Show I 1 ivory WAS MADE 4 november vember Mo 11 I 1 51 t g Y t N X s 5 4 mae 91 1 ax I 1 where the armistice car stood 7 N 4 IR t i 47 J ak mar 0 al na WE k fr t J 13 fc the admiral sir by ELMO SCOTT WATSON HIS Is the story of a dining car the most famous dining car perhaps in all history you yon will find it enshrined in a memorial building at the little town of Ret rethondes Reth ondes houdes in forest in france it does not have a name it la is only out y dining car no of the wagons lits company but here history was vas made for in this car on november 11 1018 the terms term g of the armistice which ended the greatest war in all history were signed dining car no joined the french army in 1014 to be converted into a rall railway saloon of a senior french officer it served throughout the war and in 1818 1918 it was used by general ferdinand foch when he became marshal foch commander in chief of the allied armies so it was into this car early in the morning of november 8 1913 that the depre senta tives of the german government came to listen to the terms of an armistice for which they had asked which foch would be willing to grant them picture now the scene which took place on that morning in the center of the car Is a table on one side stand french and british officers the victors on the other side stand german officers and civilians the vanquished general foch s chief of staff was at his right and at his left were two english admirals hope and wemyss As they took their seats beats mathias erzberger elzberg ger then the head ohead of the german delegation was facing admiral hope general von the second german plenipotentiary potent iary was facing foch A german m ne captain vanselow was seated beside von winter 1 ter feldt and the german diplomat count obendorf sat beside erzberger lieutenant laperche Le perche seated himself at the end of the table and two of fochs staff officers major It er and captain de were seated at two small tables at one side here Is the story of what took place as told by foch himself when they entered my drawing room in the car I 1 saw them standing pale and stiff one of them whom I 1 guessed to be mathias erzberger asked in a rather weak voice bermis kon blon to make the presentations 1 I simply said gentlemen have you any documents we shall examine their validity then they showed me documents signed by prince max mas of baden which I 1 deemed to bs be satisfactory then turning toward erzberger I 1 said to him what do iou want ile he replied in a still troubled voice we have come to receive the proposal of the allied powers in view of an armistice I 1 cut in rather sharply and this was the only time I 1 was sharp 1 I have no proposal whatsoever to mal make e the tour four germans consulted one another with their eyes well said one of them count abendorff Oben dorff tell us monsieur le ie marechal how you wish us to c express x ourselves our delegation Is prepared to ask you the conditions of an armistice I 1 insisted do you ask formally for an armist armistice leeT yes we do then please sit down and I 1 will read the conditions of the allies to you 1 I began to read the conditions of the armistice slowly after each paragraph I 1 stopped to permit the interpreter to translate then I 1 looked at my interlocutors interlocutory and followed tile the im pres slon of their faces during the translation ia 4 mathias gradually I 1 saw those faces change especially was very pale I 1 even think that he wept when I 1 had finished reading I 1 simply declared gentlemen I 1 leave this text test with you you have seventy two hours to reply to it meanwhile you may present observations of details to me me I 1 then erzberger became pathetic for gods sate sake monsieur ie Maree marechal hal 1 he said do not wait for those seventy two hours stop the hostilities tili ties this very day our armies are a prey to anarchy bolshevism threatens them a and nd that bolshevism may gain ground over the whole of germany and threaten france herself I 1 replied 1 I do not know in what state your armies are I 1 only know la in what situation mine are not only can I 1 not stop the offensive but I 1 am giving orders to continue it with redoubled energy intervened in his turn monsieur le ie marechal it will be necessary for our staffs to consult each other and to discuss together the whole of the details of execution how will they be able to do so it the hostilities tili ties be continued I 1 beg of you tor for technical reasons to stop the hostilities again I 1 retorted the technical discussions can just as well take place in seventy two hours until then the offensive will continue this time it was finished the four plenipotentiaries rose and withdrew during the next two days november 9 and 10 foch slept but little ne lele was certain that the germans would accept his terms but in the meantime wireless messages received by t the ile eiffel tower told of the outbreak of a revolution in berlin so he did not know what government these men represented nor cor how much power they lw iw L w had bad on the evening of november 10 the german plenipotentiaries laries came back to request that on account of the troubled state of affairs in germany the army be permitted to