The Coach that made History

In November 1918, in a railcar at Compiegne, French humiliated Germans as they demanded peace. It was a humiliation that was to rankle in the mind of a young German soldier, laying wounded at the time, in an infirmary 700 miles away. Twenty two years later, that German soldier was to take his vengeance... in the same railcar, at the same location, in the dark woodland of Compiegne. Led by Matthias Erzberger, the German delegation began an exhausting journey through the Western Front under a white flag. They eventually arrived at a secret spot in the woods near Réthondes and were escorted to a dining railcar. There, they were challenged by Marshal Foch, General Weygand and British Admiral Sir Rosslyn Wemyss. The treatment was very hostile. The Germans were only paying attention while the terms were read out aloud. There was no debate, only a monologue of dictated conditions.