(13 Sep 2014)
Commemoration ceremony to mark 100 years since outbreak of WW1
2016287
AP TELEVISION
Liege - 4 Aug 2014
1. Foreign dignitaries seated ahead of ceremony
2. Britain's Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, French President Francois Hollande and Queen Mathilde of Belgium standing up as ceremony starts
3. King Philippe of Belgium receiving salute
4. From left to right, Belgian Prime Minister Elio di Rupo, Duke and Duchess of Cambridge and Hollande
UK royals and PM Cameron join ceremony at burial place of British and German war dead
2016393
AP TELEVISION
St. Symphorien Military Cemetery, near Mons - 4 Aug 2014
5. Military band playing "It's A Long Way to Tipperary", pull out to Duke and Duchess of Cambridge arriving at the St. Symphorien military cemetery with Prince Harry and British Prime Minister David Cameron
Pope Francis holds Mass at military cemetery to commemorate WW1 dead
2022675
POOL
Redipuglia - 13 Sep 2014
6. Redipuglia World War I monument, pilgrims crowding the park in order to attend the mass
7. Pope Francis arriving at the altar shaking incense brazier
STORYLINE:
Former World War I enemies united on August 4th 2014 for ceremonies commemorating the centenary of the conflict.
Representatives from Belgium, France, Germany and Britain gathered in Liege at an Allied memorial to commemorate one of the great early battles.
In a spirit of reconciliation, Belgian King Philippe and Queen Mathilde welcomed dignitaries, including Britain's Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, for a ceremony full of pomp and military splendour.
Germany invaded neutral Belgium on 4 August, 1914 as part of a planned attack on France. By nightfall, Britain had joined the war.
The war was not expected to last long. Instead, over four years, the continent was plunged into unknown hardship and misery.
Further remembrance events are planned in Belgium and Britain throughout Monday.
***
Leaders of former enemies Belgium, France, Britain and Germany stood together on August 4th in a spirit of reconciliation to commemorate the 100th anniversary of the start of conflict that became known as The Great War.
Amidst the well-tended graves at the small Saint-Symphorien military cemetery in southern Belgium, the Duke and Duchess of Cambridge, accompanied by Prince Harry of Wales and the British Prime Minister David Cameron, hosted German President Joachim Gauck and the Belgian King and Queen in an evening's commemoration event that included music, readings and testimonies from the Great War.
On August 4th 1914, Germany invaded neutral Belgium as part of a planned attack on France, forcing Britain to declare war by nightfall and unleash the biggest conflagration the world had known.
Cameron hailed the spirit to heal such deep wounds and such deep-rooted enmity.
"We will never forget, we will always remember them," he said at dusk, a few hours before the moment Britain declared war on Germany a century ago.
At the Saint-Symphorien cemetery in southern Belgium a bright sun shone down on the daisies standing in between British and German graves, arranged side by side.
Even in defeat, the allied effort that claimed thousands of lives helped slow the German advance towards France that eventually bogged down as it was closing in on Paris.
By the end of autumn 1914, both sides dug in, and from the early battles, the war quickly changed into trench warfare on the Western Front, with hundreds of thousands of casualties in a barren landscape where poison gas was a frequent hazard.
***
Find out more about AP Archive: [ Ссылка ]
Twitter: [ Ссылка ]
Facebook: [ Ссылка ]
Instagram: [ Ссылка ]
You can license this story through AP Archive: [ Ссылка ]
