Discovery Channel - Finding the Fallen (2005) Part 5 Passchendaele 1917 Drowning in Mud

At the end of the Great War, nearly two million soldiers were missing, presumed dead. Almost 90 years later, the bloody battlegrounds of France and Belgium are surrendering their secrets. Beneath the farmlands lie the unknown and the unclaimed dead… This series follows the dedicated team of archaeologists, forensic experts and historians known as No Man's Land as they seek to find, recover and identify the fallen of the Great War. Each episode in this complete five-part Discovery Channel series focuses in riveting detail on one archaeological dig at the site of a single significant battle of the Great War. From the Belgian town of Ypres - where the team discover evidence of the very first trenches of the conflict - to the infamous German stronghold at Serre in Northern France, join the fascinating search using the latest battlefield archaeology and forensic techniques to recover and piece together the identity of those lost in the maelstrom of a long ago war. Other battlefields visited are Loos, the site of a hellish underground battle in 1915, Beaumont Hamel on the Somme and Passchendaele, where in 1917 the battlefield was transformed into a vast sea of liquid mud that swallowed up so many lives… A team of archaeologists, historians and forensic experts is working to identify unknown soldiers and finally lay them to rest. Finding The Fallen is a documentary series that follows the work of this team as they move through time and across the battlefields of France and Belgium, releasing the fallen and their stories of courage and sacrifice from the mud of the First World War battles in which they fought and died.

Part 5: Passchendaele 1917 - Drowning in Mud

In Northern Belgium lies the site of the infamous battle of Passchendaele, fought in 1917, a place where man and beast drowned in a churning sea of mud. As the team unearth the remains of a complex trench system, they discover one of the first modern wristwatches– a technological innovation that was born of war. Forensic investigation reveals letters are etched onto its strap – a discovery that launches a journey to identify its owner, a soldier, one of the Fallen. The search leads to John Humphrey England, a Second Lieutenant under the Welsh regiment, who died in the mud of Passchendaele July 31 1917. But this quest has a twist in the tail.