November 11th is a public holiday throughout Francewith businesses and schools closed to commemorate the anniversary of the end of World War I, which occurred on the eleventh hour of the eleventh day in the eleventh month in the year 1918. The war ended when the Allies and the Germans signed the Armistice.
Veterans of the World War I and II wars place wreaths at the base of monuments, and march in parades, the principal one being a very spectacular as well as solemn event at the "Arc de Triomphe" in Paris. The resounding echoes of buglers playing the "Last Post" can be heard everywhere. The media offer special broadcasts honoring the sacrifice all those who have died, or been wounded, fighting for their respective countries made for freedom.
Of particular historic importance is a battle which, according to historians, took place in 1916 in the northeastern border region of France. The Germans launched an attack, trying to take one small hill. 98 French survived out of 1,200. Of six infantry companies only 64 men survived. This was where Marshall Petain's now renowned phrase, "They shall not pass" was uttered. When the battle ended in December of that year, the Germans had killed 348,000 Frenchmen but lost 328,000 of their own over a period of 300 days, establishing the longest battle of the First World War. The majority of the dead were unidentifiable and were buried in neat rows.
In spring of the following, red poppies flourished in the fields of the newly dug graves. Evidently, poppy seeds will lie underground for years and bloom if they are plowed up.
These facts have been given special significance in the recent past when the then President of France, Monsieur Francais Mitterrand and the West German Chancellor, Dr Kohl, stood together and held hands at a memorial site which houses some of the unidentifiable remains of the approximate 130,000 French and German soldiers. This The simplicity of this gesture by nation leaders is referred to today as "history in the making", when in actual fact, it is a grim reminder of past war horrors.
In reality, Armistice Day is celebrated throughout the world, in the United States as Veterans' Day and in England as Remembrance Day (to mention only two,) with similar memorial services and ceremonies.
