THE war to end all wars officially ended at 11 o’clock on the morning of November 11, 1918.

The four year conflict had seen 9,460 officers and men of the Worcestershire Regiment killed, 71 Battle Honours won and nine Victoria Crosses awarded.

The First World War touched every corner of the county and life was never going to be the same again.

Of those that did come home from the battlefields of France, Belgium, Austria, Italy, Macedonia, Mesopotamia and Turkey, many were horrifically wounded in body and soul.

Singing rousing songs like  “Pack up your troubles in your old kit bag”, they had marched so bravely to face the foe and straight into a hellfire barrage the like of which mankind had never seen before.

Dr John Paddock, curator of the Mercian Regiment Museum (Worcestershire) said: “The First World War was a defining conflict. It was one of the deadliest in human history. More than nine million combatants died and eight million civilians.

“It changed the whole face of Europe and civil society across the world. It was the first large scale conflict of the industrial age, involving ‘total war’ and affecting civilian populations in a way that had never happened before. It was a huge sea change.”

However, by nightfall on that November day one hundred years ago, the guns had fallen silent from the Channel to the Caspian Sea.

In France and Flanders seven battalions of the Worcestershire Regiment: 1st, 2nd, 3rd, 1/8th, 2/8th, 14th and 17th rested, while the 4th received orders to march to the Rhine, eventually forming part of the garrison of Cologne.  In Italy the 1/7th had witnessed the amazing collapse of the Austrian Army following the allied victory at Vittorio Veneto.

Further east in the Balkans the beleaguered 11th Battalion had seen the surrenders of Bulgaria and Turkey. 

While in the Caucasus, immediately after the armistice with Turkey, orders were issued for British troops to move to the Caucasus and so on the shores of the Caspian, where the 9th Battalion  prepared to reoccupy the town of Baku, more than 3,000 miles from the white cliffs of Dover.

It was not likely to be home any time soon.

Fighting continued right up to the eleventh hour of the eleventh month.

In particular in south west Belgium, where the British were advancing apace.

On the morning of November 11 the 4th Worcestershire had been detailed to lead the marching column. The Battalion fell in at 8.30am on the streets of St. Sauveur and marched forward through the Bois d’Hubermont, then set their faces towards the east.

The Brigadier, Colonel Freyberg, was riding at the head of the Brigade.

Hardly had the march begun when a mounted orderly came galloping up the length of the column to the Brigadier and handed him a message.

The Armistice with Germany had been signed, hostilities would cease at 11am and at that hour the British vanguards would stand fast in the positions which they had then reached.

The news galvanised the whole column. The Brigadier and his orderly galloped forward and found the squadron-leader of the cavalry.

Collecting every available man of the squadron, they went forward at top speed to seize the crossing over the River Dendre at Lessines.

They reached the outskirts of the town about 10.45am, overtook the German rear guard, but were met by fire from rifles and a machine-gun.

Immediately the cavalry charged the enemy, killing four of them and rounding up a hundred as prisoners. Then they dashed forward to the river bridge, crossed it three minutes before 11am and drew rein on the eastern bank.

They rode on into the town and forced the surrender of two more companies of the enemy’s infantry. 

However, after protests from their officers it was decided that hostilities must by then have terminated. The German troops were released and marched away.

Meanwhile in the rear the 4th Worcestershire was striding along at its best speed to catch up the cavalry.

Eleven o’clock came and passed and the distant gun fire which had been heard to right and left died down.

The 4th tramped on and at 2.30pm entered Lessines, a little late, but who cared.

The war to end all wars had ended.