The “shot heard round the world” that started World War I was fired on June 28, 1914, when a student shot the archduke Franz Ferdinand of Austria in Sarajevo, beginning a conflict that lasted four years, involved 32 countries and cost 41 million military and civilian casualties, including 18 million lives. By 1917, the war was not going well for …

It was a cold, drizzly day with the constant pitter patter of rain.  I thought my eyes had deceived me as I noticed, a few steps ahead, a German soldier standing guard. I moved closer. It was a German soldier in a WW1 uniform trying, very cleverly, to make tourists aware of a unique attraction. I was near the village …