The bodies of 21 German soldiers from World War One have been found 94 years following their deaths. The bodies were entombed in a preserved shelter from World War One. The soldiers were with a group of 34 soldiers that were buried alive when a shell from an Allied attack exploded near the tunnel in 1918. The explosion caused the tunnel to cave in on itself.
Not all 21 bodies could be removed from the shelter because they were under a mountain of mud that proved to be too dangerous to retrieve them. Thirteen of the 21 bodies were removed from the shelter though. The grave was located along the former Western Front and was found by a group of French archaeologists who were doing excavation work to build a new road.
Almost all of the remains were found in the same position as when the shelter collapsed onto them, causing the experts working on the case to compare this to Pompeii. A couple of soldiers were found sitting up on a bench, one soldier was found lying in a bed, and another solider was found crouched in the fetal position after being thrown down a stairwell from the explosion. Along with the bodies, other items such as wallets, pipes, glasses, wine bottles, helmets, boots, cigarette boxes and books were also found. The skeleton of a goat was also found in the shelter. Experts say that everything was so well preserved because almost zero air, light, or water reached the shelter.
The tunnel was 300 feet long and was built 18 feet below the ground close to Carspach, a town in the Alsace region of France. The man in charge of the dig, Michael Landolt, said the following:
“It’s a bit like Pompeii. Everything collapsed in seconds and is just the way it was at the time. Here, as in Pompeii, we found the bodies as they were at the moment of their death. Some of the men were found in sitting positions on a bench, others lying down. One was projected down a flight of wooden stairs and was found in a fetal position. The collapsed shelter was filled with soil. The items were very well preserved because of the absence of air and light and water. Metal objects were rusty, wood was in good condition and we found some pages of newspapers that were still readable. Leather was in good condition as well, still supple. The items will be taken to a laboratory, cleaned and examined.”