July 28, 2025

The Whole Thing’s a Latrine: Henry Gunther

What drives a soldier to charge toward enemy lines one minute before a ceasefire? Henry Gunther's tragic story serves as a haunting reminder of war's senseless waste.

Born to German-American parents and growing up in a predominantly German neighborhood in Baltimore, Gunther was drafted into WWI in mid-1918 after initially avoiding enlistment due to his heritage. As a supply sergeant in France, his fate took a devastating turn after writing a letter home describing the brutal conditions and discouraging his friend from enlisting. Military censors intercepted it, considering it a violation of the Espionage Act. Though not court-martialed, Gunther was demoted to private, casting a shadow of suspicion over him due to his German background.

The humiliation transformed him. Fellow soldiers noticed how he volunteered for dangerous missions and became obsessed with proving his loyalty. Even after being shot in the wrist, he bound the wound and reported for duty without complaint. His opportunity for redemption came on November 11, 1918 – the day the Armistice was signed.

Though the peace agreement had been formalized at 5 AM, Allied commanders insisted fighting continue until 11 AM. At 10:44, Gunther's unit received orders to hold position. When they encountered a German machine gun nest, the enemy soldiers had already stopped firing, waiting for the official ceasefire. Despite warnings from both sides, Gunther suddenly charged forward alone. At 10:59 AM, one minute before peace, he was cut down by machine gun fire.

The military posthumously restored his rank and awarded him the Distinguished Service Cross. His gravestone in Baltimore reads: "highly decorated for exceptional bravery and heroic action that resulted in his death one minute before the armistice."

Gunther wasn't alone in his unnecessary death – nearly 2,738 Allied soldiers died in the hours after peace was signed but before it took effect. His story forces us to confront war's absurdity and the tragic cost of military pride. Join us as we explore this heartbreaking chapter of history that forever changed how we memorialize November 11th.

The Last Official Death of WWI Was a Man Who Sought Redemption by Christopher Klein

herocards.us history.com

Armistice left some New York Guard Soldiers with mixed feelings

By Eric Durr New York National Guard

history.com nationalguard.mil

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00:36 - Introduction to History Buffoons

02:04 - Indiana Beer Tasting

05:23 - World War I Background

13:12 - Henry Gunther's Story Begins

21:19 - The Fateful Letter and Demotion

26:03 - The Armistice Agreement

31:02 - Gunther's Final Minute

41:06 - Idioms: "Get Out of Dodge"

WEBVTT

00:00:00.321 --> 00:00:08.835
I was wondering after all this time if you'd like to meet to go over everything.

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They say that I'm supposed to be a healer.

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I don't know those words.

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Let's move on, shall we?

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So?

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hey, there.

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Oh, hey there.

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How's it going, Kate?

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I'm good.

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How are you?

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I'm doing well.

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Welcome to History Buffoons.

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Yes yeah, we are two buffoons that don't know anything about history.

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We sure do try.

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You know we do our best and we just hope that some people also learn something along the way.

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Yeah, I've definitely learned something.

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You know or two.

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I've learned how much you don't remember.

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Yeah.

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That's why we record things.

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We're not doing this for anybody else but you.

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This is so you can go back, it's like wait, I did an episode on this.

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Let me go back and listen to it.

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Yeah, it's like oh, I forgot about that.

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Yeah, for sure.

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Anywho.

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So this is we're what?

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Episode 52.

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Wow, we're over 50.

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I like how we're making more of a deal of 52 than we did of 50.

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Because we didn't remember.

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Yeah, we forgot.

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Anyways, that was the.

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We passed the 50 mark.

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That was the third episode of the Dyatlov Pass incident, so hopefully people enjoyed that.

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Yeah, I don't know.

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I enjoyed it.

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I liked researching that.

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Yeah, it was definitely interesting to learn about, because I I didn't know anything about it before you and audra brought it up.

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So yeah, but anyways, thanks again to audra yeah, she was awesome yeah, for being our first guest.

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A few episodes back, anywho so we would stated a while back.

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Yeah that we, uh, we went to Ohio and on our way back we grabbed a couple of beers from the States we went through so we got.

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The first one was from Ohio that we tried first.

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This one's from Indiana.

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Sure is Fort Wayne, fort Wayne, fort Wayne.

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So at one point Nathan actually interviewed for a job in Fort Wayne.

