A chilling recording depicts the moment silence descended on the battlefield, bringing an end to World War I and four years of bloodshed.
Captured on the American front near the River Moselle, the artillery sound ranging clip provides a poignant insight into how the end of the war sounded tothose on the frontline.
To mark the centenary of the Armistice, the Imperial War Museum has released the recording of the intense barrage of sound at the western front enabling listeners to immerse themselves in that moment in history, the Daily Mail reports.
News of the end of World War I is joyfully received by the men of the 64th Regiment Infantry, 7th Division in Min de Jaueny, Moselle, France on November 11, 1918. Photo / Bettmann Archive
The artillery activity that it illustrates was recorded on the American front near the River Moselle, one minute before and one minute after the Armistice at 11am on November 11, 1918.
The graphic record reveals that fighting on the western front continued right up until the final moments of World War I, with artillery still visibly active at 10.58am.
The recording is a product of sound ranging, a technique used by the Allies to determine the location of enemy artillery.
Photographic film was used to record the exact moment that the sound of a gun firing was received by six different microphones.
Because the microphones were located far apart, they picked up the sound from the same gun at slightly different times.
These time differences were used to calculate the position of the gun.
The museum teamed up with sound designers Coda to Coda to recreate the sounds recorded on the document.
Visitors will be able to hear the recording in a sound installation now in display at the museum.
During the First World War, a team of scientists developed a technique called sound ranging which worked using a system of microphones and a device called a string galvanometer.
Will Worsley, Director and Principal Composer at Coda to Coda, said: "This document from IWM's collections gives us a great insight into how intense and chaotic the barrage of gunfire must have been for those fighting on the western front.
"We hope that our audio interpretation of sound ranging techniques through bone conduction enables visitors to project themselves into that moment in history and gain an understanding of what the end of the First World War may have sounded like."
During World War I, a team of scientists developed a technique called sound ranging which worked using a system of microphones and a device called a string galvanometer.
The purpose of the equipment was to determine where enemy guns were positioned by analysing the length of time it took sound impulses from the firing of guns to arrive at the allied front.
The equipment would have had six "microphones", the signals from which were recorded simultaneously on the film recorder.
Specially trained analysts would then try to decode the patterns on the film and use them work out the positions of enemy guns, a process called multilateration.
The main problem with using sound to find guns was that each firing produced several different sounds.
Infantry advance from the trenches in the First World War.
The gun made a noise when it was fired, the shell made a noise when it broke the sound barrier in the air and again when it exploded.
Sound ranging played an important part in British operations from 1917 onwards including at Passchendaele and Cambrai.
It was used to disable as many enemy guns as possible before the infantry advanced, giving the troops the best possible chance of success.
Taking place at IWM North and IWM London, Making A New World explores how World War I has shaped the society we live in today through a programme of free exhibitions, alongside immersive live music, performance and public debates.
