This Sunday marks 100 years since the end of the
First World War, a brutally horrific conflict that took
the lives of over 40 million people. Known as “The
War to End All Wars,” the seeds of the Second World
War were also sown on November 11,
1918.
England’s Imperial War Museum recently
released a recording of when the
guns fell silent for the last time. Using audio
from its collection, the IWM’s recording
was on the American front near the
French river Moselle approximately one
minute before and one minute after the
war ended. Below is the chilling sounds
of artillery coming to a resounding conclusion
before the first sounds of peace
since July 1914 brought life and hope to
the world.
There is something eerily horrific about
this recording. It is not so much the sounds
of the weapons, deafening to those on the
battlefield, but the almost instantaneous
silence followed mere minutes later by the
chirping of birds. It is frightening to think
that man has within him the power to begin
and end armed conflict with a word
and a signature and the horror just stops.
There were no cheers, no celebration because
all around them was the destruction,
the devastation and the bodies. My grandfather
said when the word came to them, they wept as one.
Overcome by exhaustion and shock there was no acknowledgement
of their place in history, no backslapping,
no grand speeches. Just silence. And tears.
It bears remembering.
To hear the audio, go to thepostnewspaper.net and
enter Silent Night into the Search bar
