{"id":15455,"date":"2018-11-09T11:00:57","date_gmt":"2018-11-09T16:00:57","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov\/?p=15455"},"modified":"2023-11-16T09:16:19","modified_gmt":"2023-11-16T14:16:19","slug":"one-medical-officers-armistice-day","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/circulatingnow.nlm.nih.gov\/2018\/11\/09\/one-medical-officers-armistice-day\/","title":{"rendered":"One Medical Officer\u2019s Armistice Day"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Susan L. Speaker ~<\/em><\/p>\n

The newspaper headlines on November 11, 1918 were exultant: after more than four long years, the Great War was over!<\/p>\n

\"Germany<\/a>
New York Tribune<\/em> Armistice Headline\u00a0<\/em>Read More at Library of Congress in Chronicling America<\/em><\/a><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

For those close to the front lines, however, the cease-fire at 11:00 AM that day was almost surreal. Stanhope Bayne-Jones<\/a>, an American medical officer who had been working at the front since mid-1917<\/a>, wrote to his sister Marian that evening and noted:<\/p>\n

\"Stanhope<\/a>\u201cOur guns had stopped\u2014and no shells were coming on us. It seemed mysterious, queer, unbelievable. All the men knew what the silence meant, but nobody shouted or threw his hat in the air.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Later in the day, he said, the men on both sides cheered up, and began shooting off flares and rockets to celebrate.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/a>
National Library of Medicine<\/em>
Stanhope Bayne-Jones Papers<\/em><\/a>, MSC 155, Box 7, Folder 21<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The last few months of the war were marked by fierce battles, as Allied forces moved to reverse Germany\u2019s successful March offensive. The eastward push took the armies back over territory littered with remains from the early years of the conflict. Bayne-Jones\u2019 letters from that autumn describe camping in the remaining dugouts and seeing bones, equipment, shells, and boots left from the battle of Verdun (February\u2013December 1916); the weary medical officer was confident that the Allies would soon conquer the Germans. But though there were rumors of peace overtures from the Germans, and talk of an armistice, Bayne-Jones felt that such news was \u201cbad for the troops, as it may make them relax their efforts. We must whip the Boche\u2014and then our diplomats may talk. The best principle I know is \u2013 \u201cleave it to [Marshal Ferdinand] Foch.\u201d<\/p>\n