Comments on: World War I: Wasted Lives on Armistice Day

By: louis m brunyansky

louis m brunyansky — Tue, 17 Jan 2012 04:14:38 +0000

I came to this site after watching a documentary about Hitlers rise to power. Having served in combat in Viet Nam, I find the ordering of attacks at the last minute repugnant. War is a bad and dangerous business at best (When you are on the winning side), mixing in a personal quest for "Glory" at the cost of additional friendly and enemy lives only makes it worse. NO ONE will win my acclaim with out being in the front lines.

By: 11/11/1918 This Day in History – Special « Amy In The Studio

11/11/1918 This Day in History – Special « Amy In The Studio — Sun, 13 Nov 2011 15:55:54 +0000

[...] http://www.historynet.com/world-war-i-wasted-lives-on-armistice-day.htm [...]

By: Andrew Chambers

Andrew Chambers — Fri, 05 Aug 2011 14:20:55 +0000

WW I was awful – brave people that fought there.

By: Frank Perkin

Frank Perkin — Fri, 17 Jun 2011 01:03:48 +0000

It should also be noted that Maj. General Haan of the 32nd "Red arrow" Div resisted Pershing's pressure to attack in the final days of the war. A real hero in my opinion. I like to think that may of saved the life of my Great Grandfather. He was Captain Orra L Norris who the the regimental surgeon of the 26th Inf.

By: Michael Glenn

Michael Glenn — Wed, 23 Mar 2011 07:08:09 +0000

Seems to me like more West Pointer crimes covered up. Yes, we need some sort of leadership for the Army, and our present system works better than the other things we've tried– but I think it's clear that there are problems, and many many many crimes of unnecessarily wasting lives committed by commissioned officers throughout the history of our military. It shows in the exchange between Congressman Bland and General Conner:

'I am convinced,' Bland continued, 'that on November 11 there was not any officer of very high rank taking any chance of losing his own life….'

Conner, visibly seething, retorted, 'The statement made by you, I think, Mr. Bland, is exceedingly unjust, and, as an officer who was over there, I resent it to the highest possible degree.'

Bland shot back, 'I resent the fact that these lives were lost and the American people resent the fact that these lives were lost; and we have a right to question the motive, if necessary, of the men who have occasioned this loss of life.'

Seems like Conner resented Bland's comment so much because it was in fact true and entirely justified by General Conner's (and other officer's) own conduct. No senior officers put their lives on the line on the last day– that was something only the enlisted and junior officers were made to do. The waste of lives after the Armistice was signed on 11 Nov 1918 was nothing short of overt murder by our military leadership, and it's a further crime that as usual, the officers who perpetrated this crime got away with it. And we STILL have the same kind of piss-poor criminally inept and/or criminally wasteful leadership in the officer ranks today!

By: silence dogood

silence dogood — Wed, 09 Mar 2011 12:52:04 +0000

Are you sure the reason Congress demanded that the report be changed wasn't realism? First, these military commander didn't know if the armistice was signed that or if the hundreds of thousands of armed, belligerent enemy soldiers in trenches just across the way, would or would not surrender in a time of poor communication and possible failure in leadership in the Enemy command. This kind of Allied show of force would have made it clear who was in charge. It also appears that this was a decision made by the unified command because the British were similarly engaged. These men did not die in vain. In my opinion this article borders on armchair, liberal revisionist history. Let's try to keep it real: Hitler was back at it a mere twenty yrs later. Maybe these Allied leaders in the unified command knew something we didn't? I wonder if the same revisionists like Congressman Johnson and their kind weren't appeasing Hitler, too– just twenty years later. The U.S. Military's most faithful ally is vigilance. Semper Fi.

By: RWWhitney

RWWhitney — Sun, 06 Mar 2011 00:29:12 +0000

Won't we ever learn

By: Turcja

Turcja — Mon, 13 Dec 2010 19:07:43 +0000

Hi, was just browsing through the internet looking for some information and came across your blog. I am impressed by the information that you have on this blog. It shows how well you understand this subject. Bookmarked this page, will come back for more. You, my friend, ROCK!!!

By: JUStin Leich

JUStin Leich — Mon, 15 Nov 2010 02:34:43 +0000

Can anybody summarize this for me in a couple paragraphs?

By: Donald E. Garcia

Donald E. Garcia — Fri, 12 Nov 2010 06:27:14 +0000

I just found the article: World War I: Wasted Lives on Armistice Day, by J. Persico, and I would like to adda small footnote to this article.
My father, Joseph E. Garcia, entered the WWI as a guardsman with the 42 Inf. Division from New Mexico. He was wounded and gasses, and returned to service as a driver for the officer corp and especially for his Divisional officer Col. Douglas MacArthur.He later became a pool diver for the 1st Army officer corp, based out of Chaumony, France. It was here where be related his story or the 11 November 1918 and the "end of the fighting".
I was fortunate to have been able to have done an extensive oral tape history with my father, with relation to his early life and his WWI experiences. He related to me how when they had heard that an armistice was to become effective, a number of officers were taken to an overlooking site above Stenay, France (along the Muese River), to observe the "end of the fighting".
My father was talking with several other officer pool drivers and were observeing the artillery barrage that both sides were performing. He said, "it seemed that both side were trying to use up every last piece of ammunitions on each other, before the armictice came into effect."
In the minuets before the armistice was to come into effect, a German shell hit just below where they were standing and a piece of sharpnel hit the man next to where my father was standing and "killed him instantly".
Each 11 November, when I was growing-up, my father and I would go to mass and we would remember the story and the soul of that soldier who passed away that morning. Mr father would relate "how utterly useless those deaths were in those final hours".