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I think you had told me that, yeah, yeah, yeah, at one point, nathan, actually interviewed for a job in Fort Wayne.

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I think you had told me that, yeah, yeah, we weren't totally upset about it because we were still kind of within driving distance of his grandfather.

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Yeah, I suppose.

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But yeah, Anyway, this is from Harvester, oh is it?

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Harvester Lager is the full name.

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I think that's the beer.

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Harvester Lager is the full name.

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I think that's the beer.

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So it's a playoff of the International Harvester, like big farm equipment logo.

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Oh okay, it's called Chapman's Brewing Company.

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Yeah, and that's.

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Harvest Lager is the name of the beer.

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Oh gosh, it's been around for a really long time, since 2012.

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Oh my God, they're so old.

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Harvester Lager.

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So so play off of what international harvester.

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It's a?

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Um company that makes farming equipment.

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Oh, and I think I think I've heard of it they're they're based out of, actually, racine.

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I used to pass their plant all the time when I went to work um.

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But so you see how it's a h and an l yeah just cut off the the lip of the l, if you will, and it's ih international harvester, so that's just to play off their logo.

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okay, but yeah, I like the lip of the L, if you will, and it's IH International Harvester, so that's just a play off their logo.

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I like the yellow of the can.

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Yeah, for sure.

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But this is a lager, a 4.25 ABV, and it says it channels the spirit of a Midwest icon.

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Yeah, which is international.

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That's what you were talking about.

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Okay, perfect.

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What do you have?

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I have a collaboration between Sun King Brewery, which I don't know anything about, but they're based in Indiana and Florida, and Three Floyds Brewing, which I've had many other beers.

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I've had one on the podcast, actually, if I'm not mistaken, it's got like a comic strip on here.

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Oh.

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Yeah.

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Can't see it in the camera though.

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Oh, I'm sorry, there we go.

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Yeah, yeah, nice, so Cool.

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And what kind of beer is it?

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It's an.

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India, pale Ale, fourth Rider of Light.

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It's very yeah cool.

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All right, indiana beers, here we go.

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I got us our koozies to help us keep our beers cold.

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I've got a Milwaukee Zoo koozie.

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Yeah, and I got a bat cave from Lost Canyon Cave at Top of the Rock in Missouri.

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Cheers to 52.

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Cheers to 52.

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It's not too shabby.

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Mine is very wheat-like Wheat forward over a lager.

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Yeah, interesting, do you like it?

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Mm-hmm, mine's forward over a lager.

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Yeah, interesting, do you like it?

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Mm-hmm.

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Mine's good.

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Yeah, it's very good.

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I forgot to see what my ABV is.

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One pint.

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Mine's a 60-ounce can too, which is great.

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It's already getting sweaty because it's warm as fuck in here.

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I don't know where my ABV is on this bad boy, but that's all right.

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Either way, I look forward to consuming this whole fucking thing.

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Did you like the taste, initial taste?

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I did, yes, wonderful.

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I'm going to probably like this initial second taste too Perfect.

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Yeah, okay.

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Well, I have a story from World War I.

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Oh different war, yes, Surprise.

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Yes, surprise, surprise.

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So World War I was 1914 to 1918.

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Yeah, and it was a global conflict that was kind of triggered by the assassination of Archduke Franz Ferdinand.

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Yeah, that's a good band too Of.

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Austria-Hungary.

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It's a band?

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Yeah, of course it is.

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Yeah, that's a good band too, of.

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Austria-Hungary.

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It's a band.

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Yeah, of course it is.

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Yeah, they're good, I like them.

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Yeah.

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Yeah, they got some good tunes.

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So it was a war pitted against the Allied powers, which is France, britain, russia, italy and later the US, and the Central powers, which was Germany, austria-hungary and the Ottoman Empire Okay.

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So they all thought it was going to kind of end pretty quickly, but it ended up being four years long.

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That's quite a long time, and there were some collapse of empires and kind of a whole new world map kind of formed after this, and I'll have a picture at the end of our episode of those before and after maps.

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Okay, cool.

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Yeah, so one of this and I'll tell you a little bit about the death toll, but it was actually like one of the biggest death toll battles.

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Oh, really Like a specific battle, or are you talking about the whole war?

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Well, I'm talking about a specific time which I will get to Gotcha.

