It was a fine morning in Manchester on the 11th November 1918, the day that  saw the fighting in the greatest war that the world had ever seen came to an end.

It is estimated that over sixteen million people had died worldwide, twenty three thousand from Greater Manchester.

The news of the end of the war only arrived around 10.15 and within minutes the flags were being broken out all across the city and claxtons started sounding.

At 11.00 crowds descended on Albert Square, two flags were raised on the Town Hall to make the ending of hostilities.

It was almost as though the people of Manchester paused for thoughts of all that had happened in the last four years for it took a few hours before the celebrations started.

By mid afternoon,the Manchester Guardian reported that

” the stream in the streets thickened. Along all the main roads into the city, along Ashton Old Road, along Stockport Road and Hyde Road, workgirls poured in hundreds, gathering as they went flags and the other patriotic symbols which had been so suddenly rushed out from the obscurity of the hawker’s warehouse. ”

Albert Square was the place to congregate, the report continues

“the bravo spirits who bore gorgeous paper umbrella or trimmed their hats with red and blue, the American soldiers who had little of the shamefacedness behind which most men sheltered their feelings, and the Belgians who came down to display their boldly coloured national costume.”

The following day was a holiday,The outpourings of joy could not be contained, women and girls from the munitions factories poured into Albert Square, some on foot, some brought in lorries from which they sang their favourite songs and beat time with their clogs on the wooden floors of the vehicle

A procession of about 1,200 marched through the City, while that night,what the Manchester Guardian described as the “irrepressible youth” blew bugles,mouth organs and bit old tins whilst fireworks, which had been banned throughout the duration of the war exploded throughout the city.

With it being declared a public holiday, many from the mill towns also poured into the City and the streets were so crowded that wheeled traffic could only makes it way slowly through the crush of pedestrians.

One correspondent for the Manchester Guardian described the scene at Mons in Northern France, the scene of one of the earliest battles on the Western front back in September 1914.

The previous day Henry Nevinson had been informed that the Armistice would take place at 11.00am and his thoughts had been that h should try and get to Mons.

They drove by car describing the town of Valenciennes as empty except for starving dogs and cats and a few old people who had “clung to their little homes regardless of what the enemy do”

As he arrived in the Town, just before the clock struck eleven, there were joyful crowds, eleven striking on the clock as they entered the Flemish Square.The bells playing the Belgian National Anthem before they struck up with God save the King.

“Here the Great War began and hear I saw it end -It was the War to end War,….but as our grandmothers sang, Hope told a flattering tale”

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