Date of publication: 03/11/2011
BBC Correspondent Robert Hall has travelled to the village of La Boiselle in France to discover more about WW1 tunnels.
A team of French and British Archaeologists are excavating four miles of tunnels in the Somme battlefield that were created by Allied troops in 1915 and 1916. Made by tunnelling through the chalky ground 80 feet below No-Mans-Land, British and French troops would then plant explosives in the tunnels to undermine the Germans’ trenches and blow gaps in their defences.
The tunnels are being excavated by La Boiselle Study Group, who believe them to hold the remains of soldiers that died either during their construction or through clashes that took place deep within them.
To view the BBC report and short film,click here.
Images courtesy of the BBC website.