WORLD WAR 1 ARMISTICE MORNING November 11, 1918.
The Victors and the Vanquished
Taken on 11 November 1918 in the forest of Compiegne after reaching an agreement for the armistice that ended World War I.
THE SIGNING OF THE ARMISTICE:
At 5:00 on Monday morning, November 11, 1918, nine grim men agreed to
sign the papers laid out on a table in a railroad carriage parked in a
forest 37 miles north of Paris. At 5:12, two French generals, three
British naval officers, two German politicians, a German general and a
German naval officer, started signing the Armistice which would end the
World War that had raged for more than four years. The last signature
was in place by 5:20, making it official: at 11:00, all fighting would
cease. By 5:40 AM, the news of the signing had reached the capital
cities where impromptu celebrations broke out. Big Ben rang out in
London for the first time since 1914.
Crowds in Philadelphia:
WW1: The announcing of the armistice on November 11, 1918, was the
occasion for a monster celebration in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania.
Thousands massed on all sides of the replica of the Statue of Liberty on
Broad Street, and cheered unceasingly.
Business as Usual:
Although it took longer for the soldiers in the trenches to get the
news, the generals along the Western Front knew the Armistice would be
signed at 5:00 and that fighting would stop six hours later. Until then,
they were determined to gain favorable positions, should the cease fire
fail, and, not incidentally, to continue to punish the Germans up until
the very last minute.
U.S. and French Generals:
Under
American General Pershing launched attacks as late as 10:30 AM. Some
French units were ordered to attack at 9:00 AM and cease at 11:00. The
British attacked, relishing the idea of recapturing Mons, Belgium on the
last day of the war. Mons was the site of their first battle and first
defeat in August 1914. Artillery batteries fired salvo after salvo into
the German lines simply to avoid having to haul the unused shells away.
11,000 Casualties That Morning:
On that morning of November 11, while the world started to celebrate
and word continued to filter down to the troops that the fighting would
cease at 11:00, there were almost 11,000 casualties, including almost
2,700 killed.
British Empire Losses:
British Empire losses
that morning were around 2,400. Forty-year-old Private George Edwin
Ellison was the last British soldier to die at 9:30 as he scouted the
outskirts of Mons at the same place where the first British soldier
died. George was one of the few “old soldiers” who had been shipped
across the channel in 1914 and had fought at Mons in September of that
year. Against all odds he had survived over four years in the trenches
to be killed 90 minutes before the end of the fighting. The last
Canadian to die was 25 year old Private George Lawrence Price. He was
shot by a sniper at 10:58AM.
French Losses:
The French losses
that morning were estimated at 1,170. Augustin Trebuchon was the last
French soldier to die. He was shot at 10:50 as he carried the message to
the front that hot soup would be served after 11:00. It was decided by
the French leaders that no French soldiers were killed that day so the
death records of all French soldiers killed on November 11 stated that
they had died on November 10.
American Losses:
American
losses that morning were estimated as high as 3,500. Some of Pershing's
generals saw a last chance at glory and, believing the Armistice was
letting the Germans off the hook, Pershing did nothing to dissuade them.
US Marines suffered more than 1,100 casualties trying to cross the
River Meuse. Had they been allowed to wait until 11:00, they could have
safely crossed the river with no casualties. Henry Gunther was the last
American and the last Allied soldier to be killed. He and others
advanced through fog toward two German machine guns. The Germans fired a
burst over their heads and the Americans dropped to the ground. The
Germans, knowing that it was almost 11:00, assumed that would be the end
of it, but Gunther got back up and started running at them. The Germans
shouted and waved at him to stop, but when he didn't, they fired a
burst of five shots. One of them struck Gunther in the left temple,
killing him instantly. It was 10:59, 60 seconds before the end of the
war.
German Losses:
German losses that morning were about
4,100 as many of them were retreating and therefore more exposed.
Surviving German records are not clear about the last German killed in
the war, but the last German (and last soldier) killed may have been a
Lieutenant Tomas. After 11:00, he approached some American soldiers to
let them know that, since the war was over, he and his men were vacating
a house and it would be available. Unfortunately, no one had informed
the Americans of the Armistice and they shot him.
Abnormal Wastage:
During the war, the British, with their flair for euphemism, came up
with a term for soldiers killed, wounded, or captured outside set-piece
battles: normal wastage. During some weeks more than 5,000 British
casualties were classified as normal wastage. On the morning of November
11, 1918, with only a few hours to endure and when all the generals
could have taken a nap, nearly 11,000 men on both sides were killed,
wounded, captured...wasted.
Payback:
The harshness of the
terms of the Armistice and the Treaty of Versailles that followed
ensured that there would be a World War Twenty-two years later, Hitler
and his generals forced the French to sign surrender papers in the very
same railroad carriage at the very same spot that the Armistice of
November 11, 1918 was signed.
The Victors 22 Years Later:
The Fate of the Railroad Carriage
When the Allies were closing in near the end of World War Two, Hitler
had the railroad carriage that had been used in the German surrender in
1918 and the French surrender in 1940 blown to pieces, fearing the
humiliation of having to surrender in that same carriage.
Today
November 10th 2018 Merkel said she was moved by the ceremony and
described Macron's invitation as a "very symbolic gesture."
101 YEARS LATER:
In a powerful show of unity, Macron and Merkel sat inside the
reconstructed teak-lined rail wagon in which the peace charter was
signed and looked through a book of remembrance and each signed the
book.
EPITAPH:
"Europe has been at peace for 73 years. It is
at peace because we want it to be, because Germany and France want
peace," Macron told several youngsters, with Merkel at his side,
referring to the peace since the end of World War Two in 1945.
"And so the message, if we want to live up to the sacrifice of those
soldiers who said 'Never again!', is to never yield to our weakest
instincts, nor to efforts to divide us."
Written by Richard Abbenbroek and Some Photos by Richard Abbenbroek.
