Zone rouge

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Coordinates: 50°22′N 2°48′E / 50.36°N 2.80°E / 50.36; 2.80

Map showing totally destroyed areas in red, areas of major damage in yellow and moderately damaged areas in green
A German trench and Delville Wood, near Longueval (Somme), that were destroyed in 1916 in the Red Zone
Verdun battlefield, today

The Zone rouge (French for "Red Zone") is the name given to about 1,200 square kilometres (460 sq mi) of land in northeastern France that was physically and environmentally destroyed during the First World War. Because of hundreds of thousands of human and animal corpses and millions of unexploded ordnance that contaminated the land, some activities in the area such as housing, farming or forestry, were temporarily or permanently forbidden after the war by French law. Some towns were never permitted to be rebuilt.

Restrictions in the zone rouge still exist today although the controlled areas have been greatly reduced.

See also

  • French villages destroyed in the First World War
  • No Man's Land

References

    • Smith, Corinna Haven & Hill, Caroline R. Rising Above the Ruins in France: An Account of the Progress Made Since the Armistice in the Devastated Regions in Re-establishing Industrial Activities and the Normal Life of the People. NY: GP Putnam's Sons, 1920: 6.

    External links


    This article is issued from Wikipedia. The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution/Share Alike; additional terms may apply for the media files.