By Todd Leopold, CNN Updated 6:39 AM ET, Wed July 22, 2015 (CNN) There are elements of Middle-earth near a French village — though how deep they go is anyone’s guess.

In 1916, a 24-year-old British soldier named J.R.R. Tolkien went off to fight in World War I. He was stationed near the village of Bouzincourt, took part in the nearby Battle of the Somme and writes about the area in his diaries. Read more here – and look at the slide show for etchings in the chaulk walls carved by Canadian soldiers in 1916.