CONDITIONS OF AN ARMISTICE WITH GERMANY.1 Signed November 11, 1918. (Translation.) BETWEEN Marshal Foch, Commander-in-Chief of the Allied Armies, acting on behalf of the Allied and Associated Powers, in conjunction with Admiral Wemyss, First Sea Lord, of the one part; and Secretary of State Erzberger, President of the German Delegation, Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary Count von Oberndorff, Major-General von Winterfeldt, Captain Vanselow (German Navy), furnished with full powers in due form and acting with the approval of the German Chancellor, of the other part; An Armistice has been concluded on the following conditions: CONDITIONS OF THE ARMISTICE CONCLUDED WITH GERMANY. (A.) On the Western Front. 1. Cessation of hostilities on land and in the air six hours after the signature of the Armistice. 2. Immediate evacuation of the invaded countries: - Belgium, France, Luxemburg, as well as Alsace-Lorraine, so ordered as to be completed within fifteen days from the signature of the Armistice. German troops which have not evacuated the above-mentioned territories within the period fixed will be made prisoners of war. Joint occupation by the Allied and United States forces shall keep pace with evacuation in these areas. All movements of evacuation or occupation shall be regulated in accordance with a Note (Annexe No. 1), drawn up at the time of signature of the Armistice. 3. Repatriation, beginning at once, to be completed within fifteen days, of all inhabitants of the countries above enumerated (including hostages, persons under trial, or convicted). 1 Miscellaneous Parliamentary Publications, No. 25 (1918). 4. Surrender in good condition by the German armies of the following war material: 5,000 guns (2,500 heavy, 2,500 field). 25,000 machine-guns. 3,000 trench mortars. 1,700 fighting and bombing aeroplanes in the first place, all D 7's and all night-bombing aeroplanes. The above to be delivered in situ to the Allied and United States troops in accordance with the detailed conditions laid down in Annexe 1, drawn up at the time of signature of the Armistice. 5. Evacuation by the German armies of the territories on the left bank of the Rhine. These territories on the left bank of the Rhine shall be administered by the local authorities under the control of the Allied and United States armies of occupation. The occupation of these territories shall be carried out by Allied and United States garrisons holding the principal crossings of the Rhine (Mainz, Coblenz, Cologne), together with bridgeheads, at these points, of a 30 kilometre radius on the right bank, and by garrisons similarly holding the strategic points of each area. A neutral zone shall be reserved on the right bank of the Rhine between the river and a line drawn parallel to the bridgeheads and to the river, and at a distance of 10 kilometres from the Dutch to the Swiss frontier. Evacuation by the enemy of the Rhineland (left and right banks), shall be so ordered as to be completed within a further period of sixteen daysthirty-one days in all after the signature of the Armistice. All movements of evacuation and occupation shall be regulated according to Annexe 1, drawn up at the time of signature of the Armistice. 6. In all the territories evacuated by the enemy there shall be no evacuation of inhabitants; no damage or detriment shall be done to the persons or property of the inhabitants. No person shall be prosecuted for participation in military measures prior to the signature of the Armistice. No destruction of any kind to be committed. Military establishments of all kinds shall be handed over intact, as well as military stores, food, munitions and equipment not removed during the periods fixed for evacuation. Stores of food of all kinds for the civil population, cattle, &c., shall be left in situ. No measure of a general or official character shall be adopted which may result in a depreciation of industrial establishments or in a reduction of their personnel. 7. Roads and means of communication of every kind, railroads, waterways, main roads, bridges, telegraphs and telephones shall be in no way damaged. All civil and military personnel at present employed on them shall be maintained. 5,000 locomotives and 150,000 wagons in good running order, and provided with all necessary spare parts and fittings, shall be delivered to the Associated Powers within the period fixed by Annexe No. 2, which shall not exceed thirty-one days. 5,000 motor lorries in good running order shall also be handed over within thirty-six days. The railways of Alsace-Lorraine shall be handed over within thirty-one days, together with all personnel and material belonging directly to these lines. Further, material necessary for the working of railways in the territories on the left bank of the Rhine shall be left in situ. All stores of coal and material for upkeep of permanent way, signals, and repair-shops, shall be left in situ and maintained by Germany as far as the working of these lines on the left bank of the Rhine is concerned. All barges taken from the Allies shall be restored to them. The note appended as Annexe No. 1 regulates all details under this head. 8. The German Command shall be bound to disclose, within 48 hours after the signature of the Armistice, all mines or delay action apparatus disposed on the territory evacuated by the German troops, and shall assist in their discovery and destruction. The German Command shall also disclose all harmful measures that may have been taken (such as poisoning or pollution of springs, wells, &c.). All the foregoing under penalty of reprisals. 