Terms of the Armistice With Germany,
Signed November 11, 1918
Between Marshal Foch commander in chief
of the allied armies, acting in the name of the allied and associated powers,
with Admiral Wemyss, first sea lord, on the one hand, and Herr Erzberger,
secretary of state, president of the German delegation, Count von Oberndorff,
envoy extraordinary and minister plenipotentiary, Maj. Gen. von Winterfeldt,
Capt. Vanselow (German navy), duly empowered and acting with the concurrence
of the German chancellor, on the other hand.
An armistice has been concluded on the
following conditions:
Conditions of the Armistice Concluded with Germany
(A) CLAUSES RELATING TO THE WESTERN FRONT
I. Cessation of hostilities by land and
in the air six hours after the signing of the armistice.
II. Immediate evacuation of the invaded
countries-Belgium, France, Luxemburg, as well as Alsace-Lorraine--so ordered
as to be completed within 15 days from the signature of the armistice.
German troops which have not left the above-mentioned
territories within the period fixed shall be made prisoners of war.
Occupation by the allied and United States
forces jointly shall keep pace with the evacuation in these areas.
All movements of evacuation and occupation
shall be regulated in accordance with a note (Annexe 1) determined at the
time of the signing of the armistice.
III. Repatriation, beginning at once, to
be completed within 15 days, of all inhabitants of the countries above
enumerated (including hostages, persons under trial, or condemned).
IV. Surrender in good condition by the
German armies of the following equipment: 5,000 guns (2,500 heavy, 2,500
field), 25,000 machine guns, 3,000 trench mortars, 1,700 aeroplanes (fighters,
bombers-firstly all D. 7s and night-bombing machines).
The above to be delivered in situ to the
allied and United States troops in accordance with the detailed conditions
laid down in the note (Annexe 1) determined at the time of the signing
of the armistice.
V. Evacuation by the German armies of the
districts on the left bank of the Rhine. These districts 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 by
allied and United States troops shall be assured by garrisons holding the
principal crossings of the Rhine (Mainz, Coblenz, Cologne), together with
bridgeheads at these points of a 30-kilometer (about 19 miles) radius on
the right bank, and by garrisons similarly holding the strategic points
of the 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 10 kilometers (6 ¼ miles) distant
from them, between the Dutch frontier and the Swiss frontier.
The evacuation by the enemy of the Rhine
districts (right and left banks) shall be so ordered as to be completed
within a further period of 16 days, in all 31 days after the signing of
the armistice.
All movements of evacuation and occupation
shall be regulated according to the note (Annexe 1) determined at the time
of the signing of the armistice.
VI. In all territories evacuated by the
enemy, evacuation of the inhabitants shall be forbidden; no damage or harm
shall be done to the persons or property of the inhabitant.
No person shall be prosecuted for having
taken part in any military measures previous to the signing of the armistice.
No destruction of any kind to be committed.
Military establishments of all kinds shall
be delivered intact, as well as military stores, food, munitions, and equipment,
which shall not have been removed during the periods fixed for evacuation.
Stores of food of all kinds for the civil
population, cattle, etc., shall be left in situ.
No measure of a general character shall
be taken, and no official order shall be given which would have as a consequence
the depreciation of industrial establishments or a reduction of their personnel.
VII. Roads and means of communications
of every kind, railroads, waterways, roads, bridges, telegraphs, telephones,
shall be in no manner impaired.
All civil and military personnel at present
employed on them shall remain.
Five thousand locomotives and 150,000 wagons,
in good working order, with all necessary spare parts and fittings, shall
be delivered to the associated powers within the period fixed in Annexe
No. 2 (not exceeding 31 days in all).
Five thousand motor lorries are also to
be delivered in good condition within 36 days.
The railways of Alsace-Lorraine shall be
handed over within 31 days, together with all personnel and material belonging
to the organization of this system.
Further, the necessary working material
in the territories on the left bank of the Rhine shall be left in situ.
All stores of coal and material for the
upkeep of permanent way, signals, and repair shops, shall be left in situ
and kept in an efficient state by Germany, so far as the working of the
means of communication on the left bank of the Rhine is concerned.
All lighters taken from the Allies shall
be restored to them.
The note attached as Annexe 2 defines the
details of these measures.
VIII. The German command shall be responsible
for revealing within 48 hours after the signing of the
armistice all mines or delay-action fuses disposed on territories evacuated
by the German troops, and shall assist in their discovery and destruction.
