Contaminated French soil yet to recover from the wounds of war
More than a century after the First World War, vast stretches of French soil remain contaminated, with some areas still too hazardous to access. Experts warn it could take 700 years to clear hidden munitions – the legacy of a conflict that wrought unprecedented destruction on the land.
In the forest of Spincourt near Verdun, a clearing stands as a stark reminder of the lasting environmental impact of war.
Nothing has grown in these 1,000 square metres for almost 100 years. Soon, authorities will install a protective dome over this toxic site – known locally as the "gas place" – where the German army destroyed more than 200,000 arsenic chemical shells after the war, poisoning the land.
"The First World War set a new standard in combat," geologist and historian Daniel Hubé told RFI, explaining that more than 2 billion artillery shells were fired on the Western Front.
Many failed to explode, and in 1929 in the Meuse region alone, 127 recovery workers and bomb disposal experts died trying to secure former battlefields.
Those buried remnants pose risks even today. "We’re still digging up shells in very good condition. In some places, we’re literally walking on shells," Hubé added.
Eugene Bullard, pioneering African-American aviator who flew for France in WWI
‘Red zones’
Read more on RFI English
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