{"id":47052,"date":"2018-11-08T20:19:09","date_gmt":"2018-11-08T20:19:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/uncategorized\/2018\/11\/08\/in-the-final-hours-of-world-war-i-a-terrible-toll\/"},"modified":"2026-08-08T08:58:54","modified_gmt":"2026-08-08T08:58:54","slug":"in-the-final-hours-of-world-war-i-a-terrible-toll","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/one.sightlinemg.com\/marinecorpstimes\/military-honor\/2018\/11\/08\/in-the-final-hours-of-world-war-i-a-terrible-toll\/","title":{"rendered":"In the last hours of World War I, a terrible toll"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

VRIGNE-MEUSE, France \u2014 Augustin Trebuchon is buried beneath a white lie.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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 <\/a>that had already killed millions.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

A simple white cross says: “Died for France on Nov. 10, 1918.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Not so.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Like hundreds of others along the Western Front, Trebuchon was killed in combat on the morning of Nov. 11 \u2014 after the pre-dawn agreement between the Allies and Germany but before the armistice took effect six hours later.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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<\/a>.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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In this photo taken on Tuesday, Oct. 30, 2018, the grave marker of French WWI soldier Augustin Trebuchon in Vrigne-Meuse, France. 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. Hundreds of troops died on the final morning of World War I _ even after an armistice was reached and before it came into force. Death at literally the 11th hour highlighted the futility of a conflict that had become even more incomprehensible in four years of battle. (AP Photo\/Virginia Mayo)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Before Nov. 11, the war had killed 14 million people, including 9 million soldiers, sailors and airmen from 28 countries. Germany came close to a quick, early victory before the war settled into hellish trench fighting<\/a>. One battle, like the Somme in France, could have up to 1 million casualties. The use of poison gas came to epitomize the ruthlessness of warfare that the world had never seen.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

For the French, who lost up to 1.4 million troops, it was perhaps too poignant \u2014 or too shameful \u2014 to denote that Trebuchon had been killed on the very last morning, just as victory finally prevailed.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“Indeed, on the tombs it said ‘Nov. 10, 1918,’ to somewhat ease the mourning of families,” said French military historian Nicolas Czubak.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

As the hours ticked down, villages were taken, attacks were thwarted with heavy losses and rivers were crossed under enemy fire. Questions remain whether the gains were worth all the human losses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Historian Joseph Persico estimated the total dead, wounded and missing on all sides on the final day was 10,900.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

U.S. Gen. John J. Pershing, who had been bent on continuing the fighting, even had to explain to Congress the high number of last-day losses.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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FILE – In this undated file photo American World War I soldiers wave their helmets after the Nov. 11, 1918 Armistice was signed in France. Hundreds of troops died on the final morning of World War I _ even after an armistice was reached and before it came into force. Death at literally the 11th hour highlighted the futility of a conflict that had become even more incomprehensible in four years of battle. (AP Photo, File)<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

Other nations also endured such casualties.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

With two minutes to go, 25-year-old Canadian Pvt. George Lawrence Price was slain by a German sniper.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

About 150 miles away in France, a 23-year-old American, Henry Gunther, was killed by German machine-gun fire one minute before the armistice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Trebuchon, 40, also was shot minutes before the cease-fire. He was running to tell his comrades where and when they would have a meal after the armistice.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

All three are considered their nations’ last men to fall in active combat.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

HE DIED AT 10:59<\/b><\/p>\n\n\n\n

Anti-German sentiment ran high after the United States declared war in April 1917, and Gunther and his family in Baltimore were subjected to the kind of prejudice and suspicion that many of German descent faced at the time.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“It was not a good time to be German in the United States,” said historian Alec Bennett.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Gunther had little choice when he got drafted. He was given the rank of sergeant, but he later was demoted when he wrote a letter home critical of the conditions in the war.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Soon after, he was thrown into the biggest U.S. battle of the war, the Meuse-Argonne offensive in northeastern France.<\/a><\/p>\n\n\n\n

There were reports he was still brooding over his demotion right on Nov. 11. When he emerged from a thick fog in the valley around Chaumont-devant-Damvillers, he and his comrades faced a German machine gun nest on the hillside.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Indications are that the Germans fired one salvo over his head as a warning, knowing the war was almost over. But he still charged onward.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

“His time of death was 10:59 a.m., which is just so haunting,” Bennett said. Gunther was recognized by Pershing as the last American to die on the battlefield.<\/p>\n\n\n\t