In 1916, the First World War entered a stalemate stage. The Battle of Verdun had just ended, and the Battle of the Somme was brewing. The trenches on the Western Front battlefield spread like a spider web. The German army occupied strategic highlands and controlled the ancient villages in the Champagne region. The Allied forces launched a tug-of-war with the German army in the surrounding hilly areas. The ruins of medieval castles and hidden tombs disturbed by the war were scattered in the gaps between the battlefields.
