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File photo circa 1918 of German soldiers at a trench-mounted machine gun. PA Images
WWI
Preserved remains of 21 German WWI soldiers found in France
The discovery has been likened to Pompeii because of the preservation and the positions of the bodies.
THE WELL-PRESERVED bodies of 21 German soldiers who fought in World War One have been discovered by French archaeologists almost a century after their death.
The remains were discovered during roadworks in the area.
The Telegraph reports that archaeologists working on the site have likened it to Italy’s Pompeii because the preserved bodies were found in the same positions the men were likely to have been in when the shelter collapsed.
Pole d’Archéologie reports that the men were among a group of soldiers who were buried alive in their underground wooden shelter when a French shell exploded nearby in 1918, causing the shelter to collapse and fill with mud.
Although thirteen bodies were pulled from the site, 21 remained trapped.
A series of commemorative markers had been laid at the site in Carspach as far back as March 1918 – the same month as the shelter’s collapse.
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