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I'm talking about a specific time which I will get to, but the whole war itself, yes, millions of people died.

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Sure.

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One of those soldiers who did die during the war.

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His name was Henry Gunther.

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Gunther okay, he was born June 5th 1895, and at 23, he was living in baltimore.

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He was of german american heritage.

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His parents were children of german immigrants sure okay, so he's very freshly american german.

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Yeah, um, and he was living in a part of baltimore that was heavily influenced by german immigrants as well.

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Okay, he worked as a clerk and a bookkeeper for the National Bank of Baltimore, so just kind of a regular chap, right?

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Sure, he actually did try to avoid being enlisted because of his background.

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Oh, like a conflict of interest kind of thing, yeah, yeah, since the US was of against germany and that whole thing.

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But he ended up being drafted okay, but not until june or july of 1918.

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Oh, so like right towards the end yeah, so he like managed to sticker, like not enlist, for a really long time, not be a part of the war for a really long time.

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Yeah, okay, because when did it end?

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In 1918?

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.

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November.

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November okay, that's right.

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So he went into the US Army's 79th Liberty Division.

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The 79th was made up of working-class East Coast guys, immigrants, laborers, first-generation Americans, many who've never traveled abroad before.

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Oh, I'm sure, yeah.

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So Gunther, with this division, went over to France.

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Generation Americans, many who've never traveled abroad before oh, I'm sure, yeah.

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So Gunther, with his division, went over to France in July of 1918.

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And he was a supply sergeant in Company A of the 313th Infantry.

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Okay, so, a supply sergeant, he was responsible for managing and distributing gear, weapons, uniforms to all the soldiers and everything exactly kind of basically everything that they would need to function in the field because they're regular old sears and roebuck over there exactly this particular regiment was um heavily baltimore, um Baltimore people.

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So they called it Baltimore's own.

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Oh, okay.

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So did he know any of the other people that he was in the regiment with or no?

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I'm not sure, but he does bring up a friend here pretty quickly.

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So Gunther's unit participated in the and I'm so sorry there's a couple of French words in here and I'm going to butcher them, and my apologies.

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It wouldn't be a History of Buffoons episode if you didn't butcher at least one to three words.

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I know, hopefully only that many.

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Let's not get carried away.

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Gunther participated in the Moose-Agoon Offensive.

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Okay.

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It is a Mouse River and the Agoun Forest, so they just kind of combine the two areas.

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It occurred between September 26th through November 11th 1918.

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It's in the northeastern part of France, so literally like at the end of the war.

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Yes, so it was primarily the USs and french forces versus germany forces, yeah, and the point was to kind of push through the german defenses and cut their main rail line um, and force germany to to request peace, essentially okay.

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So the main rail line through sedan, france or sorry, american, um, I think you're close enough.

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I mean again, we're through Sedan, france, or sorry.

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American.

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I think you're close enough.

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I mean, again, we're not French, so sorry for any French people that probably are not listening to this.

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Al, you're not French right.

00:10:40.480 --> 00:10:44.350
So that was like a critical German supply route during World War I.

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It was connected to the Western Front with Germany's heartland.

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It allowed the movement of troops and ammunition and supplies and stuff like that.

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They were trying to cut off that main supply chain.

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It was part of the final allied push to end World War I.

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The battle was intended to break up Germany's last defensive barrier.

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It was called the Hindenburg Line.

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Why was it the Hindenburg Line?

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So it was a massive network of bunkers, trenches, barbed wire, machine guns, and basically it was like their front line that they could retreat behind.

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And it was miles and miles and miles long.

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Could you imagine being the people who were tasked with digging those trenches?

00:11:38.611 --> 00:11:40.731
Because, I mean trench warfare in World War.

00:11:40.731 --> 00:11:50.288
I was huge, yeah, and like you've seen some movies, obviously more or less, but that would suck and life in those trenches was fucking hell.

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Yeah, yeah.

00:11:51.090 --> 00:12:09.259
So it stretched across northern France, from the northwest of Verdun up towards Belgium and, like I said, it was a way for them to fall behind that line as a part of protection, protection yeah, so, as I said, it was a way for them to fall behind that line as a part of protection Protection, yeah.

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So, as I said, this is a forest area, so there was really thick forests and kind of a hellscape-type terrain.

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There was constant rain and mud, making movement nearly impossible during this time.

