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Show By ELMO SCOTT WATSON f "WASHINGTON, Monday, November Novem-ber 11, 2:48 a. m. The armistice between Germany, on one hand, and the allied governments and the United States, on th other, hnfl been signed. The State department announced at 2:45 o'clock this morning that Germany hnd signed. The department's announcement at a:4 5 o'clock simply said : "The armistice has been signed." The World war will end this morning at six o'clock, Washington Washing-ton time, eleven o'clock Paris time. The armistice was signed by the German representatives at mid-nteht. mid-nteht. This announcement was made by the State department at 2:50 o'clock this morning. The announcement was made verbally by an official of the State department in this form: "The armistice has been signed. It was signed atflve o'clocTt a. m Paris time (midnight eastern time) and hostilities will cease at eleven o'clock this morning, Parts time, (six o'clock eastern time)." The terms of the armistice will not be made public until later. nj V HUS read the offlcial story sent out by the Associated Associ-ated Press which told of I the end of the greatest W war in all history. Does Lrfrj it bring back to you that CiAvb. breathless hour one No-rjjWji5 No-rjjWji5 vember morning ten years ago when whistles began poIMyj co blow, bells were rung, lvVYy firearms barked and a de-Wgj de-Wgj liriura of joy swept over the whole world? In France there was raised ' a mighty shout of "La guerre est tini !" Across to England and America that cry swept to be transformed into "The war is over I The war is overl" and there followed the most reckless, unrestrained, spectacular spec-tacular celebration ever recorded. But although the scenes on that day are unforgettable to anyune who took part in the mad riot of rejoicing, rejoic-ing, ho'jp many of us have now, ten years after, any idea of the scene where took p'ace the momentous event which released all that pandemonium of rejoicing? To how many of up does the name of the little railroad station of Rethondes in the forest of Compeigne mean anything more than 'Just another town in France?' Yet it was here that the Armistice was signed and on this tenth anniversary of that historic event the following account, taken from official sources, of the meeting of the men whose action ac-tion ended the World war should have particular interest : The scene was laid In the middle of the forest of Compeigne where Marshal Mar-shal Foch's train drew up opposite jome old heavy gun sidings at seven o'clock on the night of Thursday. November No-vember 7, 1913. With Marshal Foch was General Weygand, his chief of staff; some staff officers and British representatives, the latter headed by Admiral Sir Rosslyn "Wemyss. On another set of rails, about a hundred yards away, was another similar sim-ilar train, nnd on the arrival of the German delegates, in the early hours of Friday morning, after their adventurous adven-turous journey in automobiles acros the fighting front, they were accommodated accom-modated in this train. As soon as the German delegates arrived ar-rived a message was sent them to sav that Marshal Foch would be ready to receive them at 9 a. m. the same dav. Friday, November 8, and exactly on time, in single file, Herr Erzbergcr General Von Winterfield (whose father was present at the peace of Versailles In 1S-71) and Captain Von Vanselow, leading, followed by Count Oberndorff, made their appearance, and In addition there were two officer interpreters All of the delegates appeared verv downcast and ill at ease, and as soon as they had entered the car fitted for the conference. General Weygand re- : ported to Marshal Foch, who immediately immedi-ately entered together with the British representatives. THE PLACE WHERE THE ARMISTICE ARMIS-TICE WAS SIGNED In the foreground is the memorial stone at Rethondes, France, marking the exact spot where stood the railroad rail-road car in which Marshal Foch and his staff received the German plenipotentiaries pleni-potentiaries and in which the Armistice, Armis-tice, ending the World war, was signed. At the left in the picture Is the building build-ing in which that car is now housed. It was built with funds given by an American, Arthur H. Fleming of Pasadena, Pasa-dena, Calif., to provide perpetual shelter for the car and to serve as a museum of the Armistice. In calm, even tones Marshal Foch asked the Germans, "What is the object of your visit?" Herr Erzberger replied, "We have come to hear proposals for , an armistice on land, sea, in the air ; and in the colonies." "I have no proposals to make," answered an-swered Marshal Foch. Count Oberndorff then pulled a paper pa-per from his pocket and read a statement state-ment made by President Wilson concerning con-cerning the famous fourteen points. When he had finished Marshal Foch said that if they desired an armistice the terms would be read, and, the German Ger-man delegates having stated that they wished hostilities to cease. General Weygand read out each article, the French interpreter repeating them tn Germa n. What a dramatic picture this made, perhaps can be imagined. Herr Erzberger. the son of a postman, post-man, with