GLOBE AND MAIL: DOUAUMONT, FRANCE — Leaders of a united Europe on Tuesday marked the 90th anniversary of the end of the First World War, which tore the continent apart and cost millions of lives.
French President Nicolas Sarkozy and Britain's Prince Charles attended the solemn ceremony near one of the conflict's bloodiest battlefields. It was held in the northeastern French town of Douaumont, near the site of the Battle of Verdun.
There, an estimated 300,000 soldiers lost their lives in 300 days of ferocious fighting between French and German troops for control of River Meuse, a key strategic post on the eastern approach route from Germany to Paris. The French forces prevailed in December, 1916.
Prince Charles, Australian Governor-General Quentin Bryce, Mr. Sarkozy and Peter Mueller, president of German Bundesrat, laid wreaths at foot of massive French flag that soared over esplanade between two large fields of crosses — the burial markers.
Hundreds of people including veterans from other wars stood outside a huge stone ossuary in Douaumont, where the remains of unknown soldiers from both sides of the war are buried.
France has been reflecting on how best to keep the memory of the 1914-1918 war alive, following the death earlier this year of the last of the 8.4 million Frenchmen who fought in the conflict. Lazare Ponticelli died in March, at age 110.
Germany's last veteran from the war also died earlier this year, leaving only a handful of living veterans from the conflict. >>> Jenny Barchfield, Associated Press | November 11, 2008
THE TELEGRAPH: Armistice Day: Britain Remembers Its Fallen Soldiers
Britain fell silent at 11am to remember the countless soldiers who have given their lives for their country.
The three surviving veterans of the first world war, Henry Allingham, 112, Harry Patch, 110 and Bill Stone, 108, will attend a two-minute silence at The Cenotaph in Whitehall, London. They represent the Royal Air Force, the Army and the Royal Navy respectively.
Prime Minister Gordon Brown will lead the ceremony and Mr Patch will read an act of remembrance.
Earlier, at a major ceremony to mark the longest battle of the First World War on the 90th anniversary of the signing of the Armistice, the Prince of Wales joined French President Nicholas Sarkozy as guests of honour[.]
The Battle of Verdun in France claimed 300,000 lives over 10 months of trench warfare in 1916. >>> By Stephen Adams | November 11, 2008
DIE PRESSE: Australien: Ministerpräsident wünscht sich Weltfrieden
Premier Kevin Rudd erklärte beim Gedenken an das Ende des Ersten Weltkriegs vor 90 Jahren, das 21. Jahrhundert soll ein "wirklich friedfertiges" werden. In Canberra diskutiert man den Abzug der australischen Soldaten aus Afghanistan.
Down Under ist man optimistisch eingestellt: Mit einem Aufruf zu weltweitem Frieden hat der australische Ministerpräsident Kevin Rudd bei einer Gedenkveranstaltung am Dienstag an das Ende des Ersten Weltkrieges vor 90 Jahren erinnert. Das vergangene 20. Jahrhundert sei ein sehr blutiges gewesen, sagte Rudd in Canberra. Die Menschheit solle sich daher entscheiden, das jetzige, noch junge neue zu einem "wirklich friedfertigen und friedlichen Jahrhundert" zu machen, erklärte der Regierungschef. >>> | 11. November 2008
