"Eleventh Month, Eleventh Day, Eleventh Hour - Armistice Day, 1918 - World War I and Its Violent Climax" by Joseph Persico

Above: "Eleventh Month, Eleventh Day, Eleventh Hour - Armistice Day, 1918 - World War I and Its Violent Climax. Joseph Persico. 399 Pages.

America's contribution, though, was seminal in winning the war.

I completed reading this book today.

On 01 October 2015 I stood on the Riqueval Bridge, Bellecourt, France, spanning the St. Quentin Canal, and listened to battle guide Patrick Mercer recount the story of The Battle of St. Quentin Canal. The WWI battle started on 24 September 1918 and ended when allied troops captured the bridge, five days later, on 29 September 1918.

I was near the end of a battlefield tour that had mostly comprised battlefield sites of the first three years of the four year war along the northern part of the Western Front: Mons, Ypres, Neuve Chappelle, Somme, Loos, Vimy Ridge and others). St. Quentin Canal, a 1918 battle, was the only battlefield site I saw where American troops fought.

It was at St. Quentin Canal that Australian general, Sir John Monash, led British, Australian and American forces to make the first allied penetration of the Hindenberg Line. It would only be another twelve days before the Armistice was signed, ending WWI.

This book focuses on the final year, 1918, of WWI. The book places disproportionate emphasis on the final days of the war. I was glad to read this book, because my focus on studying WWI had shortchanged the final year of fighting. This book remedied that deficiency.

America declared war on Germany in April 1917, however, the United States was not able to build up troop strength to have any kind of impact on the fighting until March/April of 1918. So, in a war which lasted four years, America only effectively fought in one of those years, 1918... and then, woth only real fighting effectiveness, for the final seven months of the war.

America's contribution, though, was seminal in winning the war.
During 1917 the allies fighting on the Western Front had their backs to the wall.

The French were worn and tired. They were recovering from their troop mutinies of 1916 at Verdun.

The British army exceeded 4MM troops but they were war weary. How long could they continue to throw their young treasure over trench lines only to suffer horrendous casualties from the German machine gun?

Russia had capitulated to the Bolsheviks and withdrew from the war... effectively, in late 1917, and officially, signing the Treaty of Brest-Litovsk with the Germans in March of 1918.

Germany took advantage of the war's wind down on the Eastern Front to bring a half million troops from the east to mount what they hoped would be a final, war winning assault against the French and British on the Western Front.

The German "Spring 1918 Offensive" was successful in penetrating allied lines. The Germans reached to just forty miles from Paris. But, German troops were also tired and too interested in reveling in the bounty of French prosperity behind the lines. The German Spring Offensive, in a metaphorical sense, "ran out of gas."

So, post German Spring Offensive, the lines reverted back to the Western Front trenches that had defined the war for the previous three years. It was from this point that the Americans began to fight... and make a difference.

The book includes many accounts of war time life accumulated from personal diaries.

The discussion of the six hour period between the time that the Armistice was announced and the time that it was to take effect... 11:00 AM, 11 November (11th month), is fascinating and thought provoking.

Of sixteen US divisions in the fight, seven divisional commanders chose to hold back their troops in the final hours where it was known the war was coming to an end. But, nine US Divisional commanders pushed the fight forward.

It has been estimated that 6000 troops, both sides, lost their lives during a period when it was known that the war would end only hours hence. The book has many accounts of these tragic end of war deaths. There are accounts of some British soldiers who had been in Europe fighting for four years only to lose their lives in the final minutes of the war.

One US brigade on the front lines didn't get the message of the Armistice... or, chose to ignore it. At 12:15 PM, an hour and fifteen minutes after the war officially ended, a German Captain, with a white flag and unarmed, walked towards the US position with the intent of offering the American troops some extra lodging. Before he had the chance to make his offer, he was shot between the eyes.

We learn a lot about American personalities in WWI that were to become great figures during WWII and after.

Colonel George C. Marshall, military Commander in Chief of all American forces during WWII, was having breakfast in a French home near the front lines. At 10:30 AM on 11 November, the day of the Armistice, he was nearly killed by a friendly fire bomb accidentally dropped by an American pilot. He was sufficiently injured that he had to be hospitalized.

Harry Truman, FDR's successor as President of the United States, an artillery unit commander, under orders from his Division Commander, kept his guns firing until exactly 11:00 AM on the day of the Armistice.

General Douglas McCarthur was the youngest General in WWI. He was notoriously brash but backed up his braggadocio with heroics... leading his troops over the trench tops into battle... as opposed to "leading from behind."

Colonel George C. Patton distinguished himself in WWI fighting.

General George - Black Jack - Pershing, head of American forces in Europe, was angry that an Armistice was declared. He felt, probably correctly in hindsight, that stopping the war before the Germans were truly defeated, would render them a threat down the road. Roundly defeating them, he felt, would eliminate the risk of a German resurgence anytime soon.

Who knew, at that time, that a WWI German Corporal, Adolph Hitler, would pick up on that theme (Pershing's worry) to renew German hostilities towards Europe only 20 years later.

We learn from the book that Hitler was a brave soldier in WWI, valued by his superiors. But, his performance reports say he was not suited for leadership. So, Hitler remained a Corporal throughout the entire four years of the war. Hitler wrote in "Mein Kamph" that WWI was the happiest time of his life.

The final chapter of the book is worth reading independently of the book. It is a terrific summary analysis of the lessons learned from WWI.

If you like to read about WWI and know not a lot about the fighting during the last year of the war, you will enjoy this book.