Evening Star Newspaper, November 14, 1928, Page 22

THE ‘WORLD WAR ARMISTICE Day-by-Day Negotiations Ten Years Ago. BY GENERAL MORDACQ {(Military Secretary to Clemencean.) thor of te—Gen, Mordaca, “the le—Gen ordaca, e Ring Noi this series of five articles, ) jor' fhe Arst tim'tm This clty esactly ¢ Nappened behind the scenes on the oceasion of the signing of the armistice, is especially fitted for the assignment. As the link Detween Clemencean and Foen, he was one of the three men who ;ilelaétd the terms of the armistice t0 he Germans, In Europe Gen. Mor as a writer on military subjects, @ tac- ticlan and a military colon! . During the World Wer he Commanded successively a reciment, @ drigade an ne ey cailed by . dacy is dest known ide of Clemenceay. The Day of November 11, 1918. As 1 have already sald in these articic-, the question of the armistice had to do with politics and strategy. That is why the terms of the armistice had been drafted at the same time by the allied statesmen under Clemen- ceau's direction and by the military commanders-in-chief under . As a logical consequence, when it came to = definite settlement with the Germans the execution was in the hands of Clemenceau __at Paris and Foch at Rethondes. That is why I have first of all, a detailed recital of eve:s of the days of November 8, 9, 10 and 11, almost minute by minute. It remains for me now to complete my series by an eye-witness account of the happenings at Rethondes, given to me by a man who attended the session ani wrote down day by day -vhat he saw. His account is short, very concise, and constitutes a veritable historical Gocument, which will certainly con- tribute to put an end to all the legends which the years after, the armistice have given birth to, as much in Europe as in America. _Here it is in all its simplicity. Not a word or & comma has been changed. T pourparlers took place in the coach of Marshal Foch in his special traih. This train, with the train which brought the German delegates from Tergnier, was located on the railroads constructed by the Germans for man- euvering heavy guns near Rethondes, in the Aigle Forest. At 7 am. on November 8 the train bearing the German . leniposenti>- arrived. The made it known to them he could receivé them at 9. At that hour they went to see Foch. The marshal had with him the British Admiral Sir_Rosslyn Wemyss, Gen. Weygand and Admiral Hope. Secre- tary of State Ersberger, Count Obern- dorff, Gen. von Winterfeld and Capt. Wenselow handed Foch their official doc.ments. The verification took a few minutes. Then presentations were made and the delegates sat at the conference table. Foch Nuestions Germans. Marshal Foch asked the Germans what was the ebject of their visit. Ergberger—“The delegation has come to receive tors of the alitsd powers looking to an a. *~tice.’ Foch—"I have no proposition to make. However, if the German delegates de- mand an armistice, I can let them know on what terms it could be granted.” i % Ersberger and Oberndorfl—" The Ger- man government demands & armis- tice.” Foch read the terms of the armistice. Gen. von Winterfeld, in the name of the German government, asked for the immediate cessation of hostilities before any decision was taken. Marshal Foch—*“The conditions of the armistice were drawn b:? by the sllied governments, I will help in any way possible. the del to reach a 3.94d conclusion, but ties cannot cecse until the sighature of the armis- The Gernifins then asked for a -fur- ther del;y 0!] 24 hours before submit- ting their-reply. ~ lsuslul Foch—"“The term has been fixed by the allied and associated pow- ers. I cannot modify jt. The German delegates have therefore 72 hours to text t. German headq ger's assistants conversations with. Gen. Weygand and Admiral Hope. ''They asked for explana- tions aud modifications of certain clauses in the armistite. The explana- tions were frrnished, and they were informed that any demand on their part should be miade-in writing. November § at 3:45 p.m. the Ger- mar delegates handed over the text of theit “observations relative to the con- itions of the armistice,” On November 10 a written reply made to' thie German ‘“obsel On the same day the marshal sent.to the plenipotentiaries a mnote telling them the time ‘for”their reply expired on the following day, and urged to get a reply without delay from the German chancellor. Totween 7 and 8 pm. two telegrams arrived from the che~--lor, the first of which said: Germans,_Accept Terms. “The German government to the