retain a greater number of machine guns for the purpose of maintaining order foch granted them this and a little after five on the morning of november 11 they signed the armistice mi stice of the subsequent history of this famous dining car a recent visitor to Com writes in the new york times as follows what happened to dining car after that eventful night does not seem clear it appears eventually to have been de mobilized but not to have returned to civilian life A small plate beneath the arms arma on one side of it announces that it was given by the wagons lits company may 1 1921 and it was presumably abo about ut that time lime that it turned up in the court of honor at In in paris where all its war medals upon it it took its place with the other inanimate heroes of such a war as the first napoleon never dreamed of its medals are a little itlie difficult to see from the outside for they are high up at both ends of the main saloon inside in that strip which in the common herd berd of dining cars Is occupied by advertisements of scotch whiskies sIdes riviera hotels and atlantic steamship lines they take the form of two mall red plaques adorned with cream colored flags laurel wrea wreaths tIts and figures of wagons lits angels or of mine la Is it Is difficult to say which for the light it not too good one plaque bears an inscription which be begins ins in this car there was signed at francfort Franc port near on november 11 1918 nt at five the armistice imposed on the germans by the victories of the allied armies and continues with the names of the allied and german sig latorres na La tories at the opposite end of the saloon the other plaque bears the names of the battles which the old dining car attended the marne 1924 the 1915 verdun 1916 the somme 1910 the battle of france 1018 paris however is fifty miles from when the old car took its place with the other immortals in the Inva In lides there was nothing at the site in the forest except two boards nailed to trees marking the positions of the tha two trains le matin of paris was the first to move for a permanent monument choosing a spot beside the francfort road yards away presumably on the assumption that nobody would ever leave the road and enter the forest to reach the actual site its monument Is a striking piece of work a golden sword with its point resting on a fallen german eagle but although it bears the armistice date there Is a stron stronger stroner er flavor OF ot alsace lorraine in its inscription tin than of the armistice the next nest step was taken by fournier Fourn ler sar leveze deputy from the department of the olse oise and mayor of this was directed to the raising of a monument at the actual site which although it Is five miles from the town is jus just 1 within the municipal boundary the monument which resulted was dedicated on armistice day 1922 in the presence of president and an impressive assembly of marshals admirals ambassadors troops and townsfolk it consists of a broad boulevard bards long which has been carried into the forest from the main road and at the end of which Is a clearing yards in diameter with a circular road surrounding the gardened circle of the actual site the railway tracks from rethondes Reth ondes station have been torn up elsewhere in this end of the forest but in the clearing they remain between the rales of each track slabs of granite mark the positions which the two trains occupied of late years the old dining car had been showing the effect ot of the weather to which its outdoor position at the Inva lides has exposed it its return to the site in the forest had been contemplated for some time but the problem of the cost was not solved until A il fleming of pasadena after consulting 11 Sarlo at offered francs say for the construction of a suitable building at the site accordingly in april 1923 1928 the old car was moved on temporary rails to the outer court 0 of f the Inva lides where it was taken oft off its trucks and placed on two wheeled floats to be towed to the wagon lits repair shops for a coat of paint and a general sprucing up before starting on its last voyage As soon as the builders were ready for it at the site it was hauled back to rethondes Reth ondes station and a lino line of tracks into the forest was especially laid for it it was pushed carefully into its new home at tile the ed edge ede e of the cleu aig og and Is now permanently hu built ailt in and there with an ex who limps when lie walks in charge of it you will find it today roped off smelling of fresh paint and at the first glance looking like ilke well looking about like a dining car it Is disconcerting disconcert ius to discover that the table on which the armistice was signed was so unpretentious a table slid aud that the chairs in which the signatories signa tories sat von opposite foch erzberger Era bergor opposite wemyss were ordinary wagons lits dining car chairs it Is difficult to fit the play to its banal theater to connect this culminating episode of the greatest of all wars one of the supreme moments in history with nith the old dining car in which it transpired such however Is the immortality of dining diding gar car no 2411 D by western News newspaper emlon |