Hundreds of German War Dead Soldiers May Be in Tunnel in France – NRK Urix – Foreign News and Documentaries

It is a drama of hitherto completely unknown dimensions that is literally being carved out by the Aisne River in north-eastern France.

Father and son, Alain and Pierre Malinkowski, after decades of research and excavation, finally found what they believe to be the Winterberg Tunnel. German soldiers built the tunnel as a defense facility during the First World War.

But this tunnel also became his grave, when the entrances collapsed in connection with violent fighting in the spring of 1917.

More than 270 German soldiers were locked up, and later probably lay there, without the French or German authorities being particularly keen to find out if their remains were still there.

Now the question is whether to try to analyze the remains to identify them and possibly bury them in Germany. The alternative is to create a common burial site or memorial next to the tunnel in France.

The war in the trenches

By the spring of 1917, what is now called the trench warfare in northwestern France had lasted for more than two and a half years.

In this war, France, Great Britain, Russia, and eventually the United States united against Germany and Austria-Hungary. Several other countries were also involved in the war, which was fought mainly in Europe.

After the German offensive against Paris was halted in the autumn of 1914, the fighting parties, the French and British forces on the one hand and the Germans on the other, had entrenched themselves.

The civil war was only replaced by sporadic but violent offensives, which did not lead to major changes on the front line.

German forces had been stationed on the front line near the town of Craonne for more than two years. Craonne is located 140 kilometers northeast of the French capital, Paris.

There they had built an ingenious system of defense lines. Among other things, what they called the Winterberg tunnel. It allowed them to send crews and supplies up to the front line, against the Allied forces.

Globo controlled the artillery

On May 4, 2017, the French artillery targeted an attack precisely at the entrances to this tunnel.

The cannon was controlled with observations from a balloon.

This was long before the days of drones, and balloon observations were a breakthrough, as targets could only be observed from the ground.

One of the entrances was completely buried because an ammunition depot exploded. The other entrance was also hit and closed.

More than 270 soldiers from the 111th Reserve Regiment of the German Army were trapped in the 300-meter long tunnel.

Slow death

Over the next few days, they died from lack of oxygen. Some of them also asked their fellow soldiers to kill themselves or decided to commit suicide to escape suffering.

We know little about this because German rescue teams managed to rescue three of the soldiers, before the German army was forced to leave the area due to French attacks.

One of them, Karl Risser, later said that there had been terrible scenes inside the tunnel.

“Some cried for water, others for help. A friend was lying on the ground next to me and he begged loudly for someone to carry the gun for him.

French soldiers took control of the area a few days later, but then everything was in chaos. They do not give priority to the excavation of the tunnel.

Later, the Germans returned, but they also failed to search and excavate in the bombed area.

Forgotten after the war

World War I ended in a humiliating defeat for Germany. After the war, France prioritized the excavation of its own dead in the bombed landscape.

Germans killed in an unspecified location on the outskirts of Craonne were not a priority.
Soon the whole area grew and partly was also covered with trees.

Until one of the locals, Alain Malinowski, interested in history, began to inquire into history.

In the archives he found old maps and interrogations of German prisoners of war, but had trouble locating where the tunnel where the German soldiers were being held.

In 2009, he came across a map showing where the tunnel had been and was therefore able to narrow down the search area.

Still, he failed to get the French authorities to initiate a major excavation to see if it was possible to find traces of those who died, underground.

Advance in 2019

But in 2019, Alain Malinowski’s son Pierre, with the help of volunteers and an excavator, managed to find what is apparently an entrance to the Winterberg tunnel.

They found the remains of gas masks and weapons and also the remains of two people.

They then refilled the hole and contacted the French authorities again.

Again, there was no major response, especially since state authorities, not only in France, are very skeptical of this type of private archaeological initiative.

Many also believe that people who have been dead for so long should be allowed to remain where they are.

Furthermore, Pierre Malinowski is a controversial figure in France. He is a supporter of the right-wing populist politician Jean-Marie Le Pen and has a close connection to Russia, something he does not hide on his Facebook pages.

In Russia, he has long been involved in various projects to find the remains of dead soldiers, including Napoleon’s campaign against Moscow in 1812.

In the end, Pierre and Alain Malinowski chose to go to the French media house Le Monde with the case. Since then, various media outlets have written that there is an unknown mass grave in a seemingly idyllic forest northeast of Paris.

Also skeptical Germans

What should happen to dead soldiers has always been a very sensitive question.

Germany and France fought two bloody world wars and were bitter enemies. Now they will be at the forefront of European integration, through the EU.

There are many indications that something must be done to secure the area, but in what way remains an open question.

The German authorities are not particularly enthusiastic about what happened.

Diane Tempel-Barnett, spokeswoman for the German War Graves Commission, told German radio, broadcast by the BBC, that “she is not particularly happy with what has now emerged in France.” We believe that what is happening now is regrettable, “said Temple Barnett.

Meanwhile, various media outlets are reporting that strangers have started digging in the Wittenberg tunnel area, probably looking for what might be valuable souvenirs.