plenipotentiaries accredited to the chief allied ¢ .amand: The German government acceots the armistice conditions submitted on No- vember 8. . “THE CHANCELLOR OF THE EMPIRE." Then at 9 o'clock- caine a long code felegram from Marshal von Hinden- ure The German delegates were requested, was ns.” jcéau_the text of the armistice, which was toibe read in the Chamber that afternoon. * At 11 the guns announced that hostilities had ceased on the front. Such, in torical precision, are the circumstances surrounding - this . memorable event, which consccrated definitely tL> defeat of the C>rman Empire and the trium~h of the allied armies. At 5:45 I ~aceived word in Paris that the ar. istice had been signed. I ruhed to Clemenceau’s home, ar- mier awake. He had not been able to sleep, because he, too, Nke every French- man, was wondering whether, after all, this was the end of & long nightmare. Clemenceau. Qvercon: ~. When I announced the good news he took me in his arms and held me in a long embrace. We were buth too over- come to be ab'e to speak for several . Finally I sald: “Mcnsleur Le Premier, the great task is at last finished. It was 8 superhu- man tasi, and I trust that France will recognize what she owes to you.” Clemenceau reolied: “Yes, to me and to others.” Then h¢ pald me & comoliment, which 1 refrain from’ télling about bec-use I thought it was far too eulogistic for what I had done for thz country. After the first'few minutes of-cmo- tion I told him the few details which had been communicated to me regard- ing the actual signature. . They have all been published, sa it is not neces- sary to repeat them. We thereupon arranged what should be done to communicate the news to our allies, to Paris, to Irance. I immedi- dent of the republic; Pichon, minister of foreign affairs; Leygues, minister 5f marine, and finally Col. House. loyal friend of Franc: and of Clemenceau, who at this time was the personal rep. resentative of President Wilson, and therefore of America, in Paris. 1 found all of them in dressing gown or pajamas, but that didn’t bother them in the least. l'ever was a messenger so well received. Everywhere the news was recelved with the transports of joy, mitigated in some cases by deep emotion. Poincare in particular,’ the man of marble, but, above all, ‘the man of the frontier, the patriot of Lorraine,- the representative of the invaded regions, shook my hands ~*es, his eyes filled with . E» looked at me for time without speaking, like & in a dream, or rather a man coming out of a nightmare. What visions he must have had, this chief of state, who had had to follow, step by step , miinute by minute, every phase of that long and terrible tragedy! Pichon_was also. eatremely moved. He and I arranged the details of the measures necessary to have the allies immediately informed. House Thanks Clemenceau. As for Col. House, he asked me to thank Clemenceau for:his thoughtful- ness in having me telephone him the news. He said o me: “I am experiencing the greatest joy of my life. Once again in the history of humanity civilization has. triumphed over barbarism.” Then, r a few minutes of reflection, he said, his voice filled with emotion: “Our Lusitania dead are avenged.” At the war office there were the same joyous outbursts. All morning mem- bers of the Chamber and Senate came in to bring their congratulations to the gener:! happiness. - Telephone . mes- sages from Provins, where the French general headquarters was located, told of the great' jo~ among the troops. I shall not go into the veritable de- lirium of joy which broke loose in Paris on this .day. of November 11. The re- cital has often made, and has nothing to do with the subject of this series“of articles. H that during the four days, November 8, 9, 10 and 11, thé most extraordinary repoxts were in circulation in Paris, not only in the press but in diplomatic circles. X Explains Erroneous Report. Most of these are of no interest now, 80 I shall not refor to them in detail. I shall, however, make an exception in favor of one of them, because it had an enormous ctho, especially in -America. The German agents in France had per- stops. es the Likeafldshpai then Out Com Corn Drop “Freezone” on that aching their simplicity and. his-| riving there about 6. I found the pre- | ately went to see’ Poincare, then Presi- | It is scarcely necessary for me to say| THE EVENING STAR, WASHINGTON, D. C, WEDNESDAY, NOVEMBER 14, 1928.. haps something to do with it. It con- cerns the famous tel s+ from Brest to