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Show ' 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 plenl potentlaries and In which the Armls tlce, 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 ahelter for the car and to serve aa a museum of the Armistice. I . By ELMO SCOTT WATSON 4 WASHINGTON, Monday, November Novem-ber II, 1:48 a. m. The armistice between Germany, on one hand, and the Billed government and the United States, on the other, . haa been signed. The State department announced . at 2:45 o'clock this morning that Germany had signed. The department's announcement at :45 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-Bight' mid-Bight' This announcement was made by the Stat department at 2:50 o'clock this morning. - The announcement was made verbally by an official of the Stat department In this form: "The armistice ha been signed. It was signed at live o'clock a. m Paris time (midnight eastern time) and hostilities will cease at eleven o'clock this morning, Paris time, (six o'clock eastern time)." The term of the armistice will not be made public until later. $municat with their government. Owing Ow-ing to the fact that the German had not brought any cipher, Marshal Foch refused to allow wireless to b used and the term thus mad public properly prop-erly before perusal and consideration, and so Captain Von Helldorf was dispatched dis-patched to Gcrn.jn beadauarter at Spa with a copy. General Von Wlnterteld then asked that hostilities might cease Immediately Immedi-ately "so a to avoid useless bloodshed," blood-shed," and, speaking In French, he actually referred to the rout "la da-route," da-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 reorganise, 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 delegate, the chief matter 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 lait 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 ?h In calm, even tones Marshal Foch asked the Germans, "What 1 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 pronosnl to make," answered an-swered Marshal Foch. Count Oberndorff then pulled a P"-pet P"-pet from his porket and read a statement state-ment made by President Wilson concerning con-cerning the famous fourteen points. When he had finished Marshal Fo-h 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, Genera) Weyg;ind read out each article, the French Interpreter repenting them In German What a dramatic picture this made, perhaps can be Imagined Herr Erzberger. the son of a postman, post-man, with his very full face, large double chin and Irregular mustache; Count Oberndorff, who had served fell his time In the diplomatic service, eneral Von Winterfeld, the representative represen-tative of Prussian militarism, though not aggressively mannered, and Captain Cap-tain Von Vanselow, naval officer, who, although in uniform, looked more like a merchant. These, together with their two Interpreters, In-terpreters, formed on group, and the French and British officers. In their contrasting uniforms, with firm and calm countenances knowing they held the upper hand; opposite. . Aa soon aa the reading of the terms was completed the Germans, looking very dejected, asked permission tocom- I1US read the official story sent out hy the Associated Associ-ated Press which told of the end of the greatest war In all history. Does it bring hack to you that hreathless hour one November No-vember morning ten years Sj,'o when whistles begun io blow, hells were rung, firearms burked and a delirium de-lirium of Joy swept over the whole world? In Kranee there was raised a mighty shout of "l.a whole agreement was then added, namely, that the allies would revlctual Germany. Night fell on that fateful spot In the Compeigne forest and looking oi t of the train the fire of th bivouac of the sentries and guards could oe seen. twinkling merrily, while away in the distance the boom of heavy guts told of the bloody work wnich was still continuing, after more than four fearful fear-ful yeais, and, except for a written paper of agreements, sent over by the Germans, Saturday passed without any visible program, awaiting the message of th German government. It was suggested that th allies should occupy Helgoland, but the German Ger-man delegate did not think tha; It would be necessary. . Another question that arose was the altering of the phrase Involving the guerre est fin I !" Across to England and America that cry swept to be transformed into "The war Is overl The war Is over!" and there followed the most reckless, unrestrained, spectacular spec-tacular celebration ever recorded. But although the scenes on that flay are unforgettable to anyone who took part In the mad riot of rejoicing, rejoic-ing, hoiv 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 us does the name of the little railroad Station of Rethondes In the forest of Compelgne mean anything more than "Just another town In France?" Tet It "v - was here that the Armistice was ; Signed and on this tenth unnlversury 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 mlddi of the forest of Compelgne 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, 1918. With Marshal Foch was General Weygand, his chief of staff; some atnff officers and British representatives, the latter headed by Admiral Sir Hosslyn Wemyss On ' another set of rails, about a hundred yards away, was another similar sim-ilar train, and 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 aent them to sav that Marshal Foch would be ready to receive them at 9 a. m. the same day. Friday, November d, and exactly on time, in single file, Herr Erxbergcr Genera) Von Wlnterfleld (whose father wa present at the peace of Versailles In 1871) and Captain Von Vanselow. leading, followed by Count Oberndorff, made their appearance, and In addition there were two officer Interpreter All of th delegates appeared verv downcast and 111 at ease, and as soon as they had entered th car fitted for th conference, General Weygand reported re-ported to Marshal Foch, who Immediately Immedi-ately entered together with the British representative. "surrender" of General Von Lettow Verbeck to "evacuation. That evening a wireless message was received from the German government ordering tha signing of th armistice, but to add that Germany would become be-come a prey to bolshevlsm unless the allies would undertake provisioning. There wa further long discussion, far Into the night, concerning Helgoland, Helgo-land, a th 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 exit, ex-it, stipulation to the agreement, recommending rec-ommending to the German government that the allies occupy Helgoland If the government should be unable to enforce Its commands, a 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, aU the delegates on both side assembled as-sembled for a final conference. General Weygand read out the armistice arm-istice agreement, article by article, and a 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, th Germans kept Insisting that the terms were o harsh they would be difficult 'if fulfillment. However, all the articles were finally final-ly read and discussed, and then Herr Erzberger stood up and read out a etatement in German, stating that th government would carry out the term as far oumanly possible. At 1:15 a. m. all the delegates signed th momentous document. Marshal Foch being the first to sign, followed by the British Admiral Wemyss. Order fere Immediately Issued, all over tha world, for hosjjlitles on land, il sea and In the air to cease at 11 a. m. on that day, Monday, November 11. 1918, for a period of 86 days, and It I now a matter of history how this period pe-riod was later extended until th peace of Versailles of 1919. Thu ended the most Important historical his-torical event of all time. |