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Keep your socks dry.

00:12:23.494 --> 00:12:27.782
Yeah, supply lines were a mess.

00:12:27.802 --> 00:12:32.539
Communications often broke down that's a really good led zeppelin song communication breakdown.

00:12:33.380 --> 00:12:36.705
Fucking love that song weird, it's a good song.

00:12:36.705 --> 00:12:41.549
So the length of this offensive lasted 47 days.

00:12:41.549 --> 00:12:46.676
American troops that were engaged was about 1.2 million.

00:12:46.676 --> 00:12:47.076
Wow.

00:12:47.076 --> 00:12:58.330
So overall between the Allied forces and Germany, over 300,000 people were either died or wounded.

00:12:58.912 --> 00:12:59.633
Were either died.

00:13:00.600 --> 00:13:03.070
Had either died or were wounded.

00:13:04.981 --> 00:13:06.528
Sorry, I couldn't let that pass.

00:13:06.528 --> 00:13:08.926
That's a lot of people.

00:13:09.059 --> 00:13:13.110
This was the deadliest campaign in World War I yes.

00:13:13.110 --> 00:13:17.672
More than D-Day which was like 15,000 to 20,000.

00:13:17.672 --> 00:13:22.150
And Battle of the Bulge, which was 150,000 to 200,000.

00:13:22.150 --> 00:13:23.625
Wow, that's crazy.

00:13:23.745 --> 00:13:26.042
Yeah, okay yeah, and it lasted 47 days.

00:13:25.970 --> 00:13:26.197
That's crazy.

00:13:26.197 --> 00:13:27.152
Yeah, okay, yeah, and it lasted 47 days.

00:13:27.152 --> 00:13:27.732
That's a long time.

00:13:28.681 --> 00:13:34.089
Because you said September 26th to November 11th, and is November 11th, the last day of the?

00:13:34.259 --> 00:13:36.486
and that's why it's Veterans Day, right, yeah.

00:13:36.506 --> 00:13:37.389
If I'm not mistaken.

00:13:37.490 --> 00:13:37.650
Yeah.

00:13:37.940 --> 00:13:38.942
It's because of World War I.

00:13:38.942 --> 00:13:43.509
Yeah, that's the day I started my first day in the beer business in 2002.

00:13:43.710 --> 00:13:44.993
That's my sister's birthday.

00:13:45.013 --> 00:13:46.174
Well, happy birthday.

00:13:46.460 --> 00:13:47.866
She never got cards on her birthday.

00:13:47.866 --> 00:13:49.044
It was always an American holiday.

00:13:49.044 --> 00:13:50.505
I always feel sorry for her about that.

00:13:50.860 --> 00:13:53.006
Well, you know, at least she had her own holiday.

00:13:53.668 --> 00:13:54.029
She did.

00:13:54.029 --> 00:14:01.750
Anyway in September 1918, gunther remember Henry Gunther.

00:14:02.010 --> 00:14:02.653
I do remember him.

00:14:02.653 --> 00:14:03.745
That's what we're talking about.

00:14:03.799 --> 00:14:11.350
Yeah, he wrote a letter back home to a friend, okay, and he complained about the conditions of army life.

00:14:11.919 --> 00:14:14.048
Well, I mean, I can't imagine it was glamorous yeah.

00:14:14.179 --> 00:14:18.768
No, he was like it's chaotic, it's muddy, I'm dirty all the time.

00:14:19.019 --> 00:14:21.143
I'm wet all the time.

00:14:21.143 --> 00:14:40.461
I can't imagine showers were readily available for them probably not no trenches yeah, trenches don't have built-in showers and or toilets, for that matter nope, no latrines, if you will the whole thing's a latrine he told his buddy do not enlist, do not come over here.

00:14:40.461 --> 00:14:42.384
For the love of god, man, man, don't do it.

00:14:42.485 --> 00:14:43.186
It's awful.

00:14:43.546 --> 00:14:43.865
Yeah.

00:14:43.865 --> 00:14:45.769
But, he did anyways.

00:14:46.129 --> 00:14:52.015
Thanks to the espionage of excuse me the Espionage Act of 1917.

00:14:52.519 --> 00:14:52.600
Okay.

00:14:53.220 --> 00:15:12.323
His letter was intercepted by a censor and the letter was deemed violated, essentially wartime censorship laws under this espionage act.

