WWI underground: Unearthing the hidden tunnel war

[skiguy]

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-13630203

Archaeologists are beginning the most detailed ever study of a Western Front battlefield, an untouched site where 28 British tunnellers lie entombed after dying during brutal underground warfare. For WWI historians, it's the "holy grail".

When military historian Jeremy Banning stepped on to a patch of rough scrubland in northern France four months ago, the hairs on the back of his neck stood up.

The privately owned land in the sleepy rural village of La Boisselle had been practically untouched since fighting ceased in 1918, remaining one of the most poignant sites of the Battle of the Somme

[Phidippides]

That's very interesting.  It's a good thing that the land has remained in private hands over all these years.

[Aetheling]

Amazing. Almost intact after so many years, that's so surprising and very interesting.