Blood Lust to the End



Canadian Great War Memorial, Vimy.



The Germans had requested peace negotiations five weeks before the Armistice.  Half a million causalities took place during those weeks.

The Armistice (in truth it was a German surrender - at the insistence of Marshall Foch) was signed at 5:00 a.m. to take effect at 11:00 a.m.   Word sped quickly down the lines. Some Commanders could not respect the spirit of the Armistice and insisted that the fight be carried on until the magical hour of 11:00 a.m.   There were more casualties in those five hours than for both sides than on D-Day.

Black members of the American 92nd Division were ordered to advance  at 10:30 a.m. The "official" toll recorded seventeen deaths and three hundred and two missing or wounded.

The blood lust of the politicians and the generals led to 

More than Nine Million men killed in action.

At least Twenty One Million wounded, many maimed beyond belief.

Countless civilian deaths including just short of half a million Germans who died of starvation and malnutrition as a result of the tight British Royal Navy blockade.

So many widows, so many orphans, so many grieving Mums and Dads.

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A British boy child was born at exactly 11:00 a.m. on November 11th.  His parents named him Pax  (Peace).  He was killed at age 21 in the next war.

In truth the Great War  (World War One) never ended.  It was merely placed into an intermission until 1939 and World War Two.

Here we are on the cusp of the 100th anniversary of the Armistice.

THE BLOOD LUST CONTINUES:  Do not forget this on Armistice Day/Remembrance Day/Veterans Day commemorations at the 11th Hour of the 11th Day in the 11th Month one hundred years on.

And remember this: World War One was not a made for television docudrama shot in grainy back and white.


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