Burial Trench Discovered at Waterloo Battlefield

Archaeology Magazine ^ | September 11, 2024 | editors / unattributed

[oldplayer]

Exact numbers are in question. But, it’s generally agreed that at least 10,000 soldiers were killed outright on the battlefield. At least that many horses were strewn there, too. (Many, many wounded left the field that day only to die in the weeks and months following.)

Burying that many bodies and dead horses, in even shallow graves, would have been a herculean and miserable task. It’s interesting and comforting to know that some burials, as this one, were done with as much dignity as possible.

SunkenCiv, thank you for your many excellent posts.

[linMcHlp]

I am guessing, a fellow devoted to logistics and supplying his fellow troops . . . who were grateful.

[jmacusa]

I read Harrison's Salsibury’s “The 900 Days. The Siege of Leningrad'' years ago. Grim stuff. Over a million Leningraders are buried in Piskaryovskoye Memorial Cemetery.

[Rockingham]

I read it as well. The savagery on the Eastern Front in WW II is astonishing. I have read that large sections of the battlefields there are still thinly populated today. After the end of the Cold War, there was a spate of tank and aircraft recoveries by professional restorers.