English: The French town of Arras, pictured here, was almost entirely destroyed by shellfire during World War I. Close to the River Somme, it was caught up in some of the heaviest fighting on the Western Front. The 12,000 Allied troops who were stationed there lived deep underground in a network of caves and tunnels. Even today, there still exist about 20 miles of stairways, passages, caverns and sewers underneath the town.

When the war finally ended on November 11th 1918, the entire town of Arras lay in ruins. The war artist, John Singer Sargent (1856-1925), painted a number of scenes showing the otherworldly devastation at Arras, one of which is called 'A Street in Arras.'