Fields of Battle - Lands of Peace

Just after Remembrance Day comes Fields of Battle—Lands of Peace 14-18  the work of photojournalist Michael St Maur Sheil.  Captured over a period of seven years, Michael’s photography combines a passion for history and landscape and presents a unique reflection on the transformation of the battlefields of the Great War into the landscape of modern Europe.

Here are just a few of his images

Lochnagar Crater is one of the iconic remnants of the Somme battlefield and just as in the war, one can really only appreciate its true scale from the air. Created by British tunnellers who dug a 600m (0.37 miles)tunnel to reach a point under the German lines where they then placed 50,000lbs of high explosive which was detonated on the 1st July 1916 creating a hole over 90m wide (295’) and 30m deep (98’).

The landscape of the Newfoundland Memorial Park, in Beaumont Hamel in France, with trenches, shell crater and wire pickets. Part of the Somme battlefield, the battle began on 1 July 1916 and ended in a muddy quagmire in mid-November (the Allies advanced only five miles (8km)). The Newfoundland Regiment, nearly 800 men, was virtually wiped out on the first day.

The pockmarked landscape of the Ouvrage du Thiamont battlefield close to Verdun, France still bearing the testimony of the savage ferocity of the fighting. In recent years Verdun has become a symbol of reconciliation between Germany and France – a fitting recognition that during the 10 month battle the opposing sides suffered over 700,000 casualties in total.

Butte de Vauquois, Argonne, France.

The Butte itself is a steep-sided hill which was the site of a village which was captured by the Germans in September 1914. Subsequently the French gained a foot-hold on the summit and both sides began a campaign of mining which lasted until February 1918. The furious mining and counter mining blew away the entire hill-top and today the small village lies at the foot of the hill. Underground there are approximately 17,000 metres of galleries, the deepest of which is 104m, and over 150 chambers and rooms. One of the mines planted here contained over 60 tons of high explosive and was the largest single mine explosion on the Western Front. The photograph above clearly shows the nature of the fighting: the curving line in the bottom centre of the frame is the German front line and the white edifice above that marks the French front line which at this point is about 40 metres distant.

St Symphorien Cemetery was established by the Germans after the Battle of Mons in August 1914 it contains both their own dead as well of those of their British adversaries. Indeed the first British soldier to be killed in combat, Pvt. John Parr is buried here and by an odd quirk of fate the last two Commonwealth soldiers to be killed in the war are buried here. Hainaut in Belgium was originally a potash mine but is now a cemetery of real beauty and tranquillity.

View from Cavernes des Dragons southwards over La Vallee Foulon towards French positions

From August 2014 to November 2018, sixty of Michael’s powerful images will be publicly exhibited around the UK and then internationally; bringing the centenary of the Great War to tens of millions of people in their own communities. You can find more information on the exhibition at fieldsofbattle1418.org.