Remains of 24 Tommies found in Flanders

This item appeared in the newspaper today...
"LILLE, France - Archaeologists said Monday they have unearthed the remains of 24 British World War One soldiers at the construction site of a BMW car factory in France.
Twenty of the corpses were found in a mass grave. They are believed to have belonged to a regiment based in northern Britain that fought in the Battle of Arras during April and May 1917."

Has anyone else heard about this that could shed more light on details of this discovery? How about you blokes across the "pond"? Has this made news there?
With best regards...

[Scotty]

ARRAS, France

They were found neatly lined up, arms linked, a testimony to that special camaraderie that binds men in battle.

Archaeologists combing a construction site for Greco-Roman ruins came across the eerie sight: the remains of 20 British soldiers from World War I in a common grave.

Three other fallen soldiers were found in a nearby shell hole. A 24th soldier was found alone.

France, a battleground in both world wars, still harbors these memories with ceremonies, plaques, and names of fallen fighters carved in stone village squares. The earth remains pocked and scarred, and occasionally gives up its relics from bombs to the bodies of fallen sons.

"It's not rare to find numerous bodies of French, British, or German soldiers(in this area), but usually it's one or two bodies at a time," said archaelogist Alain Jacques. "It's very hard for us- it's like it's our grandfathers."

While the remains, all skeletons, are unlikely to be identified by name, three of the soldiers in the common grave bore uniform shoulder patches with the insignia of the 10th Lincoln Regiment, based in northern England, said Michael Johnson, director of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission. It can be assumed, he said, that the others came from the same regiment.

The solitary soldier was likely a member of the Royal Naval Division, a deduction made from a shoulder patch with the inscription "RNN" found with him.

British made shoes, along with buttons, shreds of clothing and bits of leather also were found- "the remains of 24 lives," said Michael Searle, technical manager of the Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

Missing were helmets, belts and weapons, a sign, the experts said, that the men were laid to rest.

In the common grave, a 48-foot by 6-foot trench, they were "shoulder to shoulder with their arms linked one to the other, " said Jaques. "It is clear they didn't fall into this ditch."

The archaeological team from Arras, 110 miles north of Paris, was searching a vast field near a two lane road for ancient artifacts ahead of the possible construction of a BMW automobile plant.

Instead, the earth gave up a more recent past.

The 24 men are thought to have died 84 years ago in the more than month-long Battle of Arras that began April 9, 1917.

Officials waited to announce the discovery, first removing the remains to prepare for an official burial, probably in September, at the "Point du Jour" military cemetery some 600 yards from where they were found, said Searle.

The remains of 27 British soldiers were buried in an official ceremony here in 1996, with the Duke of Kent in attendance.

The latest find, "comes as a big shock" for families, said Johnson. "It brings it home...It brings finality."

Some 100,000 World War I Commonwealth soldiers are still missing, officials said.

By Ariane Bernard
Associated Press Writer
Tuesday, June 19, 2001

[stevedrew]

WE WILL REMEMBER THEM
LEST WE FORGET


Steve Drew

Salute ! To the brave fallen comrades, to whose loved ones , they n'er came home.
Truly at rest at last.

[PeterL]

These were men of the Lincolnshire Regiment. How ironic that their shpuld be found in the foundations for a BMW factory.

I've seen the AP photo of the skeletons lying side by side, arms linked together...a bond together in death. Was this a standard procedure, or did a comrade do this of their own accord?
(It seems someone doesn't want us to forget what happened so long ago.)

[Michael]

I can't say what the burial practices were at the time, but it does occur to me that by linking arms 24 bodies might fit into a smaller space than 24 that were laid further apart.

That being said graves registration/burial party work has to be the worst.

Michael

I did a search on the BBC and was only able to come up with this unrelatedBBC Story. Anyone have a link to the story about the 24?

I did a search for 'Lincolnshire Regiment' at both www.telegraph.co.uk and at www.thetimes.co.uk

Both quickly yielded stories in both yesterday's and today's issues about these soldiers, including a photo.

Lest we forget.

EAM

[Immo_Frese]

Hi all! If you want to know more about "Battlefield Archaeology" on the western front visit the following website. http://w1.865.telia.com/~u86517080/Battlef...rkeologENG.html regards, Immo