Armistice Day

November 11, 1918 was the day the War to End All Wars ended, 100 years ago today.  This photo is a Ford three ton tank that was just about to enter mass production.  Over a thousand of them would have been fielded had the war gone on just a bit longer.  Only six were actually constructed.

The First World War was in my opinion the worst war to have had to fight in.  On top of all the usual privations of war, there was widespread use of machine guns, poison gas, and massive artillery, and the generals took several years of trial and error to figure out ways to defend against these weapons. The photo is an eight inch Newton Mortar, HaT makes one with their American WWI troops.

The War of the Nations also was one of those turning point wars.  Here we see a light tank driving past horse cavalry.  The first time mechanized armies went to war and the last time both sides used millions of horses in the front lines.  The horse had been used in war since before Biblical times.

The Great War saw an American Army transported overseas to fight in Europe for the first time.  The US Army expanded so fast and the European armies had sustained so many casualties that Americans wore not only American, but British and French uniforms, and carried British and French rifles, machine guns, used their tanks, artillery and flew their airplanes.

World War One was also the first of the two World Wars, with essentially the same nations fighting each other only a generation apart.  In both wars tanks were an important part of the war, and this photo shows an American tank built in California.  I have read that 50 were ordered but most sources say only one was ever built.  It was used for training the California National Guard and in recruiting.

Confederate Army Captain (former) Edward Camden, Volusia County, Florida April 1917.  He rode with Stonewall Jackson in the American Civil War.  He put on his war veterans uniform and tried to register for the draft on the first day of the War to Make the World Safe for Democracy.  I pray that our nation will be so united as it was on that day, and that we won't have a need for soldiers.