Trench of Bayonets


After the war, a line of a dozen bayonets was found protruding from the ground.  Further investigation revealed a dead French soldier and a rifle in the ground beneath the bayonets.  No one knows for sure what happened, but it was assumed that a German artillery bombardment collapsed the trench around the men.  The story caught hold of the public imagination, and an American donor funded a memorial at the site.  Later, other theories developed, including one that the trench was used as a quick and easy mass grave by attacking German troops.






   





   






Copyright 2010-11 by John Hamill



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