My upcoming WWII Historical novel The Widows of Champagne (https://amzn.to/3lUTjPk and https://bit.ly/3x1xl2e) is set, obviously, in the champagne region of northern France.

For centuries, countless bloody battles were waged in the area. Champagne’s secret weapon lay beneath the villages and vineyards. Dating all the way back to the Roman Empire, caves, also called crayères, were cut into the chalky limestone for transportation and storage.
After the Romans were thrown out, the hundreds of miles of these caves were used to store food. It wasn’t until 1769 that local vintner Nicolas Ruinart renovated the cavities and tunnels beneath his property to store his champagne. By 1915, nearly all the caves beneath Champagne were retrofitted with level floors. Staircases and elevators were added next.

Sadly, Champagne’s vineyards were heavily bombed during both battles of the Marne, but its cellars remained largely unscathed. Thousands of citizens took refuge in the crayères during the war, alongside the French military, who pinned up canvas curtains to make walls. They created makeshift desks with planks of wood over stacked Champagne bottles. Religious services were regularly conducted beneath ground, and even school was taught. Then the war ended, and the region had 21 years to recover before hostilities started up all over again in 1940.

And so begins the story of The Widows of Champagne...