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Smihsonian Channel: Secret City of WW1


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Just watched this hour long documentary last night. Wow! The actual title is: America's Underground: Secret City of WW1. It's about an American trauma-center doctor that travels to north-eastern France to explore underground stone quarries that were occupied by French, German and U.S. troops during WW1. As the front lines shifted back and forth during the war, a different group used these quarries as shelters from the relentless artillery duels. What they found were hand- carved and drawn artifacts in the walls of the quarries by men of each group, along with a few other artifacts including a live rifle grenade! The U.S. 26th Division (Yankee) was well represented with the names of quite a few men from different companies. The Dr. then found the living relatives of some of these soldiers(with the help of some Nat. Guard historians) in the New England area and showed them photographs of the inscribed artifacts. Two elderly brothers, in I think Maine, saw their father's name and company inscribed along with several other names of men whose descendants still live in the area. The strangest things found were a carved canoe and a couple of carved American Indians with traditional headdress! I won't give away the ending, but even these seemingly unrelated artifacts make sense towards the show's end. I have to say I've never heard of these quarries before anywhere and I've collected and read about WW1 for more than 25 years. Fascinating show and a must see even if you don't have much interest in WW1. Look for it on the Smithsonian Channel or their website.

 

Steve

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Just checked the Smithsonian Channel and it's scheduled to play again Mar. 17,18 & 19th. I recorded it and need to watch it again. I also need to find out more about the 26th Div. at this time period and a good map of the area! I also wonder how many people in this locality of France knew about these quarries? Ultra interesting stuff.

 

Garandomatic--Thanks for the tip, I'll check out Nat. Geo. next.

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