# What happened to WWI battlefields? **URL:** \ **Category:** Factual Questions\ **Created:** [May 1, 2014, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-wwi-battlefields/687416 "2014-05-01T03:45:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2014, 3:45am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-wwi-battlefields/687416/1 "2014-05-01T03:45:55Z")
I’ve been listening to the excellent Hardcore History podcast, and the current topic is the first World War, and he’s describing some of the battlefields on the Western Front (such as Ypres), and these places were absolute charnel houses, with multiple years worth of dead bodies kind of oozing out of the ground, not to mention hundreds of thousands of people’s worth of sewage, dead horses, leftovers from gas attacks, etc. Basically, really really horrific stuff. So I was wondering… what happened next? So in November 1919 the fighting stopped, but who cleaned up the battlefields, if anyone? And what about whatever poor farmer could dig up a map showing that he owned a patch of land between some road (long since destroyed) and some village (long since destroyed)? Did the basic geography of cities and roads and stuff just end up going back to what it had been before? Morbidly, was there a point some number of years later where all that decomposition actually made the soil noticeably fertile? ---
**Author:** ![Little\_Pig](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/c57346/32.png) [@Little\_Pig](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Little_Pig)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2014, 4:21am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-wwi-battlefields/687416/2 "2014-05-01T04:21:07Z")
Well, there’s the annual [Iron Harvest.](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iron_harvest) ---
**Author:** ![md2000](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/73ab20/32.png) [@md2000](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/md2000)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2014, 6:13am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-wwi-battlefields/687416/3 "2014-05-01T06:13:44Z")
Some was probably expropriated by the government; since it would have been relatively unsafe to return anyway. I assume they went through the usual channels of compensating land owners, like any national park setup? > [@](#): > > Set on the highest point of Vimy Ridge is the Canadian National Vimy Memorial, the largest of Canada’s war monuments. \*\*In 1922, use of the land for the battlefield park which contains the memorial was granted, in perpetuity, by the French nation to the people of Canada in recognition of Canada’s war efforts.[1] 250 acres \*\*(100 ha) of the former Vimy Ridge battlefield is preserved as part of the memorial park which surrounds the monument. The grounds of the site are still honeycombed with wartime tunnels, trenches and craters, closed off for public safety ---
**Author:** ![Isilder](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/cc9497/32.png) [@Isilder](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Isilder)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2014, 6:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-wwi-battlefields/687416/4 "2014-05-01T06:32:49Z")
Its not like they have left every battle site as a war memorial. Much was cleaned up. The Battle of Verdun site has one building containing remains of 130,000 unidentified people. Thats around half of the estimated deaths of the area. All over France smaller cemeteries were consolidated into larger, official cemeteries Many villages were rebuilt - only 6 were lost and recorded as ghost towns (as they were in the Battle of Verdun area… ) ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2014, 11:48am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-wwi-battlefields/687416/5 "2014-05-01T11:48:25Z")
It returned to farmland as it was before and as quickly as practical I should think. The north of France and Belgium is prime agricultural territory with not much to go round and farmers aren’t typically a sentimental bunch. I drive through the area on a regular basis and though war memorials are sadly plentiful and beautifully maintained, farming is King. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Miskatonic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.miskatonic/32/310_2.png) [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2014, 12:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-wwi-battlefields/687416/6 "2014-05-01T12:02:21Z")
Verdun wasn’t much of a farmland and after the battle the treches, pillboxes, and most the shell craters made the land unfarmable anyway. Look at the picture on this page to see the effects the shelling had on the terrain: [http://www.meusetourism.com/en/583/pages/d/ww1-france-verdun-memorial-battle-verdun/ww1-battlefield-tours-battle-of-verdun-verdun-tourism/page/0](http://www.meusetourism.com/en/583/pages/d/ww1-france-verdun-memorial-battle-verdun/ww1-battlefield-tours-battle-of-verdun-verdun-tourism/page/0) But someone doubtless tries. This is Europe where they will farm the side of a hill if they think they’ll get another 1/2 acre out of it. ---
**Author:** ![Ranger\_Jeff](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/ranger_jeff/32/2065_2.png) [@Ranger\_Jeff](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Ranger_Jeff)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2014, 12:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-wwi-battlefields/687416/7 "2014-05-01T12:45:09Z")
As Eric Bogle wrote: > [@](#): > > The sun, now it shines on the green fields of France > There’s a warm summer breeze makes the red poppies dance > The trenches are all gone, fallen long 'neath the plow, > There’s no gas, no barbed wire, there’s no guns firing now. ---
