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[ ] Contents move to sidebar hide * (Top) * 1Main dangers * 2See also * 3References * 4Further reading * 5External links Toggle the table of contents [ ] Zone Rouge [ ] 13 languages * l`rby@ * Deutsch * Espanol * Francais * hangugeo * Italiano * `bryt * mlyaallN * Polski * Portugues * Russkii * Srpski / srpski * Turkce Edit links * Article * Talk [ ] English * Read * Edit * View history [ ] More * Read * Edit * View history From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia Collective name for environmentally devastated WWI battlefields in northeast France This article may be expanded with text translated from the corresponding article in French. (June 2012) Click [show] for important translation instructions. * View a machine-translated version of the French article. * Machine translation, like DeepL or Google Translate, is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia. [50px-T] * Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article. * You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is Content in this edit is translated from the existing French Wikipedia article at [[:fr:Zone rouge (sequelles de guerre)]]; see its history for attribution. * You should also add the template {{Translated|fr|Zone rouge (sequelles de guerre)}} to the talk page. * For more guidance, see Wikipedia:Translation. Coordinates: 50deg22'N 2deg48'E / 50.36degN 2.80degE / 50.36; 2.80 [300px-Red_Zone_Map-fr] Map showing conditions immediately following the war: totally destroyed areas in red, areas of major damage in yellow, moderately damaged areas in green, and undamaged areas in blue [220px-German_trench_Delville_W] A German trench at Delville Wood, near Longueval (Somme), that was destroyed in 1916 in the Red Zone [220px-Battelfield_Verdun] Verdun battlefield (2005) The zone rouge (English: Red Zone) is a chain of non-contiguous areas throughout northeastern France that the French government isolated after the First World War. The land, which originally covered more than 1,200 square kilometres (460 sq mi), was deemed too physically and environmentally damaged by conflict for human habitation. Rather than attempt to immediately clean up the former battlefields, the land was allowed to return to nature. Restrictions within the Zone Rouge still exist today, although the control areas have been greatly reduced. The zone rouge was defined just after the war as "Completely devastated. Damage to properties: 100%. Damage to Agriculture: 100%. Impossible to clean. Human life impossible".^[1] Under French law, activities such as housing, farming, or forestry were temporarily or permanently forbidden in the Zone Rouge, because of the vast amounts of human and animal remains, and millions of items of unexploded ordnance contaminating the land. Some towns and villages were never permitted to be rebuilt after the war. Main dangers[edit] The area is saturated with unexploded shells (including many gas shells), grenades, and rusty ammunition. Soils were heavily polluted by lead, mercury, chlorine, arsenic, various dangerous gases, acids, and human and animal remains.^[1] The area was also littered with ammunition depots and chemical plants. Each year, several tons of unexploded shells are recovered. According to the Securite Civile agency in charge, at the current rate, 300^[2] to 700 more years will be needed to clean the area completely. Some experiments conducted in 2005-06 discovered up to 300 shells per hectare (120 per acre) in the top 15 cm (6 inches) of soil in the worst areas.^[3] Some areas where 99% of all plants still die remain off limits (for example, two small pieces of land close to Ypres and the Woevre), as arsenic constitutes up to 175,907 mg/kg of soil samples where arsenical shells were destroyed in the 1920s.^[4] See also[edit] * flagFrance portal * iconWorld War I portal * French villages destroyed in the First World War * Involuntary park * Iron harvest * No man's land References[edit] 1. ^ ^a ^b "The Real "No-Go Zone" of France: A Forbidden No Man's Land Poisoned by War". 26 May 2015. 2. ^ "Red Zone". National Geographic. 1 May 2014. 3. ^ "Zone Rouge: A First World War Legacy Still With Us Today". HistoryASM. August 2015. 4. ^ Bausinger, Tobias; Bonnaire, Eric; Preuss, Johannes (1 September 2007). "Exposure assessment of a burning ground for chemical ammunition on the Great War battlefields of Verdun". Science of the Total Environment. 382 (2-3): 259-271. Bibcode: 2007ScTEn.382..259B. doi:10.1016/j.scitotenv.2007.04.029. ISSN 0048-9697. PMID 17555801. Further reading[edit] * 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. New York: GP Putnam's Sons, 1920: 6. * De Sousa David, La Reconstruction et sa Memoire dans les villages de la Somme 1918-1932, Editions La vague verte, 2002, 212 pages * Bonnard Jean-Yves, La reconstitution des terres de l'Oise apres la Grande Guerre: les bases d'une nouvelle geographie du foncier, in Annales Historiques Compiegnoises 113-114, pp. 25-36, 2009. * Parent G.-H., 2004. Trois etudes sur la Zone Rouge de Verdun, une zone totalement sinistree I.L'herpetofaune - II.La diversite floristique - III.Les sites d'interet botanique et zoologique a proteger prioritairement. Ferrantia, 288 pages * Bausinger, Tobias; Bonnaire, Lee Tiffee, Eric; & Preuss, Johannes,. Exposure assessment of a burning ground for chemical ammunition on the Great War battlefields of Verdun, Science of the Total Environment 382:2-3, pp. 259-271, 2007. External links[edit] * Map of the Western Front in 1918 (in English) * Deminage a Douaumont (in French and English) * National Geographic: France's Zone Rouge is a Lingering Reminder of World War I (in English) * v * t * e World War I * Outline * Military engagements * Home fronts * Technology * Opposition * Casualties * Aftermath * Economic history * Popular culture * Memorials * Puppet states * Balkans + Serbia * Western Front European * Eastern Front + Romania * Italian Front * Gallipoli * Sinai and Palestine * Caucasus Middle Eastern * Persia * Mesopotamia * South Arabia Theatres * South West * East African * Kamerun * Togoland * North * Tsingtao Asian and Pacific * German Samoa * German New Guinea * U-boat campaign Naval warfare + North Atlantic * Mediterranean * Leaders * Belgium * Brazil * China * France + French Empire * Greece * Italy * Japan * Montenegro Entente Powers * Portuguese Empire * Romania Principal * Russia participants + Russian Empire + Russian Republic * Serbia * 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