ARMISTICE DAY

Evening Star, Issue 20020, 10 November 1928, Page 23

ARMISTICE DAY

A STORY OF BRITISH EFFORT [By Ret. W. B. Scott, Chaplain to tho Forces.] There is nothing in the world that may be compared with the two minutes silence of that vast crowd that gathers round the Cenotaph in London # at II o’clock on the eleventh day, in the eleventh month of the year. It .is an unforgettable experience. The chill mists of a November morning are being gently warmed by a faint amber glow, as the early sun slowly mounts the sky. The air is still and peaceful, an _ unusual experience in London, carrying clearly every whisper of those gathered to do honour to Britain’s illustrious dead. A strange spirit broods over everyone assembled in that secred place. It is intangible, but it is there. It is a time of very tense'emotion, the day of days in all the year to London Just at the moment when the great silence is about to fall upon the crowd no one is able to whisper, for eyes are hot, lips are parched, and throats are As two minutes of dead, blank silence seem to move on leaden wings, one cannot help but wonder what thoughts and memories are coming to the assembled host. What a rush of sacred and very secret memories they must be! _ Then one is suddenly brought to a realisation of tho rigdness of one’s own body, and how interminable those two minutes seem to be! . You feel that if it lasts much longer you will Then tho air is suddenly "rent with the clear notes of the bugles sounding ‘The Last Post.’ The London ‘ Times,’ on one occasion, said: “ Time is a soothing god, and as the years roll on, those who have felt the cruellest pangs of bereavement are fewer, and, while the grief is with them always, the first anguish of the survivors is tempered and assuaged. But this natural process has not lessened, nor is there any sign that it will lessen the appeal of Armistice Day to the masses of tho people. As the day returns, the devotion to all that it signifies seems more widespread and more earnest.”

Indeed, the feeling as to the manner in which the day should bo observed in England has led to something in the nature of a controversy. An increasing number of people resent the jollity of the afternoon and evening gatherings, while a minority declare that it should be a day of rejoicing. The great majority are_ satisfied to regard the morning as Britain’s memorial tribute to its glorious dead, and the remainder of tho day as a time of rejoicing that the tocsin of war sounds no more.

The tenth anniversary of Armistice Day should lead us in these southern seas to call to mind something of what was done by Britain during those days when she fought with splendour, suffered with splendour, held on with splendour until resistance was broken and Britain was free. Quite naturally the words of Kipling’s great ‘ Recessional ’ come to our minds on this anniversary:

Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet, Lest we forgot, lest we forget I In 1914 Britain’s entire Army— Regulars, Reserves, and Territorials—totalled only 700,000 men, while in 1918 she had in training, at the front, and in her Navy no less than 8,500,000 men. What did that mean? Simply that every third male, who was not a child, an invalid, or an ancient, was in the Army or Navy. This vast host included boys of eighteen years, men of more than fifty, and all the ages in between.

In 1918 Mr Lloyd George told the House of Commons -that foreign statesmen had informed him that no nation in the whole history of mankind had over approached this record. Are wo in danger of forgetting the terrible toll in casualties that the British nation had to pay? The total amounted to 3,049,971, of which number 1,609,825 were killed. When the first shot was fired in 1914 the British Navy was the strongest in the world, being estimated at 2,500,000 tons. In 1918 it had grown to 8,000,000 tons. Its operations during the years of war had been ceaseless, and had extended over many hundreds of thousands of square miles of sea. Mr Lloyd George summed up the position in an. eloquent passage: “ The grim struggle has neon prolonged for four years without a break. No darkness arrests _ our Navy. No weather and no winter stops it. The Navy never goes into winter quarters. The fight goes on without ceasing, and I think many do not realise that this is the decisive struggle of the war.” Those of us who were in Germany realised the truth of these words, for we were told that only the blockade compelled the enemy to capitulate. Ten per cent, of thoso who were on active service on the high seas wen killed or died from wounds. Some oi the men who escaped drowning when : vessel was torpedoed or mined, repeatei the experience five, six, and even sever times. Surely these wore the boys ol the bulldog breed that made old England’s name?

Tho great and final offensive of the enemy commenced on March 21, 1918. Tbe enemy was confident, and up til: April 17 ho had 127 divisions in the field. No less than 102 of these divisions were used against the British front. Within a month of the commencement of the offensive Britain had sent 355,000 men across the Channel, and every cannon and machine gun that had been captured when the enemy had broken through had been replaced, it was a marvellous performance.

When the Prime Minister described to the House oi Commons the scene, as ho oaw it, of these soldiers, many of them only eighteen years of age, marching by torcnlight from tho boats at Boulogne, every member of tlu House was tnriiled.

The full story of Britain’s women will never be told. Seven million women were engaged in making munitions of war and other necessaries foi the campaign. They handled deadly T.N.T., fulminate of mercury, ant. other compositions as if they wen simply putting up tea, flour, and sugar. Many of tuem destroyed tlien health, their hair, and their good looks, but their only reply was: “ cest la guerre,” and they carried on. But there were other things that the women did. Who can ever forget theii self-denying work for the convalescent soldier or Hie boys on leave? No praisi for the work of our womenkind in all branches of war work can bo too lavish.

Then came the day prayed for, worked for, fought for, when iu the Compeigne Forest Foch, Wemyss, and Weygand received the Germ..n delegation headed by Erzberger. The military members saluted and the civilians bowed. In strict accordance with military etiquette Marshal Foch demanded: “Who are you?” and Erzberger replied: “We are representatives of the German Government come to demand an armistice,” Then terms were laid down, and they were so severe from the German viewpoint that a messenger had to be despatched to headquarters to submit the terms, which were ultimately accepted, ami so it came to pass that on Monday, November 11, 1918, at 11 a.m., a state of war ceased, never to be resumed. To-day we pray with those of old: “ Give peace in our time, 0 Lord; scatter those that delight in war.” Ten years ago and the world went mad with joy. The tumult and the shouting di® — The captains and tho kings depart; Still stands Thine ancient sacrifice, In humble and a contrite heart. Lord God of Hosts, be with us yet, Lest fire forget; Lest wo forget..