**Author:** ![Novelty\_Bobble](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/a3d4f5/32.png) [@Novelty\_Bobble](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Novelty_Bobble)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2014, 5:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-wwi-battlefields/687416/8 "2014-05-01T17:41:36Z")
> [@Mr.Miskatonic](#): > > Verdun wasn’t much of a farmland and after the battle the treches, pillboxes, and most the shell craters made the land unfarmable anyway. Look at the picture on this page to see the effects the shelling had on the terrain: > > [API33 \> Situs Para Pemenang Slot Tergacor Paling Top #1 Api 33](http://www.meusetourism.com/en/583/pages/d/ww1-france-verdun-memorial-battle-verdun/ww1-battlefield-tours-battle-of-verdun-verdun-tourism/page/0) > > But someone doubtless tries. This is Europe where they will farm the side of a hill if they think they’ll get another 1/2 acre out of it. Oh I think a few lumps and bumps are no barrier. As you say, we’ll farm anywhere. Sheep and cows love a bit of challenging terrain. No matter what the state of the ground as soon as grass grows, there’ll be animals on it. ---
**Author:** ![nevadaexile](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/eb8c5e/32.png) [@nevadaexile](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/nevadaexile)\ **Post date:** [May 1, 2014, 6:14pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-wwi-battlefields/687416/9 "2014-05-01T18:14:40Z")
> [@Novelty\_Bobble](#): > > It returned to farmland as it was before and as quickly as practical I should think. > The north of France and Belgium is prime agricultural territory with not much to go round and farmers aren’t typically a sentimental bunch. I drive through the area on a regular basis and though war memorials are sadly plentiful and beautifully maintained, farming is King. **This.** When I was stationed in the UK in the 1980s I caught the ferry to LeHavre, France and I visited some of the WWI battlefields (some of which BTW became WWII battlefields. Nothing like recycling…). Anyway, most were just open fields or now forested areas. If you didn’t know where to look and what to look for ( in some parts around the Somme you could still see where trenches had been dug and that in the mid-1980s, 70 years after the war) you’d probably miss most of them. The ossuary near Verdun is impressive and there are many cemeteries. I would have liked to have seen the Masurian Lakes where the Germans and the Russians fought, However, this was during the Cold War and Poland was somewhat “off limits” to US military personnel. ---
**Author:** ![installLSC](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/54ee81/32.png) [@installLSC](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/installLSC)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2014, 1:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-wwi-battlefields/687416/10 "2014-05-02T01:30:26Z")
> [@nevadaexile](#): > > If you didn’t know where to look and what to look for ( in some parts around the Somme you could still see where trenches had been dug and that in the mid-1980s, 70 years after the war) you’d probably miss most of them. The ossuary near Verdun is impressive and there are many cemeteries. That surprises me considering how well Civil War battlefields are maintained. Are the battle areas just too vast to permanently withdraw from everyday use, or are there other reasons? ---
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2014, 2:30am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-wwi-battlefields/687416/11 "2014-05-02T02:30:30Z")
There was one show where they did dig up an old trench that over time had been turned into farmland. Remember there are still artillery shells down there filled with mustard gas. ---
**Author:** ![Urbanredneck](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/u/ea5d25/32.png) [@Urbanredneck](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Urbanredneck)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2014, 2:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-wwi-battlefields/687416/12 "2014-05-02T02:31:31Z")
> [@installLSC](#): > > That surprises me considering how well Civil War battlefields are maintained. Are the battle areas just too vast to permanently withdraw from everyday use, or are there other reasons? You will find that most of the Civil War battlefields preserved the best were the ones where the Union won. ---
**Author:** ![Princhester](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/3e96dc/32.png) [@Princhester](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Princhester)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2014, 2:34am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-wwi-battlefields/687416/13 "2014-05-02T02:34:07Z")
> [@installLSC](#): > > That surprises me considering how well Civil War battlefields are maintained. Are the battle areas just too vast to permanently withdraw from everyday use, or are there other reasons? Civil war battlefields were tiny. Google for a map of the WWI western front with a scale on it. The front stretched for enormous distances. ---