America on_the afternoon of November 7 by Mr. Howard, president o;m the United Press. This telegram read: “U sent. Armistice with' C rmany sigred this morning, 11 o'clock. Hos- tilities ceased 2 in afternoon.” It was Admiral Wilson, commander- !in-chief of the American naval forges |in France, whose headquarters were at | Brest, who had given the telegram to Howard. The admiral had received it fr Comdr. Jackson, naval attache at the American embassy in Paris. Sub- sequent _investigation revealed that Coadr. Jackson had received the report by telephone from somebody in official relation with the French war office. I did my best to trace that mysterious telc * ne call. There is no ¢ ™t that Comdr. Jackson received from one of ithe telephonists of h. staff the tele- phonic communication that “the officer of liaison between the French ministry of war and the American embassy in- forms you that the armistice has been signed.” Whoever telephoned the message was careful enough to avold saying whether he was a French or American liaison officer, of whom there were many; and I am convinced th:t he was a German agent. Com.r. Jackson was not able to, trace the call back from the embessy, and I immediately called in the liaison officers of my staff and of the G-2 cf the French army at the ministry and the telephone operators, but none of them had sent the message. is not difficult to see the advantage that could accrue to the Germ--" If they could foist the false story of the armistice upon the masses of France, £ meric. and Ensland. They could then say to the alli-1 officers who were dictating the terms of the armistice, “You see,your seo le want pe~ce as badly as Germany o Recalls Similar Messages. I remember very well that during the evening of November 7 I got dozens of telephone calls from the American embassy asking if it were true the ar- | mistice had been signed. I naturally r | plied that it was not true, and adc that the German delegates had not yet come throuch the lines. o The news spread rapidly throughout Brest, and the whole population gave itself up to joyous celebrations, which, | f: however, did not last long; for the re- port was denied almost as soon as it had been received. This was not so in New York, and, in fact, all over America. The report s not denied until very late, and th's gave rise to demonstrations similar to that which we saw in Paris on Novem- ber i1. Next morning the American newspapers announced that the report was a mvs fication, and normal life retur >d. - The American authorities had a mi- nute .investigation made to discover the origin of the report. Many Americans believe—and perhaps they are not wrong—that this mystification was the work of German agents in France who believed that popular demonstrations for peace in the alljed countries, show- ing that they, too, wanted the armi- stice, could have the effect of exercising pressure on the allied leaders, thus Apartments Available The Highlands “4 Most Desirable Permanent ddress” Conn. Ave. & Cal. St. O n e of Washington's exclusive Apartment Hotels offers suites from 2 to 7 rooms, furnished and unfur- nished. Rentals Maderate Wardman Management North 1240 making easier the task of the € -~n plenipotentiaries. This is the possible explanation, but no proof has been brought forward so ac. ' * story of the armistice Rethondes—based on the testimony of the two eye-witnesses, has been told in that form to establish the truth, which is the aim of these articles. Tt established. of course, the main basis, but the entire truth has yet to established, because as I have sald. the armistice gave rise to & swarm of legends, some of which are of very great importance. Without examining all them, I want to talk next about the one that caused the greatest r.lemies. It was: “Was the armistice signed too soon? Ought we not to h‘vel A Reflection of You —That is exactly what a letter head is when it goes out over the world to carry your business message. Is yours up to this stand- ard? Let us design one that is. ‘BrRewaeD Engravers and Stationers 611 12th St. N.W. be | Street, fell dead at his place of employ- carried . the war for another month (Copyright, 1928.) e, Elevator Man Drops Dead. Allen Arthur Simmons, colored, 35 years old, 2005 Kieventh street, em- ployed as elevator conductor in the Sherman Apartments, 1101 Fifteenth or two?” ment yesterday afternoon. Coroner J. Ramsay Nevitt gave a certificate of death from natural causes. 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