This would become known as the red zone, or "Zone Rouge".
(Olivier Saint Hilaire owlcation.com/humanities/zon…)
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DbkZ3I6WsAEFn0D.jpg)
The ruined villages were overgrown with trees & vines, while grass crept over the troughs of the scarred landscape.
(Michael St. Maur Sheil fieldsofbattle1418.org)
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DbkQolgW0AAZuK6.jpg)
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DbkYOU4WkAEmn8o.jpg)
(Michael St. Maur Sheil fieldsofbattle1418.org)
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DbkRRYvWkAEC-lz.jpg)
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DbkxjkvW4AEpQW0.jpg)
Its authors describe a peculiar flourishing of snails & rodents, voles & collared mice, as well as an "explosion in the population of wildcats".
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DbkXTveXcAI8p4N.jpg)
On two pieces of land close to Ypres and Woëvre, a study by Bausinger et al (ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/17555801) found that 99% of plants still die, & arsenic can constitute up to 17% of the soil.
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DbjqWPQX4AEXTVh.jpg)
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DbkXRIcXkAEIkWu.jpg)
"Douaumont, destroyed village"
(Olivier Saint Hilaire owlcation.com/humanities/zon…)
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DbjvCthW0AA9P_9.jpg)
"Here stood the church"
(Olivier Saint Hilaire owlcation.com/humanities/zon…)
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DbkNq_VX4AMJpsi.jpg)
"School hall" / "High street"
(Olivier Saint Hilaire owlcation.com/humanities/zon…)
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DbkW6n9XUAAQtu2.jpg)
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DbkX5HJX4AIcZ61.jpg)
(Olivier Saint Hilaire owlcation.com/humanities/zon…)
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Dbn2B7yXcAAxkD0.jpg)
(Olivier Saint Hilaire owlcation.com/humanities/zon…)
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DbkPVVCWkAANH0W.jpg)
"At these sites a sense of place is powerfully created by a legacy of destruction"
- Stephen Miles, in "Displaced Heritage", ed. Convery et al.
(books.google.co.uk/books?id=9ZafB…)
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DbkYYkgXcAAopGh.jpg)
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Dbn3j3XWAAEx44k.jpg)
Monsters still lurch up out of the earth. Enormous shells are dug up. Whole tanks dredged from the ground where they sank over 100 years ago.
(Olivier Saint Hilaire owlcation.com/humanities/zon…)
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/DbkWKr1WAAAthEw.jpg)
- Rising Above the Ruins in France, by Corinna Haven Smith (ia801409.us.archive.org/30/items/risin…)
- Displaced Heritage, ed. Convery et al. (books.google.co.uk/books?id=9ZafB…)
- Parent G.-H., 2004. Trois études sur la Zone Rouge de Verdun... (ps.mnhn.lu/ferrantia/resu…)
![](https://pbs.twimg.com/media/Dbn8rysW0AERWDX.jpg)
Please also check out the work of the photographer Olivier Saint Hilaire here: oliviersainthilaire.com/?page_id=93