**Author:** ![Mr.Miskatonic](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/mr.miskatonic/32/310_2.png) [@Mr.Miskatonic](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mr.Miskatonic)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2014, 4:49am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-wwi-battlefields/687416/14 "2014-05-02T04:49:58Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > There was one show where they did dig up an old trench that over time had been turned into farmland. The most recent find I can recall was the Carspach trench, which was where a bunch of German soldiers got buried alive from shelling. Their remains and personal items were well preserved. Even some newspapers. > [@](#): > > Remember there are still artillery shells down there filled with mustard gas. One of the Passchendaele mines is still unaccounted for, with tens of thousands of pounds of explosives. The Brits planted 21, 19 detonated, one blew up in a lightning strike and killed a cow some decades back (or a farmer, reports vary). The last one…? ---
**Author:** ![MaxTheVool](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/9fc29f/32.png) [@MaxTheVool](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/MaxTheVool)\ **Post date:** [May 2, 2014, 5:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-wwi-battlefields/687416/15 "2014-05-02T17:01:30Z")
> [@Mr.Miskatonic](#): > > The most recent find I can recall was the Carspach trench, which was where a bunch of German soldiers got buried alive from shelling. Their remains and personal items were well preserved. Even some newspapers. There was also a recent story about a battlefield way high up on a mountain in (I believe) Italy where the extreme cold preserved a bunch of artifacts very well. ---
**Author:** ![Noel\_Prosequi](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/b19c9b/32.png) [@Noel\_Prosequi](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Noel_Prosequi)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2014, 7:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-wwi-battlefields/687416/16 "2014-05-03T07:05:24Z")
This is Europe, a battlefield millennia old. I recall an episode of Time Team where they were assiduously trying to archeologise IIRC a pre-Christian battleground…and accidentally turned up a WWI trench. ---
**Author:** ![Mk\_VII](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Mk\_VII](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Mk_VII)\ **Post date:** [May 3, 2014, 7:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-wwi-battlefields/687416/17 "2014-05-03T19:49:47Z")
Apart from one or two areas, such as Sanctuary Wood and the Vimy Ridge Memorial Park, northern France and Flanders returned to farming or coal mining as soon as the inhabitants could re-establish themselves in shacks on the approximate sites of their former homes. Several clear-up drives were launched in the postwar years and the non-ferrous metals in fuses and nosecaps found a ready market. Huge quantities of ordnance came up under the plough, and it continues to come up every autumn, perhaps in lesser quantities now. Shells are stacked up beside the road and the inhabitants know better than to mess with them. The farmers got a bounty for reporting human remains. Graves registration teams searched the battle zones multiple times over the next decade - rarely was it possible to put names to bodies and the Imperial War Graves Commission only put names to them when they were satisfied that conclusive evidence existed; good guess is not enough. ---
**Author:** ![Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/e/7cd45c/32.png) [@Elendil\_s\_Heir](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Elendil_s_Heir)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2014, 4:31am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-wwi-battlefields/687416/18 "2014-05-04T04:31:05Z")
> [@Urbanredneck](#): > > You will find that most of the Civil War battlefields preserved the best were the ones where the Union won. I dispute that. Chickamauga, site of a Confederate victory, was one of the first Federal national military parks. First and Second Bull Run, Fredericksburg and Chancellorsville were all relatively well-preserved, given local development pressures. I think the size of the battle, and not who won, is a better predictor of whether or not the land was preserved. ---
**Author:** ![Fluffy\_PickleSniffer](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/77aa72/32.png) [@Fluffy\_PickleSniffer](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Fluffy_PickleSniffer)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2014, 2:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-wwi-battlefields/687416/19 "2014-05-04T14:12:18Z")
> [@Princhester](#): > > Civil war battlefields were tiny. Google for a map of the WWI western front with a scale on it. The front stretched for enormous distances. [Here’s a nice interactive map of the front](http://www.bbc.co.uk/history/worldwars/wwone/launch_ani_western_front.shtml) I have to say, I never realized before how much the front fluctuated back and forth. ---
**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\ **Post date:** [May 4, 2014, 3:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-wwi-battlefields/687416/20 "2014-05-04T15:01:25Z")
> [@Noel\_Prosequi](#): > > I recall an episode of Time Team where they were assiduously trying to archeologise IIRC a pre-Christian battleground…and accidentally turned up a WWI trench. ‘It lasted longer than we thought.’ [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-happened-to-wwi-battlefields/687416.md?page=2)