was, but the sheer scale of the conflict means that it was never fully cleared.

[Erebus Pasha]

There are still deaths amongst farmers in Belgium and France from unexploded artillery shells and land mines, and they are still being handed in to authorities on a regular basis (I believe France still have some kind of specialised organisation for clearing away unexploded ordnance from WW1).

As for bodies and what not, there are still hundreds of thousands of soliders who bodies were never found. Mass graves are still being uncovered (Like the recent example of 6,000 British and Australian soldiers being found). Many bodies were left rotting for months and even years out in no-mans land.

Anyway, I think they just tried their best to turn it back to how it was, but the sheer scale of the conflict means that it was never fully cleared.

A lot of focus of WW1 centres on the Western Front but what about the Eastern Front? There were some massive battles fought in that theatre such as Tannenburg, Lodz and the Masurian Lakes. Surely there must be many bodies and unexploded shells still to be found buried beneath Polish soil?

[Azog 150]

A lot of focus of WW1 centres on the Western Front but what about the Eastern Front? There were some massive battles fought in that theatre such as Tannenburg, Lodz and the Masurian Lakes. Surely there must be many bodies and unexploded shells still to be found buried beneath Polish soil?

The thing with the Eastern front is it did not take place in such a confined area. Many of the battles were quite large mobile sweeping ones. The Western Front saw some of the largest artillery barrages in history in very confined areas (For example, as a prelude to the Battle of the Somme, 12,000 tonnes of artillery was dropped along just a 20km front. That doesn't include those dropped once the battle started).

I am sure you are right though. There will still be plenty of shells and bodies left buried on the Eastern front



@Yorkshireman. Seems like a pretty grizzly job.

[Yorkshireman]

@Yorkshireman. Seems like a pretty grizzly job.

I imagine it really was, especially with bodies that had been laid in the ground a couple of years. They had to sort through them in an attempt to find any papers or id or in the case of badly decomposed just identify which regiment they served in.

Post-war clearance of the battlefields

After the war, certain parts of the battlefields were taped out into grids and searched at least six times. This activity went on well into the 1920's, on a large scale. The search parties (Exhumation Companies) did not dig over all of the land marked out by the grid. Instead, they looked for clues that indicated that a body or bodies could be buried there. For example: rifles or stakes protruding from the ground bearing helmets or equipment; partial remains and equipment that had come to the surface; small bones and pieces of equipment brought to surface near to rat-holes; discolouration of grass, soil or water. (Grass was a more vivid colour were bodies were buried and water turned a greenish-black). Once a grid had been searched and possible bodies marked then the gruesome task of exhumation began. Remains once discovered were put onto cresol soaked canvas for a careful identification. If any uniform remained, pockets were searched and badges and buttons identified. If a Scottish soldier was found, the tartan was recorded. Next they looked for identification discs and personal effects: watches sometimes had useful had inscriptions, for example. Sometimes knives, forks and spoons that had been placed down the puttees carried the man's name, initials or number. Webbing was checked because that also often had soldiers names and numbers stencilled on. If the remains were deemed to be an officer (Bedford cord breeches and privately bought army boots being a good indication) and the skull or jawbone was intact then a dental record of the teeth, fillings, false ones etc was also made in an effort to confirm the identification of the man. The remains would then be taken to one of the cemeteries that was open for burial. Thus many of the small wartime burial plots were expanded with the post-war additions; indeed many bodies were exhumed from small cemeteries and concentrated into larger ones. Those remains that could not be identified were buried as an unknown soldier

http://www.1914-1918.net/died.htm

[Yorkshireman]

...what happened to the battlefields? I mean, how on earth do you "tidy up" after a war so destructive in such a concentrated area? Once they'd moved the bodies (must've sucked to have that job), did they just let the place be? Or did they start having to terraform it and turn it back into farmland?

As far as bodies go they were still collecting and reburying them up until the early 1920's. In the British sector the tens of thousands of men of the Labour Corp along with Chinese/Indian/African native labourer's were engaged in salvage duties collecting equipment, scrap and other war debris. (also German prisoners of war) Most graves were re-situated or brought in from different locations into the recognised war cemeteries that litter France and Flanders today. The areas of no-mans land that were inaccessible during hostilities were cleared of wire/debris and searched for bodies.

Conscription was still in force and so those too young to fight during 1914-18 were enlisted into the Labour Corp/Royal Engineer Pioneers to do these tasks up until 1922. Many discharged soldiers also re-enlisted for this work due to unemployment at home.

I presume the French and Belgiums worked in a similar way as well as the civilians that worked to restore their land.

This is a section of the service record of one of my great-uncles children. He was too young to fight with his brothers during the war (born in 1902) but was conscripted into the Labour Corp in 1919.



As you can see he's posted ''GRAVES EXH', digging up graves in France.

The other piece shows stationed in France on this task 1/7/1919 - 8/4/1920.

[CiviC]

Traces of trenches and bomb craters from WWI

[antaeus]

Traces of trenches and bomb craters from WWI

where is that? would make a good google earth mission...

[Azog 150]

where is that? would make a good google earth mission...

Just try anywhere along Western Belgium and Eastern France and I am sure you could find something.






@Ojf

[Yorkshireman]

I know the Germans have around 80,000 missing on the western front, I don't know any figures for their other theatres of war or any other nations such as Russia or Poland.

[Ojf]

The aftermath or even the fighting in WW1 was nothing compared to that of the American Civil War

[Yorkshireman]

The aftermath or even the fighting in WW1 was nothing compared to that of the American Civil War

Perhaps you should go read up on some casualty figures.

[Pious Agnost]

The aftermath or even the fighting in WW1 was nothing compared to that of the American Civil War

ACW: 203,000 killed.

WWI: ~36,000,000 killed or missing.

[Ace_General]

ACW: 203,000 killed.

WWI: ~36,000,000 killed or missing.

Actually that was 200k dead in battle for the ACW, but if you count prisoners, the disabled, diease, and those that died of wounds or were seriously disabled it is like at least half a million

And even though there was less death, the aftermath and reconstruction was really messy (KKK, reconstruction, all things dealing with black people)

[Burnum]

Actually that was 200k dead in battle for the ACW, but if you count prisoners, the disabled, diease, and those that died of wounds or were seriously disabled it is like at least half a million

that's the number of causalities in the First Battle of the Marne, a single battle in the first World war.

[Ojf]

ACW: 203,000 killed.

WWI: ~36,000,000 killed or missing.

But more Americans died in the ACW, American deaths are more important than the war mongering Europeans and thus the ACW was more destructive and important. For instance if the union wasn't preserved then without the US the limeys would've lost both world wars

[alhoon]

But more Americans died in the ACW, American deaths are more important than the war mongering Europeans and thus the ACW was more destructive and important.

Ohh... That's the measure of a war's tragic casualties. How many Americans died there.

So I guess not a single war before the late 18th century is important? Actually, it's not even worth mentioning not a single American died there.

[Boyar Son]

Ohh... That's the measure of a war's tragic casualties. How many Americans died there.

So I guess not a single war before the late 18th century is important? Actually, it's not even worth mentioning not a single American died there.

it's how i usually think of things.

[Erebus Pasha]

But more Americans died in the ACW, American deaths are more important than the war mongering Europeans and thus the ACW was more destructive and important. For instance if the union wasn't preserved then without the US the limeys would've lost both world wars

Nope

Nice example of trolling though.