Since World War I, no significant discoveries have been made in France since 1970.
The bodies of more than 270 German soldiers have been lying in a forest on a hill not far from the city of Reims for more than a century. These soldiers suffered the most painful deaths.
Due to the chaos and panic of the war, their true whereabouts were still a mystery, and neither the French nor the German authorities were in a hurry to resolve the issue. But a team of local historian fathers and sons have found the entrance to the Winterberg Tunnel on the battlefield of Shaman Day Dams.
Three of the 270 soldiers whose lives were lost in the Winterberg tunnel
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Three soldiers killed in the Winterberg tunnel
The first question is what to do now? Should the bodies be immediately removed and buried in a German military cemetery? Should there be a massive excavation so that we can get information about this war and the people who fought it? Should a monument or museum be built?
Both governments are still considering these questions, but time is running out. And if we assume that the location of this tunnel is still a mystery, it is a mystery that has never been hidden.
When I visited this place a few days ago, I found out that there were people there the night before in search of antiquities. A three-meter-deep hole was dug near the entrance, and wartime items such as axes, shovels, beams supporting the tunnel roof and even unexploded bombs were left in a pile.
The Winterberg tunnel lies deeper than the three meters dug by looters at the site
We also found a human arm bone there.
The looters were unable to enter the tunnel because it was even deeper. What they found was fragments of what had come up from the bomb that closed the tunnel.
Some of the debris uncovered by looters at the site
The goods left by the looters
But everyone knows that the looters will return because whoever enters the Winterberg tunnel first will find the treasure.
In the spring of 1917, France launched a failed offensive to retake the hills along the east-west line, a few miles north of the Nile.
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These hills, along with the Sch ساتھman de Dames, were occupied by the Germans for more than two years and had a complex underground defense system.
The Winterberg Tunnel begins near the village of Crayon and runs 300 meters north of the hill and meets the first row of German tunnels on the southern slope. The tunnel was hidden from French soldiers.
A German map of the area during World War I.
On May 4, 1917, France bombarded both ends of the tunnel with artillery and sent a balloon into the air to view the slope to the north.
At one point, he hit the target perfectly. A naval artillery shell landed at the entrance, causing further explosions in the ammunition stored there and toxic fumes in the tunnel. Another shell exploded, closing the outer mouth.
Inside were soldiers from the 10th and 11th companies of the 111th Reserve Regiment. Over the next six days, as oxygen was slowly running out, some suffocated, others committed suicide. Some told others to kill them.
The Winterberg tunnel
, Photo source PIERRE MALINOWSKI
It is now fortunate that three people survived so long that rescue workers rescued the mountain just a day before it was captured by France. One of them, Carl Fisher, described the situation as follows:
"Everyone was asking for water but it was useless. Death was standing here laughing and death was also standing guard on the brink, so no one could escape. Some people were running for help, some for water. A colleague was lying on the ground with me and he asked someone in a broken voice to load his pistol for him.
When France took over the hill, the scenery outside would be one of extraordinary destruction and chaos. Digging a tunnel would not be a priority so they left it. The Germans later recaptured the Shaman de Dames, but they will not have time to search for the remains.
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By the end of the war, no one knew for sure the location of the Winterberg Tunnel. Since there were no French bodies inside the tunnel, it was decided to leave them lying around, as there are still countless bodies on the Western Front waiting to be discovered.
The trees sprouted again and the deep pits formed by the shells remained only a slight roughness. Today this place is a favorite place for dogs to roam.
But a local man, Elaine Melinaowski, could not help but think of the tunnel. He was sure it was somewhere on the hill.
Working on the Paris Metro in the 1990s, he traveled daily to the capital and spent his spare time exploring military records at Chateau de Vincennes. For fifteen years they collected details about the place, maps and interrogations of the prisoners, but to no avail. The whole place was so affected by the bombing that no meaningful comparison could be made between the documents of that time and the situation today.
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Then in 2009 I held in his hand a map of the present age, showing not only the tunnel but also the junction of the two routes that had survived so far. With great care they calculated the angles and distances and reached the place which is now an unnamed part of the forest.
"I felt it," Elaine Melinaowski told Le Monde. I knew I was close. I knew the tunnel was somewhere under my feet. '
The site of the Winterberg tunnel
For the next ten years, nothing happened. He informed the authorities about the discovery, but they did not show much interest.
It is unknown at this time what he will do after leaving the post.
But then comes the story of his son, Pierre Malinowski, himself a 34-year-old former soldier, who is now searching for the remains of those killed in the Napoleonic War in Moscow.
After the government's lack of interest, Pierre thought of forcing the governments of France and Germany to take an interest, and he began digging the tunnel himself. It was illegal, but they thought it might be a good idea.
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In January last year, he came with a team and brought with him a tunnel digging machine to the place indicated by his father.
After digging only four meters, they found a place to enter the tunnel.
From there they found a bell, which was used to sound the alarm. There were a large number of gas masks, ammunition, two machine guns, a rifle, a dagger and the remains of two human bodies.
One of them said: 'It's just like Pompeii. Nothing moved. '
Pierre Malinowski hid the excavated part, leaving it in exactly the same condition as he had found it, and again he went to the authorities. But when he was not heard after another ten months, he went to the Le Monde newspaper and told him the whole story.
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It is safe to say that Pierre Malinowski is not well-known among archaeologists and historians.
They believe that not only did Pierre Malinowski break the law, but he also violated the point that men should not be molested, and by his actions he forced the government to take action. Worse still, he set an example for those who want to do this kind of work alone, but their intentions falter.
Authorities are reluctant to investigate. Diane Temple Barnett, a spokeswoman for the German War Graves Commission, told German radio: "Honestly, we are not happy about this discovery. On the contrary, we consider it unfortunate.
Remember that the First World War in Germany is considered a 'forgotten war'.
This picture of the Winterberg tunnel was taken under heavy artillery fire
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However, the search for the relatives of those killed in the tunnel has now begun.
The 111th Regiment was stationed in the Baden region of the Swiss Alps at the time, and nine of those killed in the May 4 and 5, 1917 crash have been identified.
"If I could reunite a single family with their ancestors who died in the tunnel, it would be great for me," said Mark Bernard, a researcher on the Great War. I want them to come out of this tunnel and bury them honorably and bury all these comrades, comrades together.
When the remains of more than 400 German soldiers were discovered in a similar incident in 1973 in the Mont Cornellit area of Reims, they were buried together.
Pierre Malinowski also says these soldiers should be honored.
"Some of them were farmers, some were barbers, some were bank clerks, but they all came to fight on their own, and they ended up like we can't even imagine."
He is fully aware of the dignity and respect of human remains and he is forbidden to take pictures of these bodies.
"These bodies are as carefully cared for as mummies are kept in Egypt. Remember, soldiers spent their days and nights in this tunnel, and all their daily use equipment is there. Every soldier will have a story. It will be one of the largest survivors of World War I. "
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