Day 72 November 11, 1939

British, French, Belgian and German troops mark the twenty-first anniversary of the Armistice, at 11 AM on November 11 1918, on the very battlefields where their fathers fought The Great War (World War One, as it would soon be known). Many in Britain hope that Germany’s expansion in Europe will not bring another general war. Others, including Churchill, believe the storm has not passed and that Hitler will continue his plans for European domination. As Armistice Day falls on a Saturday, the two-minute silence of remembrance in Britain is moved to Sunday to avoid disrupting war production. This begins the new tradition of Remembrance Day on the Sunday closest to November 11. Sales of the symbolically pacifist white poppies drop from 85,000 in 1938 to almost nil.