Evening star. [volume] (Washington, D.C.) 1854-1972, 1928-11-12
The Day of November 9, 1918.

hC Ddy Va 4NVtCuIUCt Os AcAo'
1t has been seen from my first article
that the day of November 8 was not
lost, that it had brought one important
result-the acceptance in principle by
the German delegates of the armistlce
conditions drawn up by the allies.
However, the evaSive attitude OF the
Germans did not fail to worry Glenn
enceau. all the more because. according
to information received in the evening
of November 8. in Paris, grave events
were expected in Germany. There we're
no details, but the reports seemed re-
liable.
Moreover, Clemenceau was anxious 20
see Marshal Foch to ask him for his
personal opinion about the first day OF
negotiations. That is why in the morn
ing of November 8, Clemenceau and
I went to Foch's headquarters at Senlls,
where the marshal was spending few
hours.
We made the trip in automobile and
chatted about the events OF the day,
coming finally to the great question OF
the armistice. News received during the
night from Germany was disquleting
and Clemenceau asked himself what, In
case events were precipitated on the
other side of the Rhine, would be the
situa ton of the allies at Rethondes
facing German delegates who. perhaps,
would not have power to treat In the
name of the new German government
Quick Action Needed.
It was therefore necessary to act
quickly and not let the negotiations
drag along. That was what Clemenceau
especially desired to tell Foch. was
of the same opinion. I remarked to the
premier that, even if we were obliged
to break off negotiations, it would be
an excellent thing for the allies, because
it would enable us to start Immediately
the strategic attack in Lorraine, for
which everything was prepared to the
last detail. In any case, I believed
that in view of the uncertainty of the
situation, Marshal Foch should ac-
celerate the offensive of the armies
Clemenceau did not fail to tell this to
the marshal.
Foch had installed his headquarters
at Senlis on october 20. Before this
Bombon chateau, near Melun, where
the marshal had spent part of the
Summer. It was owing to the start of
the general offensive of the allied armies
that he had decided to move his head
quarters to Senlis. This little provincial
town had nothing in particular to rec
ommend it, but from the viewpoint OF
strategy it offered the great advantage
of placing the marshal in the center Of
the allied armies. Moreover, as 1t is
close to Paris the marshal was always
able to be in communication with the
government, that is to say Premier
Clemenceau, and thus to assure the
close collaboration of politics and
strategy which is indispensable to the
conduct Of the war, especially like the
war as it was in 1918.
According to his custom the marshal
had installed himself in q modest house,
far from the highways, the noise of the
front, but possessing large rooms for
the Offices of the general staff. The
installation Of the marshal was al
ways very simple, for he worked with
q small staff, looking for quality rather
than quantity. This property, which
dated from Louis XVI, belonged to
Mime. de Bellegarde. Part of the out
houses were in ruins, having been
burned by the Germans in their on
rush to Paris in 1914.
Marshal Calm.
We found the marshal not only very
calm, as was usual, but overjoyed. He
related all the details of his interviews
of the evening before with the Ger
mans. There were some remarkable
scenes. The marshal did not try to
hide his own establishment when he
saw the Germans accepting so easily
the hard conditions about the bridge
heads, the surrender Of the fleet, the
on the contrary, they blanched and
literally collapsed when Foch talked Of
the delivery of guns, machine guns and
locomotives. One of them, Erzberger,
exclaimed: But, in these conditions
we are lost How are we going to de-
fend ourselves against bolsheviSm?" A
little later another delegate said: "You
do not understand that in taking away
our means of defense against bolshe-
vism you are driving us to perdition
and you yourselves also; your turn will
come"
The reason for this was that they
had Just arrived from Germany and
they knew very we'll that the revolu-
tionary storm was growing and an out
break was imminent. may say here
that. during the recital of the marshal,
none Of us thought of making the ar
mistice conditions harder. We were too
full of JOY Not knowing what was
happening in Germany, we could not
hope for more.
Is it necessary to recall that it was
on this same morning of November 9,
while Clemenceau and Foch were hav-
ing their interview, dramatic, almost
ShakeSpearean, scene was staged at
Spa? Hindenburg and Gen. Groener,
who in october, had taken Ludendorff's
post as chief quartermaster general, ar
rived at Spa at 10 o'clock to beg
William II to abdicate. They told the
Emperor the troops did not want to
fight any longer and that the whole
German people demanded the abd.ca-
ton of the Emperor. William II be-
came furious and declared he would
place himself at the head of his troops
and march to Berlin to restore order.
Troops Rebcllious.
Groener coldly replied that the troops
would no longer march behind the EN-
peror and that there was nothing left
for the Kaiser to do but to go to
the front and get yourself killed at the
hand of the few regiments that are
sill loyal to you" The Emperor made
no reply. He made sign to the two
generals to retire and as they left he
repeated his refusal to abdicate.
During this time Clemenceau, Foch,
zen. WeyBdIlU ailU we're dt JIle nelSQLS
of enthusiasm. We talked of 1870 and
the revenge Of getting back Alsace Lor-
raine, supreme aim of our ambitions,
dreams often enjoyed really the one
motive which had sent us. as young
men, into that army, which certainly
had grandeur but also had terrible
slavery. We had almost forgotten all
that.
Speaking of 1870, Clemenceau re-
called the heroic figure of Gambetta
and said: What a misfortune that
Gambetta did not live long enough to
witness this apotheosiS, which realizes
his famous prophecy about imminent
justice. He, too, merited well Of the
fatherland and merited a different
destiny. Let us bow to destiny, but
let us bow still lower to the memory
Of the great statesman"
This shows that Clemenceau, con-