Hidden World of WWI

National Geographic Photographer Jeff Gusky‘s Hidden World of World War I Photo of the Day. Learn more here: Jeff Gusky

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In 1914 & 1915, this French WWI-era army unit recorded its military campaigns in stone. I found this at the entryway of larger French underground city.

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Bullets were stored here in this French WWI tunnel system

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This arrow pointing towards Paris is carved into the stone of a German WWI tunnel system. It’s shows us the lighthearted side of war.

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Primitive carving of a naked woman found in a German WWI offensive tunnel. The tunnelers must have had sex on their mind. In the same tunnel are highly graphic, anatomically correct carvings of female genitalia. My friends who brought me to this place call it the “sex tunnel”.

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The entrance to a German WWI tunnel which originates in a German underground city and courses underground towards the front line trenches. The tunnels often had electric lights and telephone lines. WWI was a modern war fought my modern people.

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Probably carved by American soldiers in 1918, this underground space has a number of mask-like faces like this carved in stone.

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Carving at the entryway of a German WWI underground city located near the former front line. The soldiers who occupied this place showed a bit of humor. Nearby is a carving that jokes about the soldier’s food

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An ornately carved French mail box underground. This is where French soldiers in this underground city sent and received their mail.

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Carving found near entrance to a German WWI underground city that seems to go on and on and on. These spaces pre-existed WWI by centuries. They were the quarries from which stone for castles, cathedrals and homes was mined. The subterranean geology of this part of France is generally quite stable leaving these places intact, frozen-in-time since the middle ages. When WWI came, many of them happened to be adjacent to the course of the Western Front.

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On the left side of this fireplace is a carving of Kaiser Wilhelm of Germany. On the right side is Prince Franz Joseph of Austria. It was carved by a French WWI soldier and used by officers. During the war, it was in a closed room with a roof but these have long since been destroyed. It is in a very obscure location on private land in a forest on a hillside that was quite difficult to reach and then to find. The original metal grating at the bottom of the fireplace on which burning wood and hot coals once sat remains where it was left a hundred years ago. To my knowledge, there is nothing like this anywhere else on the former Western Front

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What emotions was the WWI soldier artist trying to convey? This carving is found in an underground city occupied by American soldiers during 1918.

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Carving of a woman. What makes this different and provocative is the carving of female anatomy next to the profile of the woman. In their loneliness, I’m sure that the soldiers longed for female companionship.

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The French have been master wine makers for centuries. Carved by French WWI soldiers, one wonders if the soldier who carved this was fondly remembering the annual grape harvest during peaceful times before WWI.

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Just inside the entrance of the French underground city shown yesterday, one sees the cavernous ceiling in this space. These spaces were created centuries before WWI as stone quarries to provide building blocks for cathedrals, castles, fortresses and homes. They were ready made for conversion to large underground shelters during WWI that often functioned as cities with rail, telecommunications, power stations electrical lighting, hospitals, chapels, theaters, large living spaces, offices and more.

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Entrance to a French WWI underground city. The large boulder now blocking the entrance may have fallen as a result of heavy shelling during the war. Not far from here, at a different entrance to this complex which contained a small French military hospital, the entire roof collapsed as a result of shelling. The destructive power of the artillery during WWI brought new meaning to the words “mass destruction”.

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A bust carved by a French WWI soldier. Is this a self-portrait, a father, a brother, a friend? There are so many mysteries underground, left behind by soldiers a hundred years ago. What were they trying to communicate to the future? What legacy did they leave behind?

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Carved by a French WWI soldier, this bust conveys a bit of self-deprecating humor. The words “La Poise” under the carving apparently are describing this person as a fool for joining the military.