WWII bomb kills excavator operator in Germany

Originally Posted by August

I understand that there are still areas of the WW1 front that contain persistent chemical weapons agents.

Not just the front. I was working on a munitions depot in the 80s when they unearthed dumped WWI shells, including phosgene.
On another job there was a little of that "pretty ray of happiness" where drums of Radium had been buried behind a factory because health issues over radiation poisoning meant they couldn't use it anymore.