Today, November 11, 2018, is the 100th anniversary of the signing of the Armistice of Compiègne that ended the Great War, also known as the First World War. The Allies had managed to outlast Germany. More than 9 million combatants and 7 million civilians were left dead.
Nearly every town and village in France has monuments to the military personnel who died in the Great War. This one is in the little town of Vouvant in the Vendée.
It stands in front of the village hall (la mairie) and across the road from the village church. Nearly 1.5 million members of the French military forces were killed during the war and another 2 million were injured, many gravely.
About 900,000 British military personnel also lost their lives. U.S. losses included nearly 120,000 members of the military. Tens or hundreds of thousands of civilians in many countries, including France and Germany, were killed. It took Europe many decades to recover from such losses. Lest we forget...
The numbers are truly staggering. As another blogger mentioned, the vast majority of the British killed were between the ages of 16 and 24.
ReplyDeleteWe should never forget, but we do seem to repeat the same mistakes. Today is my grandfather's birthday. He was always happy that the armistice came on his birthday.
ReplyDeleteJust looked at the replay of the celebration of Armistice Day 1918 at the Arch of Triomphe. Very moving. Pity those poor soldiers having to stand motionless for the duration under the rain. Mr. Trump wouldn't mix with peons (the other heads of state) walking up to the Arch, so he came by himself. Statesmanship?
ReplyDeleteCouldn't see any representative of the United Kingdom. Not even a flag! Didn't they fight also in the Great War? La clé est cassée dans la serrure? I saw an Australian flag, though.
Macron met Theresa May in Albert and went with her to Thiepval where so many British soldiers are buried. I just learnt one of Macron's great-grandfathers was British.
A perfect post for Veteran's Day.
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