The German command shall also reveal all
destructive measures that may have been taken (such as poisoning or pollution
of wells, springs, etc.).
Breaches of these clauses will involve
reprisals.
IX. The right of requisition shall be exercised
by the allied and United States armies in all occupied territories, save
for settlement of accounts with authorized persons.
The upkeep of the troops of occupation
in the Rhine districts (excluding Alsace-Lorraine) shall be charged to
the German Government.
X. The immediate repatriation, without
reciprocity, according to detailed conditions which shall be fixed, of
all allied and United States prisoners of war, including those under trial
and condemned. The allied powers and the United States of America shall
be able to dispose of these prisoners as they think fit. This condition
annuls all other conventions regarding prisoners of war, including that
of July, 1918, now being ratified. However, the return of German prisoners
of war interned in Holland and Switzerland shall continue as heretofore.
The return of German prisoners shall be settled at the conclusion of the
peace preliminaries.
XI. Sick and wounded who can not be removed
from territory evacuated by the German forces shall be cared for by German
personnel, who shall be left on the spot with the material required.
(B) CLAUSES RELATING TO THE EASTERN FRONTIERS
OF GERMANY
XII. All German troops at present in any
territory which before the war formed part of Austria-Hungary, Roumania,
or Turkey, shall withdraw within the frontiers of Germany as they existed
on August 1, 1914, and all German troops at present in territories which
before the war formed part of Russia must likewise return to within the
frontiers of Germany as above defined, as soon as the Allies shall think
the moment suitable, having regard to the internal situation of these territories.
XIII. Evacuation of German troops to begin
at once, and all German instructors, prisoners and agents, civilians as
well as military, now on the territory of Russia (frontiers as defined
on Aug. 1, 1914), to be recalled.
XIV. German troops to cease at once all
requisitions and seizures and any other coercive measures with a view to
obtaining supplies intended for Germany in Roumania and Russia (frontiers
as de- fined on Aug. 1, 1914).
XV. Annulment of the treaties of Bucharest
and Brest-Litovsk and of the supplementary treaties.
XVI. The Allies shall have free access
to the territories evacuated by the Germans on their eastern frontier,
either through Danzig or by the Vistula, in order to convey supplies to
the populations of these territories or for the purpose of maintaining
order.
(C) CLAUSE RELATING TO EAST AFRICA
XVII. Evacuation of all German from operating
in East Africa within a period specified by the Allies.
(D) GENERAL CLAUSES
XVIII. Repatriation without reciprocity,
within a maximum period of one month, in accordance with detailed conditions
hereafter to be fixed, of all interned civilians, including hostages and
persons under trial and condemned, who may be subjects of allied or associated
States other than those mentioned in Clause III.
FINANCIAL CLAUSES
XIX. With the reservation that any subsequent
concessions and claims by the Allies and United States remain unaffected,
the following financial conditions are imposed:
Reparation for damage done.
While the armistice lasts no public securities
shall be removed by the enemy which can serve as a pledge to the Allies
to cover reparation for war losses.
Immediate restitution of the cash deposit
in the National Bank of Belgium and, in general, immediate return of all
documents, specie, stocks, shares, paper money, together with plant for
the issue thereof, affecting public or private interests in the invaded
countries.
Restitution of the Russian and Roumanian
gold yielded to Germany or taken by that power.
This gold is to be delivered in trust to
the Allies until peace is concluded.
(E) NAVAL CONDITIONS
XX. Immediate cessation of all hostilities
at sea and definite information to be given as to the position and movements
of all German ships.
Notification to be given to neutrals that
freedom of navigation in an territorial waters is given to the navies and
mercantile marines of the allied and associated powers, all questions of
neutrality being waived.
XXI. All naval and mercantile marine prisoners
of war of the allied and associated powers in German hands to be returned
without reciprocity.
XXII. To surrender at the ports specified
by the Allies and the United States all submarines at present in existence
(including all submarine cruisers and mine layers), with armament and equipment
complete. Those that can not put to sea shall be deprived of armament and
equipment and shall remain under the supervision of the Allies and the
United States. Submarines ready to put to sea shall be prepared to leave
German ports immediately on receipt of a wireless order to sail to the
port of surrender, the remainder to follow as early as possible. The conditions
of this article shall be completed within 14 days of the signing of the
armistice.
