Unearthing the Underground Warfare of the Somme
British trench at Ovillers-la-Boisselle, July 1916
One way to figure out the answer to our Geo Quiz this time, is to unfold a map of northern France. Locate the Somme River and trace its path. The Somme crosses through the region we want you to name. Another option is to recall the “Battle of the Somme.” It took place in 1916, during World War I. The battle left more than a million German, British and French soldiers — dead, wounded or missing.
Archaeologists are now digging up the battlefield’s trenches. And they hope the descendants of those who died there will come and visit too.
“They want people to get involved with this project to come along and see the dig as it progresses over the next few years, and to perhaps fill in the gaps of their own personal history, they may have known for years that somebody fell here, they didn’t exactly where, perhaps this team will be able to help them.”
The answer is the region of Picardy in northern France. Archaeologists have begun a major excavation there of the a WWI battlefields, recovering bodies of those who died at the Battle of the Somme. Anchor Marco Werman speaks with BBC’s Robert Hall about the archaeological dig that’s underway.
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