French WW1 training trenches.

[read6737]

Here are a number pics of some WW1 training trenches.
They are 10 km from my house near Bellac in France, hidden in the woods, not many people know about then.
I only found out when the Maire gave us the ok to set up a shooting range as it has a very high back stop.
I last visited them 4/5 yrs ago, a few more trees are now down,
They extend over 3000 squ meters in the shape of a wedge.
Would love to restorm them, and for the same reason we did nor build a range, the felling of the treas, but it would keep me in heating fuel for tens of years if we did.

Attachment 53576Attachment 53577Attachment 53578Attachment 53579Attachment 53580Attachment 53581Attachment 53582Attachment 53583Attachment 53584

Information

Warning: This is a relatively older thread This discussion is older than 360 days. Some information contained in it may no longer be current.

[browningautorifle]

Almost completely gone...too bad. It's history being allowed to decay.

[read6737]

yep, but they are still very evident when you stand on/in them.
A berrer camera would have helped.
The light and too many shadows did not help the pics.
I will take some more later in the yery when the leaves fall.

[jmoore]

Reminds me of of earthworks about my home area that were dug during the unpleasantness in the US 1861-65. Not so much for training, though...

[browningautorifle]

I'd love to come down and see the remnants of the earthworks from '61 to '65...I just have to do it is all.

[Anzac15]

Was at Kennesaw National Battlefield over the weekend..the trenches and earthworks very similar.
And definitely not for training either.

[jmoore]

I'd love to come down and see the remnants of the earthworks from '61 to '65...I just have to do it is all.

The sad part is that they keep getting turned into housing developments, etc.

[Peter Laidler]

There was a feature on a 1940's trench system featured in a magazine here in the UK. The trenches were in the UK, used for the training of the Army/BEF on its way to France in '39/40. They set about them with mine detectors and found all manner of kit.

One of the ladies at Warminster used to bring in loads and loads of stuff her husband found while metal detecting in the old camps that littered the Salisbury Plain area. Not a lot of value but interesting none the less

[A. F Medic]

If you have legal access to the land you really should go buy a good metal detector! There are so many things that will be lost forever if they are not found.

There are even videos on U Tube about metal detecting in Europe. Pulling German rifles (not usable), helmets (worth a ton of money!)personal effects, and the list goes on! One guy even found a buried tank.

I have a chance to go to Virginia and to legally detect where the The Wilderness Battle was. I would be happy if I just dug up a Confederate bullet!

[browningautorifle]

just dug up a Confederate bullet

I walked the ground at the Bighorn about three times. I'd have been positively high if I could have found so much as a buckle, cartridge or arrowhead...anything. And...got away with it...