Who Cleared the Battlefields After Verdun

When the guns stopped at Verdun, they left behind ground that had been shelled continuously for ten months. Villages had been erased so completely that there was nothing left to rebuild — no foundations, no boundaries, no soil worth farming. Millions of shells had been fired into a small area, and a large share of them had never gone off. Someone had to deal with that. Much of the work fell to hired labourers, prisoners of war, and colonial workers, clearing by hand: lifting unexploded shells out of the mud, collecting scrap metal and wire, and recovering the remains of the dead. It was dangerous, badly paid work, and it killed people for years after the fighting ended. France eventually gave up on parts of it. Areas judged too contaminated to farm or inhabit were designated the Zone Rouge — closed off, and in many places planted with forest instead. Several villages destroyed at Verdun were never rebuilt and still legally exist with appointed mayors and no residents. And the clearing never actually finished. Farmers across the region still turn up shells every year — the "iron harvest" — and French bomb disposal teams still collect and destroy tonnes of it annually, more than a century later. 🪖 In this video: What the battlefield looked like in 1919 Who was actually made to do the clearing How dangerous the work was, and how many died doing it Why the Zone Rouge was closed off instead The villages that were never rebuilt Why shells are still coming out of the ground today The battle lasted ten months. Clearing up after it has lasted a hundred years. 👍 Like if you learned something new 🔔 Subscribe for more #verdun #ww1 #history #france #militaryhistory