his very full face, lara.e double chin and irregular mustache; Count Oberndorff, who had served all his time in the diplomatic service, General Von Winterfeld, the representative represen-tative of Prussian militarism, though not aggressively mannered, and Captain Cap-tain Von Vanselow, a naval officer, who, althoagh in uniform, looked more like a merchant. These, together with their two Interpreters, In-terpreters, formed one group, and the French and British officers. In their contrasting uniforms, with firm and calm countenances knowing they held the upper hand, opposite. As soon as the reading of the terms was completed the Germans, looking very dejected, asked permission tocom- Omunicate with their government Ow-.ng Ow-.ng to the fact that the Germans had not brought any cipher, Marshal Foch refused to allow wireless to be used and the terms thus made public properly prop-erly before perusal and consideration, and so Captain Von Helldorf was dispatched dis-patched to German headauarters at Spa with a copy. General Von Winterfeld then asked that hostilities might cease Immediately Immedi-ately "so as to avoid useless bloodshed," blood-shed," and, speaking In French, he actually referred to the route "la de-route." de-route." the actual word used of the German army. Marshal Foch, however, would not agree to giving the enemy any breathing breath-ing space that might allow them to reorganize, and he stated emphatically emphatical-ly that fighting should not cease until the terms read out had been definitely accepted and signed. Independent discussions were continued con-tinued during the afternoon In the conference car by the various German Ger-man delegates, the chief matters necessarily neces-sarily being of a naval and military nature, and during these talks the fearful fear-ful economic condition of Germany was laid bare. Besides foodstuffs, necessary mate, rial for naval and military equipment was In such short supply that the country was very literally at Its last gasp. Another complaint of the Germans was against both the blockade and blacklist continuing after the armistice armis-tice was signed, and it was obvious that both these weapons had hard hit their country. However, one of tha most important concessions of th whole agreement was then added, namely, that the allies would revictual Germany. Night fell on that fateful spot in the Compeigne forest and looking ot t of the train Ihe fires of the bivouacs of the sentries and guards could oe seen twinkling merrily, while away in Ihe distance the boom of heavy gurs told of the bloody work which was still continuing, after more than four fearful fear-ful years, and, except for a written paper of agreements, sent over by the Germans, Saturday passed without any visible program, awaiting the message of the German government. It was suggested that the allies should occupy Helgoland, but the German Ger-man delegates did not think thai it would be necessary. Another question that arose was the altering of the phrase involving the "'surrender" of General Von Lettow Verbeck to "evacuation." That evening a wireless message was received from the German government ordering the signing of the armistice, hut to add that Germany would become be-come a prey to bqlshevism unless the allies would undertake provisioning. There was further long discussion, far into the night, concerning Helgoland, Helgo-land, as the French and British felt that there must be something to fall back upon, in case the Germans were, unable to control their own men, the majority of whom were almost entirely entire-ly out of hand. It was finally decided to add an extra ex-tra stipulation to the agreement, recommending rec-ommending to the German government that the allies occupy Helgoland if the government should be unable to enforce Us commands, as if put, In stronger terms a long delay would be occasioned through having to refer the matter to Spa, should the allies insist in-sist on the occupation in any event. At 2 a m. on Monday, November 11, all the delegates on both sides assembled as-sembled for a final conference. General Weygand read out the armistice arm-istice agreement, article by article, and as each was read out the French interpreter in-terpreter translated It into German, and discussion then proceeded until the "final form of the article was mutually agreed upon, though, throughout, the Germans kept insisting that the terms were eo harsh they would be difficult of fulfillment. However, all the articles were finally final-ly read and discussed, and then Herr Erzberger stood up and read out a statement in German, stating that the government would carry out the terms as far as humanly possible. At 6:15 a. m. all the delegates signed the momentous document, Marshal Foch being the first to sign, followed by the British Admiral Wemyss. Orders rere immediately issued, all over the world, for hostilities on land, at sea and in the air to cease at 11 a. m. on that day, Monday, November 11. 1 9 is. for a period of 36 days, and it is now a matter of history how this period pe-riod was later extended until the peace or Versailles of 1919. Thus ended the most important historical his-torical event of nil time. |