Armistice Day 2014

November 11, 1918, the day World War I ended, is known as Armistice Day, when all over Europe and in the British Commonwealth those who died in the most deadly war ever fought by humankind, with 10 million military dead, as well as 7 million civilians, are remembered and honored. Armistice Day is also known as Remembrance Day, and in the United States, Veterans Day because all war veterans are honored. ~~~~~ What was November 11, 1918, like for the soldiers fighting on the last day of World War I? Despite November 11 being the last day of WWI, in many parts of the Western Front fighting continued normally, with casualties occurring even as people in Paris, London and New York were celebrating the end of the fighting. After three days of intense negotiations in a rail siding just outside of Compiegne in France, the German delegation that had been brought to the personal carriage of Marshall Ferdinand Foch was ordered by its Berlin government to sign any terms put on the table by the Allies. Potentially serious social upheaval had forced the German government into giving the instruction -- people had taken to the streets because of chronic food shortages caused by the British naval blockade. So, the German delegation led by Matthias Erzberger signed the terms of the Armistice at 05.10 a.m. on November 11. However, the actual ceasefire would not start until 11.00 a.m. in order to allow the information to be dispatched all over the Western Front. Technology allowed the news to go to capital cities by 05.40 a.m.and celebrations began before most soldiers even knew about the Armistice. In London, Big Ben was rung for the first time since the start of the war in August, 1914. In Paris, gas lamps were lit for the first time in four years. But on the Western Front, tens of thousands of soldiers assumed that it was just another day and officers ordered their men into combat. A number of the final casualties were at Mons in Belgium, which was also the site of one of the first major battles of WWI in 1914. The Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC) records show that 863 Commonwealth soldiers died on November 11, 1918, including those who died on November 11 of wounds received earlier. The Americans took particularly heavy casualties on the last day of WWI because their commander, General John Pershing, believed that the Germans had to be severely defeated at a military level to effectively ‘teach them a lesson.’ The Americans suffered especially heavy casualties attempting to cross the River Meuse on the night of November 10 - 11, with the US Marines taking over 1,100 casualties alone. However, if they had waited until 11.00 a.m. on November 11, they could have crossed the river unopposed and with no casualties. The 89th US Division was ordered to attack and take the town of Stenay on the morning of November 11. Stenay was the last town captured on the Western Front - at a cost of 300 casualties. CWGC records that the last British soldier killed in World War I was Private George Edwin Ellison of the 5th Royal Irish Lancers. He was killed at Mons (where he had also fought in 1914) at 09.30 a.m., just 90 minutes before the ceasefire. The last French soldier killed was Augustin Trebuchon from the 415th Infantry Regiment. He was a runner taking a message to his colleagues at the front to inform them of the ceasefire when he was hit by a single shot and killed at 10.50 a.m. In total, 75 French soldiers were killed on November 11, 1918, but their graves state November 10. Two theories have been suggested for this discrepancy. The first is that by stating that they died on November 10 before WWI had ended, there could be no question about their family’s entitlement to a war pension. The other theory is that the French government wanted to avoid any form of embarrassment or political scandal if it became known that so many died on the last day of the War. The last Canadian to die was Private George Lawrence Price of the Canadian Infantry (2nd Canadian Division) who was killed at Mons at 10.58 a.m. Officially, Price was the last Commonwealth soldier to be killed in World War I. The last American soldier killed was Private Henry Gunter, who was killed at 10.59 a.m. Officially, Gunter was the last man to die in World War I. His unit had been ordered to advance and take a German machine gun post. It is said that even the Germans – who knew that they were literally minutes away from a ceasefire – tried to stop the American attack. But when it became clear that the Americans would not stop, the Germans fired on their attackers and Gunter was killed. His divisional record stated : “Almost as he fell, the gunfire died away and an appalling silence prevailed.” Information about German casualties is harder to find. However, it may well be that the last casualty of World War I was in reality a junior German officer called Tomas who approached some Americans to tell them that the War was over and that they could have the house he and his men were just vacating. However, no one had told the Americans of the Armistice because of a communications breakdown and Tomas was shot as he approached them after 11.00 a.m. Officially, over 10,000 men were killed, wounded or went missing on November 11, 1918. American forces alone suffered over 3,000 casualties. When these losses became public knowledge, the anger at home in America was so great that Congress held a hearing regarding the matter. In November 1919, Pershing faced a House of Representatives Committee on Military Affairs that examined whether senior army commanders had acted appropriately in the last few days of the War. However, no one was ever charged with negligence and Pershing remained unapologetic, convinced that the Germans had got off lightly with the terms of the Armistice. He also stated that although he knew about the timing of the Armistice, he simply did not trust the Germans to carry out their obligations. He, therefore, as commander in chief, ordered the army to carry on as it would normally do, as any “judicious commander” would have done. Pershing also pointed out that he was merely carrying out the orders of the Allies Supreme Commander, Marshall Ferdinand Foch, that were to “pursue the field greys (Germans) until the last minute." [With thanks to History Learning Site, which you can access at HistoryLearningSite.co.uk.] ~~~~~ World War I, perhaps the most horrifying war ever fought, produced the greatest novel ever written about war - All Quiet on the Western Front by Erich Maria Remarque. It is the story of a young German soldier who decribes his experience : "I am young, I am twenty; and yet I know nothing of life but despair, death, fear, and fatuous superficiality cast over an abyss of sorrow. I see how peoples are set against one another and unknowingly, foolishly, obediently, innocently slay one another." The young man is finally killed, and the description of his death cannot help but make any reader's eyes sting with tears : "He fell in October 1918, on a day so quiet and still on the whole front, that the army report confined itself to the single sentence: All quiet on the Western Front. He had fallen forward and lay on the earth as though sleeping. Turning him over one saw that he could not have suffered long; his face had an expression of calm, as though almost glad the end had come."