Buzz
I have long been intrigued by World War One, a fascination that grew even stronger when my father shared that his father served in the Marines during 1917-1918. (While my other grandfather and my wife’s grandfathers fought in World War II, my dad’s father was part of the first.) My grandpa trained as a sniper but was never sent to France and was discharged after the armistice. Below are 11 remarkable facts about the individuals and events that marked the conclusion of the deadliest and most destructive war in history (until World War II, of course), which ended at 11 a.m. on 11/11/1918.
11. The Road to Armistice
After crossing the lines on Nov. 8, the German delegates were not immediately taken to the railway car where the armistice negotiations would take place. Instead, the French took them on a 10-hour 'scenic tour' that highlighted the devastating destruction to the French countryside caused by four years of war. They were then escorted to a rail car in the forest of Compiegne to begin the three-day talks. Upon learning that Kaiser Wilhelm II had abdicated on Nov. 10, the German delegates received an urgent, un-coded message from General-in-Chief Hindenburg to accept any terms offered and to do so quickly, as riots and unrest were growing at home. The image shows only a fraction of the devastation in northern France.
10. A Rare Visual Document
The Germans and the Allies finalized the armistice just after 5 a.m. Paris time. There appears to be only one photograph of the historic moment, unlike the numerous photos of France’s surrender in 1940 or Japan’s in 1945. The image above seems to have been captured through a window, with Matthias Erzberger, the German lead negotiator, positioned at the far right. Another photo shows the Allied representatives shortly after the signing, with Marshal Foch standing second from the right.
9. The Armistice Railway Carriage and the Historic Site
The rail carriage, which once served as the site of an armistice agreement, later became a national monument. In June 1940, nearly 22 years later, Hitler forced the French to surrender in that very carriage. Before the Allies liberated France in 1944, Hitler ordered the destruction of the monument and, the following year, commanded the carriage itself to be destroyed. This was to prevent another potential German armistice or surrender from being signed in the same place. Here's how the site appears today: http://pierreswesternfront.punt.nl/?r=1&id=435051
8. Six More Hours
The armistice was finalized shortly after 5 a.m. Paris time on November 11. Officially, the fighting was supposed to cease at 11 a.m. The German delegation requested an immediate ceasefire, but the Allies imposed a six-hour deadline to ensure all commanders received the orders. As news spread, some commanders called for their troops to stand down, questioning the worth of fighting over a piece of land that could soon be walked over. However, others continued to engage, particularly American commanders, who saw this as an opportunity for personal glory or promotion, or simply believed the Germans needed to be decisively defeated. In the final six hours of the war, thousands of men on both sides lost their lives or were wounded. For example, the Commonwealth War Graves Commission recorded 863 British and Commonwealth casualties on November 11. The image shows German troops under attack during the final weeks of the war.
7. Future American President
One American artillery captain continued to fire his battery at the Germans until just minutes before 11 a.m., believing that the armistice was rushed and that the Germans needed to be thoroughly defeated, not just defeated on paper. His name? Captain Harry S. Truman. Some historians draw a direct connection between Truman’s actions on November 11, 1918, and his later decision to use atomic bombs.
6. Beginning and Ending at Mons
In a strange twist of fate, the British Army began and ended the war at Mons. Some of the first British soldiers to lose their lives in the Great War fell at Mons in August 1914, during the British Expeditionary Force’s initial battle. Over four years later, the British returned to Mons, where some of the very last Commonwealth soldiers were killed on November 11, 1918. Scroll down this page of the St. Symphorien Military Cemetery at Mons, which houses the graves of the first and last British soldiers to die there.
5. No End for the Wounded
Numerous men who were injured on November 11 did not pass away until after the 11th hour. Many others endured ongoing pain and suffering from physical wounds that never fully healed or were beyond recovery. One of the most tragic cases involved a Commonwealth soldier named Thomas, who was severely wounded on November 6, just before the armistice talks began. He was still alive and conscious when the armistice went into effect. The injury to his face was catastrophic, literally tearing away the lower half of his face — nose, mouth, and jaw. Remarkably, he survived. After years of reconstructive surgery, Thomas achieved something resembling a normal appearance by August 1922.
4. Negotiator Assassinated
Matthias Erzberger, who served as Germany's chief negotiator during the Armistice, was initially a supporter of the war until 1917. At that point, the prolonged and devastating stalemate on the French front convinced him that Germany needed to seek peace. Prince Max Von Baden selected Erzberger to lead the negotiations, partly because he was a civilian and a known critic of the war. After the war ended, Erzberger joined the new government and supported the 1919 Treaty of Versailles, a move that many hardline Germans despised. For his involvement in what was later called the 'stab in the back' (see #2), Erzberger was removed from office in 1920 and was assassinated in 1921.
3. Prophetic Predictions
Both General Pershing, commander of the American Expeditionary Force, and Allied supreme commander Ferdinand Foch of France were dissatisfied with the terms of the armistice and the resulting Versailles peace treaty. Pershing believed that allowing the Germans to lay down their arms without a true defeat was a grave mistake. While they were defeated, they were not decisively crushed. Pershing foresaw that the Allies would soon find themselves at war with Germany again. Foch was even more prophetic. After reading the Versailles treaty in 1919, he famously exclaimed, 'This isn’t a peace. It’s a cease-fire for 20 years!' Indeed, twenty years and two months later, England and France declared war on Germany.
2. The 'stab in the back'
Many historical accounts discussing the end of World War I and the beginning of World War II touch on the 'stab in the back' myth — the belief that the German army wasn't actually defeated but betrayed by its civilian leadership. This wasn’t just Nazi propaganda; many Germans returning from places like France, Belgium, Romania, Italy, and Russia truly believed it. The actual events tell a different story: military leaders informed the Kaiser that the army and navy would no longer support him, naval mutineers refused to fight, the army high command had requested an armistice before Allied forces reached German soil, and the home front was in a state of starvation and riot. Yet, the 'stab in the back' myth became entrenched as a near-sacred belief. While the Nazis didn’t invent the myth, they certainly capitalized on it to devastating effect.
1. The Last Men Killed
Historians typically (though not universally) consider a German soldier named Lt. Tomas as the last German casualty. He was killed after the 11th hour by an American unit that hadn’t received word about the ceasefire. The identity of the last German soldier killed before the 11th hour remains unknown. According to widely accepted records, the final British, Canadian, French, and American soldiers killed were as follows: British soldier George Edwin Ellison was killed around 9:30 a.m. while on patrol near Mons. French soldier Augustin Trébuchon died at 10:45 a.m. while delivering the news that hot soup would be served after the ceasefire. Canadian soldier George Lawrence Price was killed just two minutes before the 11th hour, just north of Mons.
The final soldier thought to have lost his life in the Great War was American Henry Gunther, who fell just 60 seconds before the 11th hour. Despite German soldiers calling out and gesturing for Gunther and his fellow soldiers to turn back, he continued advancing. The photo above captures Gunther.
