On this day in military history....in 1918 and others

On this day in military histiory....in 1918. World War I ends. The war ended on the 11th month, the 11th day at the 11th hour. Nine million soldiers lost their lives and 21 million were wounded. Five million civilians also died from starvation, diesese or exposure. The war was supposed to be the "war to end all wars", but because of the term of the peacy treaty that were imposed on the Germans by the victors (especially the French), Europe was guaranteed another "war to end all wars" in a few years time.

On this day in military history....in 1921. The Tomb of the Unknown Soldier is dedicated. In every war, an unkonwn soldier is laid to rest at Arlington to remember the known dead of the war. However, because of advances in forensic medicine, Vietnam was the last war where an "unkown" soldier could be found. Let’s hope that the trend continues.

On this day in military history....in 1940. To show the Japanese exactly how it could be done, as a prequel to Pearl Harbor, British torpedo bombers attack the Italian fleet at anchor at Taranto. The attack sinks three Italian battleships, the Littorio, the Duilio and the Conti di Cavour, but due to the shallowness of the harbor, two of the three were raised and back in action after six months. The after the attack, the remaining big ships of the Italian Royal Navy were moved north to Naples where they would pose a much smaller threat to British shipping and the Japanese also had a very good example how to execute the same attack on the United States at Pearl Harbor a year later.