In the final hours of World War I, a terrible toll скачать в хорошем качестве

In the final hours of World War I, a terrible toll

(8 Nov 2018) Augustin Trebuchon is buried beneath a white lie. His tiny plot is almost on the front line where the guns finally fell silent at 11 a.m. on the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918, after a four-year war that had already killed millions. A simple white cross says: "Died for France on November 10, 1918." Not so. Like hundreds of others along the Western Front, Trebuchon was killed in combat on the morning of November 11 - after the pre-dawn agreement between the Allies and Germany but before the armistice took effect six hours later. His death at almost literally the eleventh hour only highlighted the folly of a war that had become ever more incomprehensible to many in nations drawn into the first global conflict. For the French, who lost up to 1.4 million troops, it was perhaps too poignant - or too shameful - to denote that Trebuchon had been killed on the very last morning, just as victory finally prevailed. There were many reasons why men kept falling until the call of the bugler at 11 a.m.: fear that the enemy would not abide by the armistice, a sheer hatred after four years of unprecedented slaughter, the ambition of commanders craving a last victory, bad communications, the inane joy of killing. The reasons trumped the lives of soldiers, many of whom were convinced they were on the brink of survival. Historian Joseph Persico estimated the total dead, wounded and missing on all sides on the final day was 10,900. US General John J. Pershing, who had been bent on continuing the fighting, even had to explain to Congress the high number of last-day losses. Before November 11, the war had killed 14 million people, including nine million soldiers, sailors and airmen from 28 countries. Germany came close to a quick, early victory before the war settled into hellish trench fighting. One battle, like the Somme in France, could have up to one million casualties. The use of poison gas came to epitomize the ruthlessness of warfare that the world had never seen. Death on the final morning added another twist to the cruelty. In northeastern France's Meuse-Argonne, a 23-year-old American, Henry Gunther, was killed by German machine-gun fire one minute before the armistice. Gunther still charged a German machine gun nest, when keeping his head down for a few dozen more seconds could have saved him. It remains a mystery why he did it. Other nations also were not spared such casualties. With two minutes to go, 25 year-old Canadian Private George Lawrence Price was shot by a German sniper close to Mons in southern Belgium, some 250 kilometers (150 miles) from where Gunther died. And Trebuchon, 40, also was shot minutes before the ceasefire. He was running to tell his comrades where and when they would have a meal after the armistice. The three are considered their nations' last men to fall in active combat. Find out more about AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/HowWeWork Twitter:   / ap_archive   Facebook:   / aparchives   ​​ Instagram:   / apnews   You can license this story through AP Archive: http://www.aparchive.com/metadata/you...