...in the 11th our of the 11th day of the 11th month of 1918, World War I ended.
The armistice was signed at approximately 5 AM that day, but was not to go into effect until 11 AM.
After more than 4 years of slaughter, after over 8 million military deaths (and more than 6 million civilains killed) and 21 million + wounded, senseless battles continued to be fought for 6 additional hours.
Men were after glory, revenge, under orders from likely insane commanders, a myriad of reasons. But the slaughter continued.
On November 11, 1918, an additional 2,738 men were killed and more than 8000 more wounded....when everyone knew or should have known that the war would end in a few hours. As a point of comparison, at the D-Day Normandy invasion of 1944, total casualties for both sides were also in the 10,000 range.
Today there are less than a dozen WWI veterans still alive in the world, and maybe 3 or 4 those actually saw action. None are less than 105 years old. Few if any are likely to see another Armistice day.
One last time, here's to the veterans of the "war to end all wars".
If the above interests you, I highly recommend the book "11th Month, 11th Day, 11th Hour" by Joseph E Persico.