9. The right of requisition shall be exercised by the Allied and United States Armies in all occupied territories, settlement of accounts with the persons concerned being provided for. The maintenance of the troops of occupation in the Rhineland (excluding AlsaceLorraine) shall be defrayed by the German Government. 10. Immediate repatriation, without reciprocity, of all Allied and United States prisoners of war (including those under trial or convicted), according to detailed conditions which shall be fixed. The Allied Powers and the United States shall dispose of these prisoners as they think fit. This condition cancels previous agreements on the subject of the exchange of prisoners of war, including the agreement of July, 1918, in course of ratification. The repatriation of German prisoners interned in Holland and in Switzerland shall, however, continue as before. The repatriation of German prisoners shall be settled upon the conclusion of the peace preliminaries. 11. Sick and wounded who cannot be removed from territory evacuated by the German armies shall be cared for by German personnel, to be left on the spot with the material required. (B.)-Clauses relating to the Eastern Frontiers of Germany. 12. All German troops at present in any territory which before the war belonged to Austria-Hungary, Roumania, or Turkey, must at once withdraw within the frontiers of Germany as these existed on August 1, 1914. All German troops at present in territories which before the war formed part of Russia shall likewise withdraw within the German frontiers as above defined, as soon as the Allies shall consider this desirable, having regard to the interior conditions of those territories. 13. Evacuation by German troops to begin at once, and all German instructors, prisoners, and civilian or military agents now within Russian territory (as defined on August 1, 1914), to be recalled. 14. German troops to cease at once all requisitions, seizures, or coercive measures for obtaining supplies intended for Germany in Roumania and Russia (according to frontiers existing on August 1, 1914). 15. Annulment of the Treaties of Bucharest and Brest-Litovsk and of supplementary treaties. 16. The Allies shall have free access to the territories evacuated by the Germans on their Eastern frontier, either viâ Danzig or by the Vistula, in order to revictual the populations of those territories or to maintain order. (C.)-In East Africa. 17. Evacuation of all German forces operating in East Africa within a period fixed by the Allies. (D.)-General Clauses. 18. Repatriation within a maximum period of one month, without reciprocity, in accordance with detailed conditions hereafter to be fixed, of all interned civilians, including hostages, and persons under trial or convicted, who may be nationals of the Allied or Associated States other than those mentioned in clause 3. 19. Financial Clauses. With the reservation that any future claims and demands of the Allies and United States shall remain unaffected, the following financial conditions are required: Reparation for damage done. While the Armistice lasts, no public securities shall be removed by the enemy which can serve as a guarantee to the Allies for the recovery of reparation for war losses. Immediate restitution of cash deposits in the National Bank of Belgium, and, in general, immediate return of all documents, specie, and securities of every kind (together with plant for the issue thereof) affecting public or private interests in the invaded countries. Restitution of the Russian and Roumanian gold removed by the Germans or handed over to them. This gold to be delivered in trust to the Allies until the signature of peace. (E.)-Naval Conditions. 20. Immediate cessation of all hostilities at sea, and definite information to be given as to the location and movements of all German ships. Notification to be given to Neutrals that freedom of navigation in all territorial waters is given to the naval and mercantile marines of the Allied and Associated Powers, all questions of neutrality being waived. 21. Release, without reciprocity, of all prisoners of war in German hands belonging to the navies and mercantile marines of the Allied and Associated Powers. 22. Surrender to the Allies and the United States of all existing submarines (including all submarine cruisers and mine-layers) with armament and equipment complete, in ports specified by the Allies and the United States. Those which cannot put to sea shall be paid off and disarmed, and shall remain under the supervision of the Allies and of the United States. Submarines which are ready to put to sea shall be prepared to leave German ports as soon as orders are received by wireless for them to proceed to the port of surrender, and the rest shall follow as soon as possible. The conditions of this clause shall be fulfilled within fourteen days after the signature of the Armistice. |