Millions fall silent to remember war dead

Millions of Britons have fallen silent to remember those who have died in war.

As the clock struck 11am, the nation paused to mark the anniversary of Armistice Day, when peace returned to Europe at the end of the First World War.

The agreement between Germany and the Allies took effect at the "eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month" of 1918.

But in London the solemn moment was marred by a small group of protestors calling themselves Muslims Against Crusades.

They burned a model of a poppy in Exhibition Road, Kensington.

About 50 counter demonstrators gathered nearby but the two sides were kept apart by police.

It comes as new research suggests many people don't know the sacrifice made by British troops.

A report by St Dunstan's, a charity which cares for former servicemen and women, found that the number of troops seriously injured in battle is underestimated by more than half of the population.

The survey found that 59 per cent of people thought that fewer than 500 soldiers had been seriously wounded in conflict in the last ten years.

The number of soldiers seriously wounded in Iraq and Afghanistan now stands at 670 but only 12 per cent correctly estimated that, a spokesman for St Dunstan's said.