More than a billion shells were fired during WW1, and an estimated 30% of them did not explode. Many are yet to be uncovered in north-east France, the scene of some of the biggest WW1 battles.

According to the French newspaper Nice-Matin, at around 9:00 p.m. on Dec. 17, a Saturday, an unidentified 88-year-old man checked in at Sainte Musse Hospital's emergency room in Toulon.

The mayor of a town close to one of the farms told Le Figaro (in French) that the decision to destroy the produce was made after a tonne of old artillery was discovered earlier this year. He told ...