Martin Antonenko
A Fixture
- Joined
- Jul 11, 2008
- Messages
- 8,821
The Last Dead Of The First World War ...
A fortnight ago representatives of the Allies and the German Reich ...
... had signed the armistice in Compiégne, which means the end of the fighting of the First World War in Europe ...:
In fulfillment of the armistice conditions, the German troops from northern France, Luxembourg and Belgium move away...
- followed closely by the victorious allies ...:
Many of the German soldiers, wounded and ammunition are loaded onto trains at the Belgian-Dutch border station in Hamont; the train station on the main route Antwerp-Düsseldorf is conveniently located ...:
On November 19, 1918, the small train station - as it was every day back then - is crammed with soldiers, hospital and ammunition trains, all of which are waiting or being loaded for departure for Germany...:
All of a sudden - and out of nowhere - a fully loaded ammunition train blows up in the middle of the station in the afternoon!
According to one version, playing children are said to have triggered the detonation with fireworks.
According to other reports, a bonfire of the Belgian residents celebrating the end of the German occupation is causal - this is never exactly clarified!
The explosion sets off a devastating chain reaction:
Immediately afterwards a second ammunition train, parked not far and also fully loaded, detonated - and the pressure waves and flying grenades completely destroy a German hospital train - and seriously damage a second one.
More than 1,700 people, mostly German soldiers, died in the explosions, Hamont train station ...
... as well as the city itself are completely destroyed ...:
The victims of the Hamont explosion are the last World War I dead in Europe.
A fortnight ago representatives of the Allies and the German Reich ...
... had signed the armistice in Compiégne, which means the end of the fighting of the First World War in Europe ...:
In fulfillment of the armistice conditions, the German troops from northern France, Luxembourg and Belgium move away...
- followed closely by the victorious allies ...:
Many of the German soldiers, wounded and ammunition are loaded onto trains at the Belgian-Dutch border station in Hamont; the train station on the main route Antwerp-Düsseldorf is conveniently located ...:
On November 19, 1918, the small train station - as it was every day back then - is crammed with soldiers, hospital and ammunition trains, all of which are waiting or being loaded for departure for Germany...:
All of a sudden - and out of nowhere - a fully loaded ammunition train blows up in the middle of the station in the afternoon!
According to one version, playing children are said to have triggered the detonation with fireworks.
According to other reports, a bonfire of the Belgian residents celebrating the end of the German occupation is causal - this is never exactly clarified!
The explosion sets off a devastating chain reaction:
Immediately afterwards a second ammunition train, parked not far and also fully loaded, detonated - and the pressure waves and flying grenades completely destroy a German hospital train - and seriously damage a second one.
More than 1,700 people, mostly German soldiers, died in the explosions, Hamont train station ...
... as well as the city itself are completely destroyed ...:
The victims of the Hamont explosion are the last World War I dead in Europe.