XXIII. The following German surface warships,
which shall be designated by the Allies and the United States of America,
shall forthwith be disarmed and thereafter interned in neutral ports, or,
failing them, allied ports, to be designated by the Allies and the United
States of America, and placed under the surveillance of the Allies and
the United States of America, only care and maintenance parties being left
on board, namely:
-
6 battle cruisers.
-
10 battleships.
-
8 1ight cruisers (including 2 mine layers).
-
50 destroyers of the most modern type.
All other surface warships (including river
craft) are to be concentrated in German naval bases, to be designated by
the Allies and the United States of America, completely disarmed and placed
under the supervision of the Allies and the United States of America. All
vessels of the auxiliary fleet are to be disarmed. All vessels specified
for internment shall be ready to leave German ports seven days after the
signing of the armistice. Directions for the voyage shall be given by wireless.
XXIV. The Allies and the United States
of America shall have the right to sweep up all mine fields and destroy
all obstructions laid by Germany outside German territorial waters, and
the positions of these are to be indicated.
XXV. Freedom of access to and from the
Baltic to be given to the navies and mercantile marines of the allied and
associated powers. This to be secured by the occupation of all German forts,
fortifications, batteries, and defense works of all kinds in all the routes
from the Cattegat into the Baltic and by the sweeping up and destruction
of all mines and obstructions within and without German territorial waters
without any questions of neutrality being raised by Germany, and the positions
of all such mines and obstructions to be indicated, and the plans relating
thereto are to be supplied.
XXVI. The existing blockade conditions
set up by the allied and associated powers are to remain unchanged, and
all German merchant ships found at sea are to remain liable to capture.
The Allies and United States contemplate the provisioning of Germany during
the armistice as shall be found necessary.
XXVII. All aerial forces are to be concentrated
and immobilized in German bases to be specified by the Allies and the United
States of America.
XXVIII. In evacuating the Belgian coasts
and ports Germany shall abandon in situ and intact the port material and
material for inland waterways, also all merchant ships, tugs and lighters,
all naval aircraft and air materials and stores, all arms and armaments
and all stores and apparatus of all kinds.
XXIX. All Black Sea ports are to be evacuated
by Germany; all Russian warships of all descriptions seized by Germany
in the Black Sea are to be handed over to the Allies and the United States
of America; all neutral merchant ships seized in the Black Sea are to be
released; all warlike and other materials of all kinds seized in those
ports are to be returned, and German materials as specified in Clause XXVIII
are to be abandoned.
XXX. All merchant ships at present in German
hands belonging to the allied and associated powers are to be restored
to ports specified by the Allies and the United States of America without
reciprocity.
XXI. No destruction of ships or of materials
to be permitted before evacuation, surrender, or restoration.
XXII. The German Government shall formally
notify all the neutral Governments, and particularly the Governments of
Norway, Sweden, Denmark, and Holland, that all restrictions placed on the
trading of their vessels with the allied and associated countries, whether
by the German Government or by private German interests, and whether in
return for specific concessions, such as the export of shipbuilding materials,
or not, are immediately canceled.
XXIII. No transfers of German merchant
shipping of any description to any neutral flag are to take place after
signature of the armistice.
(F) DURATION OF ARMISTICE
XXIV. The duration of the armistice is
to be 36 days, with option to extend. During this period, on failure of
execution of any of the above clauses, the armistice may be repudiated
by one of the contracting parties on 48 hours' previous notice. It is understood
that failure to execute Articles III and XVIII completely in the periods
specified is not to give reason for a repudiation of the armistice, save
where such failure is due to malice aforethought.
To insure the execution of the present
convention under the most favorable conditions, the principle of a permanent
international armistice commission is recognized. This commission shall
act under the supreme authority of the high command, military and naval,
of the allied armies.
The present armistice was signed on the
11th day of November, 1918, at 5 o'clock a. m. (French time).
F. Foch
R. E. Wemyss
Erzberger
Oberndorff
Winterfeldt
Vanselow
November 11, 1918
The, representatives of the Allies declare
that, in view of fresh events, it appears necessary to them that the following
condition shall be added to the clauses of the armistice:
In case the German ships are not handed
over within the periods specified, the Governments of the Allies and of
the United States shall have the right to occupy Heligoland to insure their
delivery.
F. Foch
R. E. Wemyss, Admiral
The German delegates declare that they
will forward this declaration to the German chancellor, with the recommendation
that it be accepted, accompanying it with the reasons by which the Allies
have been actuated in making this demand.
Erzberger
Oberndorff
Winterfeldt
Vanselow
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