Industrial-scale destruction of old chemical ammunition near Verdun: a forgotten chapter of the Great War

Environmental contamination with persistent cyclic mustard gas impurities and transformation products

“…The research of Bausinger (Bausinger et al, 2007) and Hubé (Hubé, 2016, Hubé, 2017 further documents that 'the war does not end the day of the last shot' (Lohs, 1991). Between 2.5 and 3 million tons of old ammunitions of the Great War were disposed and destroyed during the interwar period causing local, but severe, topsoil contaminations.…”

“…Hubé described industrial-scale old chemical ammunition operations during the interwar period near Verdun. He related these activities with the occurrence of severe contamination with arsenical compounds, metals (Zn, Pb, Sn), chlorinated and brominated dioxins and furans, nitroaromatics compounds, together with residues from chemical warfare agents (Hubé, 2017). After WW1 remediation near Verdun was commenced, as shown in Figure 2.…”

Microbial community response to environmental changes in a technosol historically contaminated by the burning of chemical ammunitions

“…Between 1926 and 1928, more than 200,000 Blue Cross shells containing the Clark I and Clark II agents were destroyed on this site by thermal treatment (Hubé, 2017). The residues from this combustion formed a black layer containing slag, coal, ash and ammunition residues (Bausinger et al, 2007;Thouin et al, 2016).…”

Influence of agricultural amendments on arsenic biogeochemistry and phytotoxicity in a soil polluted by the destruction of arsenic-containing shells

“…High concentrations of the toxic element arsenic (As) in soils generally originate from mining and industrial activities, long-term applications of As-containing pesticides or the geochemical background. Among industrial activities, storage or destruction of As-bearing molecules used in chemical weapons during the wars has locally resulted in high As concentrations in soils (Bausinger et al, 2007;Thouin et al, 2016;Hube 2017).…”

“…This study aimed to measure the impact of fertilizing practices on As mobility, speciation and transfer to crops in soils from a former chemical-ammunition-destruction facility dating from the interwar period and subsequently converted into agricultural land near Verdun, France (Hube, 2017). It is one of the most important historical areas of chemical ammunition destruction of WW I, containing arsenical chemical warfare agents, located in a sensitive zone for agriculture and groundwater.…”