Armistice

“On 11th November [1918] the Division for the most part was concentrated in the Corps rear area at Beauvois and Fontaine. The artillery was preparing to move back through Villereau to Le Quesnoy. The Engineers and Tunnellers, still in the forward areas about Le Quesnoy, were building bridges, repairing roads and erecting baths and laundries.

The telegraph message from the Corps announcing the Armistice was in these terms:—“Following from Third Army begins aaa Hostilities will ceases at 11.00 hours to-day November 11th aaa Troops will stand fast on line reached at that hour which will be reported by wire to Third Army aaa Defensive precautions will be maintained aaa There will be no intercourse of any description with the enemy until the receipt of instructions from Army Headquarters aaa Further instructions will follow aaa Advise all concerned aaa
IV. Corps
Time 0800 hours”

The news was received by the Division and by the Armies generally in a matter of fact way, totally devoid of any demonstration of emotion. A Divisional Service of Thanksgiving was held on 14th November.” [Excerpt From: Col. H. Stewart. “The New Zealand Division 1916 - 1919: A Popular History Based on Official Records.”]

Casualties continued on both sides up until the very last minute before the armistice. It is generally believed that the last person to be killed in action of all the belligerents was Private Henry Gunther. He was despondent after being demoted and with 60 seconds to go until the Armistice came into effect he charged a group of rather astonished Germans at Chaumont-devant-Damvillers, Meuse, France. They tried to wave him away but he persisted and he was killed instantly in a short burst of machine gun fire. Private Gunther was posthumously promoted back to Sergeant by the US Army and his body returned to the USA in the 1920s for burial at Baltimore.

It is not known who the last New Zealander was who was killed in action.