There was no way to instantly let everyone know at 5 AM that they should stop fighting; some hours were surely needed to get the word out.
If anything the "cute quote", or poetry of the "eleventh hour, ..." phrase helped to shorten the killing. Lloyd George had instructed that the armistice should be set to come into effect at 2:30 PM (so that he could announce it triumphantly in Parliament), but Admiral Weymss, British naval representative in the negotiations, took it upon himself to bring the time forward to 11 AM to minimise the loss of life, as well as for the poetry of the moment. (The Prime Minister was not pleased!)
If anything the "cute quote", or poetry of the "eleventh hour, ..." phrase helped to shorten the killing. Lloyd George had instructed that the armistice should be set to come into effect at 2:30 PM (so that he could announce it triumphantly in Parliament), but Admiral Weymss, British naval representative in the negotiations, took it upon himself to bring the time forward to 11 AM to minimise the loss of life, as well as for the poetry of the moment. (The Prime Minister was not pleased!)