I’ve read and watched a fair amount about WWII over the years, and there has always been a quirk of the early years that I wondered about.
I know that, when Hitler beat the French, he insisted that the French surrender be taken in the same rail car where the WWI armistice was signed by the Germans. What I’ve never been able to find or figure out is, why is it that the WWI armistice was signed in a rail car? It’s always struck me as a bit odd that no one could find a suitable building anywhere in France.
If you ever get a chance to see it (…I only saw it once, maybe 20 or more years ago, and I STILL remember it…) don’t miss the video docu-drama PBS once showed about the WWI treaty signing. Utterly, utterly fascinating.
Pity the poor German skapegoat SOBs that were given the thankless (and suicidal) task of brokering the treaty. IIRC they were all washed-up and B-list senior military officers who, compared with the Allied representatives, were entirely out of their league and knew it. They did the best they could given their humiliating and bleak circumstances, but were literally marked men for the rest of their brief lives for “selling out” the German people. Some, if not all, were murdered afterward – presumably by vengeful countrymen.