00:15:12.323 --> 00:15:24.506
So it's designed to keep people from interfering with the war effort, especially by leaking secrets, discouraging enlistment or spreading anti-war messages.

00:15:25.706 --> 00:15:26.966
And that's exactly what he was doing.

00:15:26.966 --> 00:15:27.226
He was.

00:15:27.226 --> 00:15:38.750
He was not encouraging his buddy to enlist or to join up or whatever Yep, and so I guess technically that's going against what he said or what they, what they said.

00:15:38.750 --> 00:15:40.870
So I mean that sucks.

00:15:41.669 --> 00:15:48.072
They made it a crime to spy or share defense-related info that could help the enemy, but he wasn't sharing that.

00:15:48.072 --> 00:15:49.292
I'm not done with my list.

00:15:49.912 --> 00:15:52.673
Well, I mean my apologies.

00:15:53.673 --> 00:15:55.373
There's a couple, carry on, will you?

00:15:55.373 --> 00:16:00.453
It was also a crime to interfere with military operations or recruitment.

00:16:00.774 --> 00:16:02.014
Well, that's the recruitment part.

00:16:02.335 --> 00:16:05.075
Encourage insubordination in the armed forces.

00:16:05.075 --> 00:16:12.376
Okay, or obstruct the draft or to speak against it, which is also kind of what he was doing, so okay.

00:16:12.376 --> 00:16:18.238
So the penalties were fines up to $10,000 or up to 20 years in prison.

00:16:18.238 --> 00:16:19.119
Holy shit.

00:16:19.318 --> 00:16:21.899
Yeah, that's a long time for just saying dude, don't do it.

00:16:22.139 --> 00:16:28.304
Yeah, wow, long time for just saying dude, don't do it.

00:16:28.304 --> 00:16:28.566
Yeah, so, wow.

00:16:28.566 --> 00:16:31.534
So the army treated gunther's letter as more of a morale issue, not a prosecute, prosecutable defense.

00:16:31.534 --> 00:16:32.518
Did I say that right?

00:16:32.518 --> 00:16:47.400
Offense sorry, prosecutable offense yeah and instead of court-martialing which they could have done, I'm still keeping that one they stripped him of his sergeant's sergeant's stripes and demoted him to private.

00:16:47.400 --> 00:16:53.653
Oh, man so they use this as kind of a disciplinarian slap on the wrist.

00:16:53.692 --> 00:16:54.802
Anyone else does this shit.

00:16:54.902 --> 00:17:01.582
Look what's gonna happen to you, yeah but because of his heritage and because of the letter, they put suspicion under him.

00:17:01.602 --> 00:17:02.344
Oh, I suppose.

00:17:02.344 --> 00:17:04.425
I suppose because he is mostly German.

00:17:04.686 --> 00:17:12.816
Yes, so under the stigma of the demotion and the suspicion, gunther became kind of obsessed with proving his loyalty.

00:17:14.480 --> 00:17:26.232
So Conrads later recalled that his demeanor changed quite a bit, I would imagine it did, because I mean, that's quite an altering thing where he's stripped of his rank and then pretty much you're a pariah.

00:17:26.232 --> 00:17:27.674
Yeah, exactly yeah.

00:17:28.059 --> 00:17:35.077
So he was withdrawn and kind of brooded over his lost rank and he volunteered for some of the more dangerous duties.

00:17:35.439 --> 00:17:35.619
Okay.

00:17:36.221 --> 00:17:47.765
He served as a runner or a messenger for his company, repeatedly braving machine gunfire and artillery fire, repeatedly braving like machine gunfire and artillery fire.

00:17:47.765 --> 00:18:12.493
Right and just days before november 11th, he was carrying an urgent message when a german bullet shattered his wrists, both wrists, one one of his wrists okay but he bound the wound, said nothing to his officers and just reported to do for duty, like he just kind of took it fucking hurt though yeah I mean I, the only bone I've ever broken in my body, I, I guess, fractured my right wrist.

00:18:14.246 --> 00:18:18.319
That wasn't fun, so I can't imagine getting shot in my wrist and having it shattered.

00:18:18.319 --> 00:18:22.729
Yeah, because that's a lot worse than what happened to me by a million fucking times.

