What caused World War I Armistice Day (Veterans Day) was the refusal of soldiers to fight!

[Better Believe It]

November 11, 2010

On the 11th Hour of the 11th Day of the 11th Month ...
Laying Down Arms
By PETER LINEBAUGH

On the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month the Great Powers of the World signed the armistice laying down arms after four years of the bloodiest war in history. That was 1918.

Now, we call it Veteran's Day.

What caused the armistice was the refusal of soldiers to fight. They refused 'to go over the top' anymore. In Russia, France, England, Italy they refused to participate in the slaughter which had begun in 1914.

What we learn from Armistice Day is that the soldier is the front line of the peace movement.

Sailors and soldiers mutinied against the war, turning their arms not on so-called "enemies," namely brother soldiers from across the world: instead, they turned their arms upon the officers who otherwise sent them to the butchery of the trenches or ordered them to a freezing death in battles at sea.

So: Honor the soldier who takes direct action for peace. Honor the soldier who thinks. Honor the soldier who brings Empire to its end.

Bring the troops home!


Please read the full article at:

http://www.counterpunch.org/linebaugh11112010.html


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GI'S MARCHED AND LED A MASS "BRING THE GI'S HOME" MOVEMENT IN 1946.

January 4, 1946 (Friday)
The United States Department of War announced a slowdown in demobilization of U.S. Army soldiers in the Pacific theater, cutting army discharges by 60 percent, from 800,000 down to 300,000 per month. In the week that followed, American soldiers around the world protested, in the Philippines, France, Guam, Germany, India and the United States. The War Department reversed the decision as a result of pressure from the "'Bring Em Home' Movement".



BAYONETS DISPERSE GI'S IN FRANKFORT; Armed Guards Break Up March on McNarney's Headquarters to Speed Return Home 20 Reported Arrested Vienna Soldiers Protest 1,800 in London Join Movement
By KATHLEEN McLAUGHLIN By Wireless to THE NEW YORK TIMES.
January 10, 1946

FRANKFORT ON THE MAIN, Germany, Jan. 9--Four thousand United States soldiers in a mutinous mood, who tried to rush headquarters of the United States Forces in the European Theatre here tonight, with the objective of forcing Gen. Joseph T. McNarney to confront them on their demand to be sent home, were stopped at bayonet point by a small group of guards.

http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F70F14F73F5E1B7B93C2A8178AD85F428485F9


GI'S YELL TAUNTS AT GENERAL OF EUROPEAN AREA
Threaten to Hold Protest Meetings Nightly
January 10, 1946

Thousands of irate GIs and WACs, protesting the redeployment slowdown, marched on Gen. McNarney's headquarters tonight, challenging the European theater commander to meet them and loudly criticizing "politicians" for delaying their return home.

http://pqasb.pqarchiver.com/chicagotribune/access/462845442.html?dids=462845442:462845442&FMT=ABS&FMTS=ABS:AI&type=historic&date=Jan+10%2C+1946&author=&pub=Chicago+Tribune&desc=GIS+YELL+TAUNTS+AT+GENERAL+OF+EUROPEAN+AREA&pqatl=google



MANILA GI'S DRAFT PROTEST TO ARMY
By ROBERT TRUMBULL By Wireless to THE NEW YORK TIMES.
January 11, 1946

MANILA, Jan. 10--The Manila soldier sentiment against the reduced demobilization crystalized here tonight in a meeting of 156 soldier delegates elected by as many separate Army outfits in the Manila area. The delegates claim to represent 139,000 men, all interested in getting home.

http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=FB0B17FE3E5E1B7B93C3A8178AD85F428485F9




1,000 GI'S IN SHANGHAI PETITION PATTERSON
January 15, 1946

SHANGHAI, Jan. 14 (AP)--A thousand United States Army enlisted men met Secretary of War Patterson at the airport today and petitioned an opportunity to discuss demands for a mere clear-cut policy on discharges.

http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F70617FC3E5E1B7B93C7A8178AD85F428485F9




EISENHOWER CITES DANGER IN PROTESTS
January 13, 1946

TORONTO, Ont., Jan. 12 (AP)-- The wave of "bring them home" public opinion in the United States is blinding American occupation troops to the importance of the Allies' "unfinished task" in Germany and Japan, United States Chief of Staff Gen. Dwight D. Eisenhower said at a news conference today.

http://select.nytimes.com/gst/abstract.html?res=F1091FF63C5B16738FDDAA0994D9405B8688F1D3


And of course during the Vietnam War we saw the beginning of a mass anti-war movement among U.S. soldiers which helped end the war and saved many thousands of GI's and Vietnamese lives.

[LiberalFighter]

1. What happens when all soldiers don't fight on the front?

They fight the war using remote control devices.

[Better Believe It]

2. We are hardly there yet! That's why over 200,000 U.S. troops are in Iraq/Afghanistan

Do you think they could make "mistakes" on their computer console?

Oh well, shit happens as they say.

[Better Believe It]

3. kick

[catnhatnh]

4. You're Kidding, Right?

German sailors in WW1 and the occupation troops AFTER WW? And oh, no soldiers "refused to fight", German soldiers refused to act against German sailors and American soldiers protested being held as occupation troops.

And "of course" you cite a "mass anti-war movement" among US soldiers without back up of any kind.

So no, I don't believe it...and I was in the army during one of the periods discussed...

[muriel_volestrangler]

5. It is 2 separate periods

Where the post-WW2 stuff came from, I don't know. But it is true that a refusal to fight by sailors in Wilhemshaven and Kiel right at the end of WW1 was influential in the final wrap up of the war.

http://www.greatwar.co.uk/timeline/ww1-events-1918.htm#october

In early October, Prince Max of Baden became Chancellor of Germany, and started negotiating an armistice with President Wilson.

http://www.firstworldwar.com/atoz/kielmutiny.htm

By the end of October, the head of the Navy decided to launch a pointless attack on the British fleet, that would have been more or less suicidal. He did not have permission from the government for it. The sailors in Wilhelmshaven refused to go to sea for it, those in Kiel sparked a general uprising in the city, which spread to other cities in Germany, and that led to the Kaiser abdicating by the 9th Nov, which made the end of the war inevitable.

The armistice talks might have arrived at a deal anyway, but the unrest in many German cities did make it obvious Germany was on the point of collapse.

[Better Believe It]

6. You seem to be totally unfamiliar with these events so all I can suggest is that you do some serious

research and reading.

I don't have the time to present you with all of the documented research and hard facts regarding soldiers resistance to during World War I. The facts on that resistance are widely known to everyone who has even a rudimentary knowledge of that war and how it ended.

Would you like some suggestions on what you should read to become familiar with these matters?

Your flippant dismissal of the news reports regarding the mass "Bring them Home" movement among U.S. troops in 1946 won't convince anyone that the movement didn't exist

And yes, the anti-war movement among active duty GI's during the Vietnam War existed at hundreds of military bases here and around the world and of course within Vietnam. Everyone who participated in the anti-Vietnam war movement was aware of that GI movement.

If you were in the military during the Vietnam war did you support the anti-war movement and if not, why not?