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Secrets of the Somme: Hidden ANZAC messages unearthed

In an international exclusive, Victoria Cross recipient Corporal Mark Donaldson uncovers a ‘secret of the Somme’; an historical treasure trove and legacy left underground by our original diggers.

7News travelled a long way to find century-old Australian secrets beneath the snowy Somme with a delegation from our Paris embassy, including military attaches.

From the third century, French locals sheltered in a maze of 300 rooms over three kilometres, including an underground chapel, from invaders.

From nearby camps and towns, our first diggers came here between battles.

Their footsteps have long faded but their handiwork echoes down the decades.

Typical Australians, they left their mark, carved or penciled, on wall upon wall, thousands of names.

All seem to be Australian, a couple of French and not that many British.

Two brothers, Ellis and Elli,14th platoon, July 1916.

Names, dates, places, touching a national nerve.

It appears as though the marks are in groups of states, and their battalions.

It’s all an unexpected treasure trove.

From nearby camps and towns, our first diggers came here between battles.
From nearby camps and towns, our first diggers came here between battles.

Jenny Stephenson from the Department of Veterans Affairs was very surprised to see the caves.

"It's an interesting story in itself but then to come and discover that you've got these hidden little chambers with the names of so many Australians here, “ she said.

“Hidden away as a little secret in the Somme… I was absolutely moved by seeing so many Australians and thinking about their histories and the links back to Australia and Australian families.”

One link has already excited French archaeologists.

Leslie Russell Blake was a wounded Lieutenant when he wrote on a wall in 1917.

A captain when his photos were taken under the famous Hill 60.

Leslie Russell Blake was a wounded Lieutenant when he wrote on a wall in 1917. Photo: 7News
Leslie Russell Blake was a wounded Lieutenant when he wrote on a wall in 1917. Photo: 7News

Pre-war, Blake was a member of Douglas Mawson's historic Antarctica expedition as team geologist and cartographer.

He is pictured in a historic 1911 film of that epic trip alongside Mawson.

Blake's mapping skills made him a hero of Pozieres, braving extreme fire to chart frontline details and win the Military Cross. Sadly, he was killed in the last weeks of the war.

The find has excited the French also.

“This is actually the first troops involved in the Western Front,” French Historian Laurent Mirouze said.

“We know that a lot of them have been killed or injured, disappeared forever in Fromelles in all that terrible battles of 1916. So it's extremely moving to have these names of all these Diggers.

“What happened to them? What is their history? Maybe the historians now are going to find their fate,” he said.

Laurent himself has a long history of exploring Australian-French bonds.

Despatch rider Allan Allsop came to light in a major discovery of WW1 glass plate negatives found by Laurent and Channel Seven's Sunday Night program nearby.

7News tracked despatch rider Allan Allsop diary and his entry with the exact date he and his motor cycle mates visited the caves. Photo: 7News
7News tracked despatch rider Allan Allsop diary and his entry with the exact date he and his motor cycle mates visited the caves. Photo: 7News

Even though the Diggers' names have survived for nearly a century, there are serious concerns about their future. The chalk is soft and gradually wearing away. Specialist treatment is needed to seal and preserve the signatures.

“To find such testimony of French, of Australian Diggers fighting in France is extremely important for the French,” Laurent said.

“I'm sure that they are going to do the best to protect and save these graffitis for the public, for the general interest.”

Authorities now expect a surge of Australian visitors connecting with their digger ancestors and legacy.

7News is proud to announce that Victoria Cross recipient Mark Donaldson will be part of our extensive coverage of the ANZAC Centenary with a special series of reports from the Western Front battlefields of World War One.

About the Underground City of Naours

Located at the eastern-side of the town is the famous site known as the Underground City of Naours, with its entrance in the side of a tree-covered plateau of land near the D60 Rue de ‘l’Abba Danucourt highway, a little way along the Rue de Carreres road.

There is an admission fee to pay but guided tours are available. The underground caves, grottos, passageways and chapels that make up this ancient settlement are 33 metres below ground and the pathways linking these run for between 1-2 miles in a westerly direction, under the streets of Naours itself.

It is thought the underground settlement, also called a souterraine, dates from the 3rd century AD.

The town of Naours is in the far north-east corner of France not far from the border with Belgium. Amiens is 10 miles to the south.

A major discovery of WW1 glass plate negatives was found by Laurent and Channel Seven's Sunday Night program nearby.
A major discovery of WW1 glass plate negatives was found by Laurent and Channel Seven's Sunday Night program nearby.

The Romans were the first people to dig into the plateau back in the 3rd century and, in subsequent centuries, local people continued digging out the caves and grottos.

Early Christians may have hidden below the ground in order to escape their persecutors – they would certainly have had plenty of places to hide and set up little chapels.

Later, in the 9th century AD, viking invaders lived in these underground caves. In more recent times, local peasants made their homes in the vast network of caves turning the place into a large underground settlement, complete with extensive passageways and more chapels, shelters and wells.

It is said that up to 3000 peasants lived in the underground settlement, and even farm animals were kept underground.

Timeline

Third Century - First excavations

1618-48 - Longest continuous occupation of the caves during the 30 Years War.

1750-1830 - Caves by salt smugglers.

1887 - Caves rediscovered by Abbot Danicourt, the village priest.

World War I - Caves occupied by the allied forces, mainly Australians.

1939 - The British stocked fuel reserves in the caves.

1941 - The Germans turned the caves into ammunition dumps and lived there.

1942 - The German headquarters was set up here.

1943 - Became a key base and part of the Atlantikwall.

1944 - The Germans left.

1949 - Opened to the public by Mr Raymond Marti.