00:18:23.028 --> 00:18:36.644
Yep, so damn yeah so in the final weeks, his, his soldier, his fellow soldiers kind of noted how he had grown sullen um and he was trying to make good before the officers, kind of thing, sure.

00:18:36.644 --> 00:18:41.733
So november 11th 1918, there was the armistice.

00:18:41.733 --> 00:18:43.347
I hope I'm pronouncing that right I believe that's how you pronounce it.

00:18:43.347 --> 00:18:43.789
Um so, the armistice.

00:18:43.829 --> 00:18:45.700
I hope I'm pronouncing that right, I believe that's how you pronounce it.

00:18:46.461 --> 00:18:52.933
So the armistice is a formal agreement to stop fighting between warring parties.

00:18:52.933 --> 00:18:57.410
It's not quite a peace treaty, but it's more like a ceasefire.

00:18:57.410 --> 00:19:04.373
It's a stop so that they can be allowed to have peace terms negotiated, kind of thing.

00:19:04.373 --> 00:19:04.794
Yeah right.

00:19:04.794 --> 00:19:14.388
So Allied and German commanders agreed on November 11th that the armistice would be signed at 5 am I've heard 5 am.

00:19:14.388 --> 00:19:18.606
I also heard 5, 10 am and then it would take effect at 11 am.

00:19:18.606 --> 00:19:19.430
Gotcha.

00:19:19.450 --> 00:19:19.730
Okay.

00:19:20.680 --> 00:19:32.392
So Marshall Ferdinand Foch of France Okay, he was a supreme commander he insisted that the fighting continue until 11 to allow word to reach the front.

00:19:32.392 --> 00:19:39.913
And American commanders, including General Pershing, backed this policy.

00:19:39.913 --> 00:19:51.011
So one account notes that foch gave his generals six hours to get the word out and purge or, excuse me, pershing urged them to keep the pressure on until 11 am.

00:19:51.011 --> 00:20:04.396
So both both were like just keep going, keep going until 11 o'clock, just keep going more people need to keep doing it yeah, so um pershing reportedly like disagreed with the armistice terms.

00:20:04.457 --> 00:20:12.044
He wanted an unconditional surrender, I'm sure, and he thought that, like germany, was kind of getting off too easy which I.

00:20:12.144 --> 00:20:14.808
I can see his point or view on that, I guess.

00:20:14.808 --> 00:20:20.184
But people that don't need to die don't need to die exactly so just how about?

00:20:20.184 --> 00:20:23.160
I don't know, fucking stop yeah so whether, no matter what side.

00:20:23.200 --> 00:20:52.316
At that point, just stop killing people and figure it out after that yeah, right all right so the 79th division, baltimore's own own um, was ordered to attack at 9 30 am, knowing that the armistice was imminent in just 90 minutes okay so um brigadier general william nicholson of the 313th Infantry said quote there will be absolutely no let up until 11 o'clock end.

00:20:52.316 --> 00:20:52.636
Quote.

00:20:53.340 --> 00:20:56.228
So, like once it strikes 11, their guns just stop working.

00:20:56.228 --> 00:20:58.553
I mean, what the fuck, mm-hmm, good Lord.

00:20:59.501 --> 00:21:12.894
So at 1044, a runner reached Gunther's unit with new orders Hold the line, neither advance nor give way to the rear until 11.

00:21:12.894 --> 00:21:14.744
So hold your ground.

00:21:15.080 --> 00:21:16.244
For 16 more minutes.

00:21:16.507 --> 00:21:22.470
Yeah Well, they were going to fight until 11, and then at 1044, they're like hold the phone.

00:21:22.651 --> 00:21:22.971
Yeah.

00:21:24.253 --> 00:21:24.673
Or my beer.

00:21:24.673 --> 00:21:30.324
Hold my beer, hold my beer beer hold my beer while I read this letter aloud aloud.

00:21:30.324 --> 00:21:43.346
All of a sudden we're southern so, um back of the armistice, the us wasn't invited to the signing agreement why, it's because of pershing.

00:21:44.188 --> 00:21:45.150
So what a dick.

00:21:45.150 --> 00:21:57.173
Foch of france, foch of france, general maxim vagand of france, which is foch's chief of staff, all right, from, also from france.

00:21:57.173 --> 00:22:05.023
And then a british naval officer named admiral rosalyn wemis sorry, wemmis, sorry, sorry.

00:22:05.023 --> 00:22:06.945
He represented the UK.

