Trenches and other remains

A war on the scale of World War One was guaranteed to leave tangible remains today. One question I have heard more than any other in places such as the Tourist Office in Ieper is "Are there any trenches left?". The answer to that question is - "yes!"  Indeed, it seems that today, due to the increase in interest, there seem to be more trenches in "visitable sites" and museums than there has been for the past couple of decades or so. New sites are being archaeologically excavated and preserved for future generations, old sites are being researched and "tidied" for visitors and ,in the woods and hidden valleys all across the western front, original trenches and craters, etc. are still lying where they were created, getting softer and shallower with each passing year. The onslaught of the modern world, building new roads and the expansion of towns, etc have made much of the battlefields disappear. However much still remains and will for decades to come.

This section is intended to give an inkling of what still remains to be seen today. It can really be classified as a permanent "Work in Progress" section as it will be constantly and regularly updated as new discoveries are made.

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British trenches at the Newfoundland Memorial Park at Beaumont Hamel (Somme) looking into "No-man's Land". 1987

The German front line trench at the Newfoundland Park, 1987

British frontline trench in Luke Copse near Serre, Somme. This is where the "Sheffield City Battalion" attacked from on 1st July 1916

Another shot of the inside of Luke Copse showing the remains of trenches and shellholes.

"London Trench" (Boyeaux de Londres"). A "cleared" trench from the Douaumont sector of Verdun.

"De Dodengang" - "Trench of Death". An artificially preserved Belgian trench from the Yser Front. Located near Oud Stuivenskirk (Dixmude)

A renovated trench in the grounds of Hooge Chateau (Kasteelhof t'Hooge), Ypres Salient.(1990's)

A more modern shot (2002) of the Hooge trenches

One of the most visited "preserved trenches" on the Western Front - in the museum at Sanctuary Wood/Hill 62 near Ypres

A recent archaelogical excavation in the Ypres Salient revealed this trench - Yorkshire Trench - near Boezinge. Now preserved for posterity.

In the huge Canadian Memorial park on Vimy Ridge can be found some of the oldest artificially preserved trenches on the Western Front.

"Non-artificially" preserved trenches can also be encountered by the hundreds on Vimy's slopes also...

View from Ulster Tower, Somme, showing the chalk outlines of trenches in the distance.

Trench in the Argonne (Haute Chevauchee)

Recently excavated German trenches in Croonaert Wood, Wijtschaete

Remains of trench near the "The Bluff" next to the Ypres-Comines canal. This is possibly the remains of "Oakling Support"