When the guns finally fell silent, civilians along the old Western Front returned to their shattered villages and ruined homes. They cleared the debris from their fields and, amid the wreckage, set about rebuilding their lives. Within two years, pilgrims began to arrive on the old battlefields to mourn lost loved ones and fallen comrades. Standing where men had died offered a fleeting, fragile connection to those who would never return. And nature resumed its work. Thick grass soon crept across