Part 10/14:
The outbreak of the deadly second wave of the Spanish Flu overshadowed the battlefield and home fronts during this week. With tens of thousands of new cases daily across France, Britain, and the United States, the pandemic claimed thousands of lives among servicemen. American servicemen lost approximately 43,000 lives to the flu, nearly equaling combat fatalities. The spread of the disease was particularly severe within the German army, which refused to produce official statistics, indicating an overwhelmed and collapsing medical infrastructure.
Some scholars speculate that the flu may have contributed to the weakening of Central Powers’ armies, hastening their collapse in the final weeks of the war, though conclusive evidence remains elusive.