In the early hours of July 18, 1918, the Franco-American counter-offensive against German positions began at Aisne-Marne in northern France. The first division of the American Expeditionary Force (AEF) drove the German forces back, but not without significant losses.
By the end of the assault, more than 1,000 US soldiers were unaccounted for – the fate of their mortal remains unknown. But 85 years later French archaeologists conducting salvage work ahead of a construction job on what would have been the centre of the battlefield encountered the remains of two American soldiers.
