I viewed with interest a 2009 Military Channel program entitled Last Day of WWI that brought unnecessary tragedy to many soldiers on both sides.
Of most interest to see is the 1100 piece display of an inhabitant who has walked the plowed fields of former battles for over 30 years to collect artifacts. These 90 + year old artifacts include shell fuses (some still live), boots, mess kit with shrapnel hole through it, several complete stripper clips with rounds, and an entire M17 with bolt handle in up position.
A video clip showed the doughboys coming down the gangplanks of the oceanliners carrying M17. Those rear sight ears are obvious.
The armistice was signed on the eleventh day of the eleventh month at 5 a.m. but would not be official until 6 hours later. Here lies the tragedy of the ceasefire.
Some generals with only 15 minutes to go before the official 11th hour ordered troops out of the trenches to do battle for personal glory, opportunity, and/or promotion.
Soldiers on both sides fought up to the last minute.
A French soldier who was a message runner was killed on the last day 10 minutes to 11:00 a.m. The army recorded his death as of Nov. 10 and not Nov. 11 because it didn't want the family (families) to know that it was sending men into battle up to the last minute.
The last KIA was U.S. Pvt. Henry Gunther who advanced on a German machine gun position. The Germans tried to wave him away knowing the armistice was so near. HE DIED AT 10:59 A.M.! It happened in the Argonne.
3,000 casualties resulted on the last day but this report was suppressed. There was a congressional investigation to which Pershing was nonrepenting. He wanted to push all the way to Berlin.
One German corporal cried because of the shame of the defeat of Germany. He vowed to erase that shame.
Now I know why one reference book I read stated the seeds for WWII were sown at the end of WWI.
Did anyone see mythbusters to see what it takes to pull apart two telephone books with overlapping respective pages? It took two tanks in a tug of war to separate the two books with 8,000 pounds of force registering on the force meter.
