The casualties suffered by the countries that participated in the so-called First World War they definitely dwarfed the deaths recorded in previous wars. It is estimated that close to 8,500,000 soldiers died as a result of wounds and/or illnesses, and the greatest number of casualties -and injuries- were caused by artillery, followed by small arms and the use of poison gas.
This war became an increasingly mechanized war after 1914, producing a good number of casualties even in those moments when nothing important was happening or happening (for example, no particular battle or fight was taking place). ).
As many historians note, even on a seemingly calm day on the Western Front, many hundreds of soldiers – Allied and German – lost their lives. And the greatest loss of life recorded in a single day took place on July 1, 1916, during the well-known Battle of the Somme, when the British Army suffered 57,470 casualties.
But, although the same did not happen with the Second World War, there is evidence of who was the last soldier who died in combat: Henry Gunther, who was recorded as the last official death of the First World War. And he was one of the 2,738 soldiers who died on the Western Front on what is considered to be the last day of the war.
Why was Henry Gunther the last soldier killed in action in World War I?
As the chronicles tell, shortly after 5 in the morning on November 11, 1918, British, French and German officials met inside a railway car, located in a dark forest north of Paris. At that time, they signed an armistice with one goal: end World War I.
While the Germans called for an immediate halt to hostilities, Ferdinand Foch, the Allied commander, dictated that the artillery would finally stop at 11 a.m., in part to allow news of the ceasefire to be transmitted to the various German lines. front.
And the choice of this time also had something symbolic, since no one escapes the symbolism that the weapons would stop at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month. But this symbolism resulted in a terrible cost: the lives of nearly 3,000 soldiers (2,738 people to be exact), including the American soldier Gunther, who until the last minute of the war valiantly tried to restore his reputation.
On the outskirts of Ville-devant-Chaumont was Private Henry Gunther, 23 years old. And as many of his teammates say, after Gunther lost control he became sullen and withdrawn. Perhaps for this reason, in order to recover his reputation, and demonstrate his patriotism at a time when German-Americans were viewed with suspicion (yes, he was the grandson of German immigrants), he volunteered to carry perform some dangerous tasks.
It was like this when he was injured by shrapnel in one hand, at a time when he could have been sent back home, but insisted on staying.
Thus, at 10:44 a.m. on November 11, a soldier arrived at the 313 regiment with orders to stop fighting in 16 minutes. Just sixteen minutes. Possibly, this was the time that Gunther might have thought he had to regain his honor and prove his loyalty to the United States.
As two squads of German machine gunners counted down the remaining minutes of the war, they saw a dark figure materialize out of the mist. Shots began to ring out, but Gunther decided to drop to the ground and continue crawling through the mud.
The German soldiers continued to guard Gunther, who was suddenly on his feet and charging towards the machine gun nest with his bayonet. Gunther’s comrades yelled at him to stop, as did the bewildered Germans (in broken English).
But Gunther, if he heard the pleas, ignored them because he kept running. Suddenly, five shots hit the soldier in the left temple, dying instantly. His body collapsed in the mud at 10:59 a.m.
It was General John Pershing, head of the US Expeditionary Forces, who officially registered Gunther as the last US soldier to die in World War I.
The war continued hours after the signing of the armistice
Although the newly signed armistice ordered Germany to evacuate France within two weeks, some US commanders refused to call off their attacks to liberate French territory. In this way, the high command was told to continue the fight until 11 in the morning.
From the American point of view, as many historians agree, there was actually a rather mixed reaction. That is, some stopped the attacks and others continued. And many Germans were surprised that the Americans even after the signing of the armistice continued to fight so vigorously.
However, the death toll continued to rise days later, until news of the armistice finally reached the farthest front lines.