I'm currently reading a book called Aftermath: The Remnants Of War. It's about battlefields around the world that still yield remnants, both human and man made. For instance, the first chapter deals with the WWl battlefields in France, like Verdun, where as of 1995, more than 12 million unexploded shells, bombs and, grenades are still in the earth and still work their way to the surface and the special crews France uses to clear the fields. Since 1946, they've cleared 18 million artillery shells of various sizes, 10 million grenades, and 600,000 bombs dropped from aircraft. They're taken to a special disposal area on the coast of France and tons and tons are blown up underwater. It's really something else. Those crews risk their lives moving live ordnance that could go off anytime. Some of it has mustard and chlorine gas inside them and very lethal.
The second chapter deals with The Battle Of Stalingrad where the remains of hundreds of thousands of German soldiers are still buried in mass graves and their bones protrude from the earth much like the shells of Verdun. and now, I'm reading about the nuclear test sites in Nevada and what they yield since all those nuclear bombs were tested years ago. Very interesting book.