00:22:06.945 --> 00:22:10.528
Okay, they signed on behalf of the Allied powers.

00:22:10.528 --> 00:22:20.755
Okay, all right, the Central Powers were a German civilian representative and two German military officers.

00:22:20.755 --> 00:22:27.900
Okay, so France and Britain were running the negotiations and they wanted to kind of wrap things up quickly.

00:22:27.920 --> 00:22:29.584
Yeah, they wanted to stop this.

00:22:30.086 --> 00:22:31.682
Yeah, and the U?

00:22:31.682 --> 00:22:40.650
S was a major player militarily but they didn't think as much diplomatically and kind of still the new kid at the table because they came in so late.

00:22:40.901 --> 00:22:41.806
New kid at the table.

00:22:42.320 --> 00:22:52.538
So if Pershing wasn't in the room, they could actually get on with the signing, because pershing was against the armistice and he wanted to like fight.

00:22:52.538 --> 00:22:57.375
Let's just fight another week and just see what happens why do you think he wanted to do that?

00:22:57.375 --> 00:23:04.942
I guess, like what was just he's a story for another time, I think it might be because, like, apparently, he just wanted to kill people.

00:23:05.123 --> 00:23:13.226
Yeah, because that's all he's doing, and the problem is, he's not just killing the enemy, he's killing his own people too by staying in exactly the fight.

00:23:13.226 --> 00:23:14.368
So it's like come on, man.

00:23:14.368 --> 00:23:34.489
Yeah, so that he wasn't invited I don't see why not, because what a dick so as gunther's unit approached a municipality called chamon, devant chamon, devant d'un vivier that's a mouthful damn.

00:23:34.489 --> 00:23:36.773
I feel like you did a pretty good job on that.

00:23:36.773 --> 00:23:39.306
Whether it's right or not, I don't know, I don't know.

00:23:40.147 --> 00:23:47.832
So on november 11th, they approached this municipality and gunther saw a German machine gun post directly ahead.

00:23:47.832 --> 00:23:48.452
Oh shit.

00:23:48.452 --> 00:24:04.396
According to a more contemporary, or like post-war account by private James M Kane, german crews on a nearby roadblock had fired warning shots and then ceased, apparently waiting for the armistice.

00:24:04.396 --> 00:24:05.082
Oh, okay, okay.

00:24:05.082 --> 00:24:06.634
Warning shots and then ceased, apparently waiting for the armistice.

00:24:06.634 --> 00:24:06.895
Oh, okay, okay.

00:24:06.895 --> 00:24:12.950
So they probably also got word of the ceasefire at around 10 44 ish.

00:24:12.950 --> 00:24:14.653
Give or take, right, you know.

00:24:14.653 --> 00:24:16.080
So they stopped, wow.

00:24:16.080 --> 00:24:33.583
So we're not really sure what happened, but gunther suddenly rose up and announced that he would take the machine gun nest but why, man, you're not supposed to, you're not supposed to advance I know he wants to prove himself yeah, because he kind of got shunned.

00:24:33.623 --> 00:24:38.378
But, dude, you're supposed to wait to prove yourself would be to, I don't know.

00:24:38.378 --> 00:24:40.761
Listen to orders yeah, and okay.

00:24:40.942 --> 00:24:42.144
His comrades warned him.

00:24:42.144 --> 00:24:44.527
The war is going to be over in minutes.

00:24:44.866 --> 00:24:45.929
Comrades, Are they Russian now?

00:24:46.709 --> 00:24:47.210
Comrades.

00:24:48.211 --> 00:24:49.813
I'm kidding Comrades.

00:24:49.813 --> 00:24:50.493
Yeah, comrade.

00:24:51.855 --> 00:24:52.415
Is that Russian?

00:24:52.415 --> 00:24:55.327
No, that's what Russians say all the time, comrades.

00:24:55.387 --> 00:24:55.588
Yeah.

00:24:57.201 --> 00:24:59.368
I learned something today, unless.

00:24:59.449 --> 00:24:59.789
I'm wrong.

00:24:59.789 --> 00:25:01.945
I mean, I always remember everything I see with Russians.

00:25:01.945 --> 00:25:06.509
They always say comrades, so we'll look it up later, not right now.

00:25:07.240 --> 00:25:09.423
But he did arm himself.

