Drone Pictures Reveal Landscapes Still Scarred By First World War

Shell craters and trenches mark the countryside (Image: SWNS)

Aerial photographs reveal First World War mass graves, trenches and bomb craters that have been covered over by grass.

The images from 125ft up show the scale of the destruction - with ranks of white grave marking the Belgian countryside.

Lochnagar Crater marks the site of an explosion from a British mine beneath the German lines signalling the start of the Battle of the Somme.

Photographer Tom Maddick, who took the photos on a tour of First World War cemeteries, said: “It was humbling.

“Especially seeing some of the trenches up close, and being among the graves really brings home the scale of it.”

The ring of memory south-east of Calais bears the names of 576,606 soldiers of 40 nationalities who died in the front's battles.

Beaumont-Hamel Newfoundland Memorial has preserved the trenches in memory of the Newfoundland Regiment which was almost completely wiped out on the first day of the Somme.