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'The day! Nine years ago almost to the moment a great silence fell over 400 miles of battle front. The uncanniness, the unreality of that sudden hush! It was too solemn for cheers. A sense of awe rather than of jubilation filled men's souls. It meant that the greatest conflict ever waged between men was over.
"The place! This God's acre, where is traced indelibly in these rows of glorious stones the symbol of the spirit of this great country, and the record of the nation's sacrifice in the cause of freedom.
"Through the days to come, may the two nations represented here never forget the spirit of this moment, nor lose sight of the mutual glory of this cross, our renewed pledge of brotherhood, and the symbol of a fellowship faithful even unto death."
Commonwealth. Two minutes of awful silence fell upon the 13,909,-782 square miles over which British flags fly. In London, in Whitehall, before the Cenotaph, the Commonwealth's monument to her 946,023 War dead, stood, bareheaded, King George, the Prince of Wales, the Duke of York, Prime Minister Stanley Baldwin, and three onetime Prime Ministers: Arthur James Balfour, David Lloyd George, James Ramsay MacDonald. Behind them, all bareheaded, were tens of thousands of loyal subjects, bowed in prayer.
The tomb of the Unknown Soldier was the scene of an immense visiting concourse of people. Among the numerous wreaths laid was one of yellow flowers, bearing the inscription: "To the great unknown soldiers of all nations. From a German Girl."
At Mons, Belgium, where the "Contemptibles"*made their famed stand, 200 veterans attended a commemorative service on the former battlefield.
France. Surrounded by 250 War flags, President Gaston Doumergue rendered homage to the Unknown Soldier at the tomb beneath the Arc de Triomphe and to the 1,393,388 men who gave their lives for France. Along the Champs Elysees swung a great military parade to the stirring tune of the "Marseillaise." Despite the steady drizzle of rain, huge crowds converged on the Place de 1'Etoile, in the centre of which is the famed Arc de Triomphe. Through the land solemn memorial services were held.
At Rethondes in the Forest of Compiègne, a few yards from the spot where the armistice was signed, the famed wagon-lit was housed in a shelter provided by Arthur Henry Fleming of Pasadena, Calif.
Other Allies. With the exception of Italy, who celebrates her armistice with Austria on Nov. 4 (the official celebrations this year were held on Nov. 6, a Sunday, in conformity with Signor Mussolini's recent decree prohibiting all celebrations, except on the Sabbath), all the former Allied nations held memorial ceremonies and exercises.
Germany. Armistice Day in Germany was a day of work. "It is best to bury bygones," was the comment of the man-in-the-street.
In Washington, the German Embassy flew its flag in honor of the day—allegedly the only Allied capital in the world in which this tribute was paid by the former enemy state. The Legations of Austria, Hungary, Bulgaria also flew their flags.
The "contemptible little army" was a phrase coined by Kaiser Wilhelm II and referred to the first contingent of the British regulars.