00:25:09.423 --> 00:25:17.234
But some accounts kind of differed in what he armed himself with, whether it was his Browning automatic rifle or a fixed bayonet.

00:25:17.234 --> 00:25:21.029
He charged alone towards the Germans.

00:25:21.029 --> 00:25:29.885
Dude German soldiers, waving their hands and speaking in broken English, pleaded with him to stop.

00:25:29.885 --> 00:25:32.490
Go back, the war is over, man.

00:25:32.490 --> 00:25:34.622
But he continued forward.

00:25:34.622 --> 00:25:39.163
Gunther ignored orders to stop.

00:25:39.163 --> 00:25:45.988
He fired at the Germans and kept coming with them with his bayonet or his rifle.

00:25:45.988 --> 00:25:48.362
Yeah, At 10.59.

00:25:49.217 --> 00:25:51.243
One minute before everything stops.

00:25:51.454 --> 00:26:01.641
Literally one minute before 11 o'clock, he was cut down by a burst of machine gun and killed instantly, and then, of course, within seconds.

00:26:02.323 --> 00:26:03.566
Everyone stopped Everyone stopped.

00:26:03.566 --> 00:26:05.539
Why man.

00:26:06.954 --> 00:26:13.008
Eyewitnesses from both sides testified that the Germans had tried to restrain him For sure.

00:26:13.008 --> 00:26:13.409
Yeah.

00:26:13.409 --> 00:26:23.762
And after 11 o'clock German troops came out with a stretcher, carried Gunther's body back to the American lines, even potentially shook hands with the US soldiers.

00:26:23.762 --> 00:26:31.144
Obviously stunned, pleased to meet you, but they explained they only shot him in self-defense essentially Well, obviously stunned, pleased to meet you, but they explained they only shot him in self-defense essentially.

00:26:31.144 --> 00:26:32.721
Well, you can't fault him.

00:26:32.721 --> 00:26:33.336
No, I know.

00:26:33.436 --> 00:26:39.699
I mean because he went rogue more or less he did To try and prove himself when, dude, you just had to stop.

00:26:39.699 --> 00:26:41.538
Yeah, for the love of God, fucking stop.

00:26:41.538 --> 00:26:43.298
Yeah, you get to go home soon.

00:26:43.298 --> 00:26:59.619
Yeah, but he was just so heartbroken I guess we'll call it lack of a better term and he wanted to make hey man, I'm, I'm not a fucking spy or whatever yeah, I would assume that gunther heard about the ceasefire he had to have.

00:27:00.481 --> 00:27:02.345
We don't know I mean no, we don't.

00:27:02.345 --> 00:27:09.166
But I guess the reason why I say he had to have is because everybody else fucking knew about it yeah.

00:27:09.166 --> 00:27:12.865
So it's not like it was like, and everyone was telling like no, come back.

00:27:12.904 --> 00:27:13.547
What are you doing?

00:27:13.815 --> 00:27:15.137
And then the Germans are even like dude.

00:27:15.137 --> 00:27:17.623
No stop, yeah, deutschland.

00:27:17.864 --> 00:27:20.315
Nine, whatever Nine, yeah, you know.

00:27:20.315 --> 00:27:25.000
Um, obviously historians are like well, maybe he was just trying to redeem himself.

00:27:26.080 --> 00:27:36.111
Which again I understand, because he felt a little slighted because of the letter he wrote and whatever and his demotion and stuff and whatever.

00:27:36.111 --> 00:27:39.644
So I get it, but man, you're so fucking close.

00:27:39.974 --> 00:27:43.119
So even Gunther's great niece, carol Aikman.

00:27:43.119 --> 00:27:48.167
She said that he might have felt he had something to restore for his family's honor.

00:27:48.167 --> 00:27:49.250
Essentially, sure, right.

00:27:49.250 --> 00:27:54.365
So Henry Gunther's death was quickly noted in the US Army records.

00:27:54.365 --> 00:28:08.428
Okay, the 313th Infantry War Diary now in the National Archives records that at 1058, private Gunther stood up and charged with the German lines and then he must have been shot at 1059.

00:28:08.428 --> 00:28:15.890
Yeah, archival documents include a telegram Confirming his death and even a handwritten note of the time.

00:28:15.890 --> 00:28:24.664

The Whole Thing’s a Latrine: Henry Gunther

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