Can you imagine what Paris was like on Armistice Day in 1918?
Delirious with joy would work as a description!
Sobered, but relieved.
Triumphant yet mourning.
It was all those things and more.
That chapter, the final one, was the easiest and most fun to write in A Poppy in Remembrance.
11 in the morning on the 11th of November, 1918
Representatives of the Allied forces and the Axis forces met in the allied supreme commander’s private railcar near the forest of Compiègne less than 40 miles north of Paris.
For the Allies, the personnel involved were all military, according to Wikipedia. The two signatories were:
Field Marshal of France Ferdinand Foch, the Allied supreme commander and First Sea Lord Admiral Rosslyn Wemyss, the British representative
For Germany, the four signatories were a civilian politician, Matthias Erzberger, Count Alfred von Oberndorff, from the Foreign Ministry plus an army and navy captain.
They signed the extensive documents at five o’clock in the morning.
The Armistice went into effect at 11 o’clock in the morning, Paris time, throughout the theaters of war.
Here is an astounding recording of the last minute of the war--stopped in silence and followed by the glorious sound of hope.
From the top of the Eiffel Tower came the first “shot of peace,” at 11 on that foggy morning in Paris and then the church bells began to ring.
The last casualties
The six-hour time delay between the official signing and the start of the Armistice did not mean soldiers put down their arms.
In some cases, firing from the Allied side went on the rest of the morning at German targets as they tried to use up their spare ammunition.
The Allies also needed to make sure that should the Armistice not hold, they would remain in strategic positions.
More than 2700 soldiers died on the final day of the war and more than 8,000 were injured.
The last soldier killed before the Armistice was an American.
No one was happier to see the end of war, alive, than the soldiers. (Wikimedia Commons)
He died at 10:59 while deliberately charging a German trench, apparently in an attempt to salvage his honor after a recent demotion in rank.
The US Navy fired the final gun at 10:57:30, “timed to land far behind the German front line just before the scheduled Armistice.”
Some troops marched across “No-Man’s Land,” at the signal to shake hands, but for most, it was a quiet, sober reflection that day.
Thankful to be alive, no one knew better than a soldier the high price so many had paid for the world to reach an Armistice.
From A Poppy in Remembrance
In the final chapter of A Poppy in Remembrance, Claire Meacham trained to Paris in time to celebrate with her parents.
Here’s a taste from the final scenes.
The French newspapers splashed EXTRA! above the fold. Boys sold papers on the street, crowds gathered, and the bells of Paris began to toll, chime, clang, and ring at eleven o’clock.
A large gun fired from the top of the Eiffel Tower and flags flew from every building.
Shouting and singing “La Marseillaise” began spontaneously and as they walked the streets, Anne and Claire saw few dry eyes.
People crowded the boulevards, walking arm in arm.
Soldiers danced among the Parisians, exchanging hats and singing. Women and children tossed flowers and handheld flags flourished.
Anne and Claire couldn’t resist laughing and singing with the excited crowds.
So many people swarmed the street, cars could not move.
Biplanes flying over the city dropped slips of paper. Claire read one aloud: “Congratulations to France on the recovery of her lost children.”
They pushed through the throngs to reach overflowing Notre-Dame Cathedral. High above, the big Emmanuel bell rang continually.
“They say it will toll for eleven hours,” a priest told them. “God is good. We are so thankful.”
Claire wrote it down, but knew she’d never forget.
The Great War was over. Now, the world needed to put itself back together.
It was harder than anyone ever dreamed.
Armistice Day, Paris, by Frank Myers Boggs; Metropolitan Museum of Art (Public Domain)
Tweetables
Paris on the WWI Armistice Day. Click to Tweet
What happened in Paris at 11 o’clock on November 11, 1918? Click to Tweet
Celebrating the end of the Great War in Paris. Click to Tweet
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