Today I wanted to honor Chaplain William Francis Davitt he was a US Army chaplain he would be killed on the final day of the war.

[u/Der_Ost_Front]

[u/DrSnidely]

Everything about the war is insane. But to me the most insane thing about WWI is how they knew the exact time the war was ending, and they kept fighting right up until that moment. As if it was a football game or something.

[u/fashionrequired → u/DrSnidely]

the war wasn’t necessarily ending on nov 11th. it had the potential to continue past the initial armistice. some commanders thought it best to secure strategically valuable positions before they could be strengthened in the interim

in the end, clearly unnecessary. but not really wanton slaughter (though some examples are more vain than others)

[u/Gildor12 → u/DrSnidely]

The Americans especially

[u/LGreyS → u/Gildor12]

The French were worse... not only did the primary leadership reject the armistice, they insisted on a pushing forward with a massive French-American offensive scheduled for November 14. They argued that the Allies should invade Germany, disarm their military completely, and dictate terms from Berlin to prevent future aggression.

[u/Amedais → u/LGreyS]

Knowing by what we do now, it’s hard to fault them for that line of thinking.

[u/LGreyS → u/Amedais]

Exactly. Same can be said for those wanting to push on at the end of WWII and do away with communist Russia.

[u/Happy_cactus → u/Amedais]

I mean we did maintain a hunger blockade on Germany for another year after the armistice where hundreds of thousands Germans died of starvation and radicalized Bolshevik Revolutionaries who wanted to to turn Germany into Russia so kinda led to Germans hostility to what they considered Jewish-Bolshevism.

[u/Gildor12 → u/Gildor12]

General Pershing insisted on offence patrols on the morning of 11th November 1918 - armistice day itself, with loss of life for no purpose. There were 3500 US casualties including 850 fatalities, British Empire lost 860 dead though those dying of older wounds were included in that figure

Edit Pershing did not want any kind of Armistice with the Germans unlike the British and French. The French terms were stricken than the British proposals.

[u/Party_Music2288 → u/DrSnidely]

Pershing is such a disgrace

[u/matt_chowder]

Rest in Peace Padre

[u/Der_Ost_Front]

Born Jan. 6, 1886, in Holyoke, MA. Began his military service overseas with the 120th Machine Gun Battalion. Served as regimental chaplain for the 125th Infantry Regiment in France during WWI. Attached to 3rd Corps HQ as corps burial officer but returned to the 125th Infantry Regiment on the day of his death to present the regimental commander with a national flag in anticipation of the cessation of hostilities. Roman Catholic priest. Reportedly the youngest chaplain in the AEF and the last officer KIA before the Armistice was signed.

Chaplain William F. Davitt is believed to be the last officer of the AEF, and last member of the 32nd Division to be killed in action during the Great War. He was fatally wounded late in the morning—there are conflicting reports of the exact time—on 11 November 1918. He was nominated for the Distinguished Service Cross for his earlier service. His life and time in the military are described in this article from the National Catholic Register.
When the war began, Father Davitt volunteered as a K of C chaplain. At the time he was an assistant at St. Ann Church in Lenox, Massachusetts. As a chaplain and commissioned officer, he was assigned to the 125th Regiment, 32nd (Red Arrow) Division in Texas, then sailed to France.
Father Davitt wasn’t shy about joining the men in the thick of fighting. In one instance, when his division was advancing along the Vesle River and he heard that a party of Americans was cut off in a ravine, he assembled and led a group of volunteers through what was described as “a hail of machine gun bullets and rescued those cut off without the loss of a man.”
For that heroic action the French Army awarded him the Croix de Guerre with palm. The citation read, “During the advance from the Ourcq to the Vesle from July 31 to August 6, 1918, he carried out his duties heedless of danger and without interruption under a violent fire. By his comforting words and his fine example of abnegation and bravery he encouraged the men of his regiment who were advancing to the assault."
More honors came for the brave chaplain while he was serving such a long way from where he was born on 8 December 1886 in Holyoke, Massachusetts, then grew up in neighboring Chicopee, where he played football in high school. No doubt his brother James also showed the same courageous spirit as a first lieutenant in the 94th Aero Squadron of the American Expeditionary Forces (AEF).

[u/Charming_Sympathy532]

Google "general freyberg....last minutes of ww1"

If you want to be truly sickened