The Wilmington morning star., 1940-06-22
C0MPIECNE
DEMANDS
REPLY TO TERMS
CONTINUED From Page One)

CONTINUED From Page One)
sary' to him to continue his war
against their ally, Britain; and the
acceptance of representations" for
a new European order designed
above all to make Preparation OF
the wrong done to the German
Reich by force"
This was the heart OF a long
preamble given to the French dele
gates-that and a declaration that
Germany had no intention of cast
ing "~aspersions against any enc
my so brave"
His specific terms-not announc-
ed in detail pending their accept
ance or rejection-were left with
the French in a meeting that was
heavy with a sense of history, MIS-
tory repeating itself in reverse.
For he met the French in the
railway car in the forest of Com
piegne where on the morning OF
Nov. II, 1918, the Germans-the
vanquished then-signed the armis-
tice that ended the World war.
The old car was pulled from the
special building in which the
French had kept it proudly all
these years to the precise spot
where it stood on that morning of
German defeat a generation ago.
Takes Foch's Chair
Inside it, Hitler occupied the
chair in which Marshal Ferdinand
Foch sat then, the high command
err of a French force that had o
1t was a ceremony full of stiff
punctilio, and when it was over
the French plenipotentiaries walk
ed slowly outside to a tent to
telephone their government.
The negotiations dragged into this
evening. After a preliminary con-
sultation owe the wire with their
government, the French returned
from their tent to the railway a to
talk again to Hitler's agents.
Hitler met the four French dele
gates at 1892 p. m. (8:32 a. m. EST.)
He jerked his arm up in the Nazi
salute, and his staff answered with
arms extended. Then, at his signal,
Colonel General Wilhelm Keitel,
chief of the German high command,
read the preamble general state
ment of the demands of Germany
and Italy.
The French sat silently to hear
the news-the gravest for their
country in many a generation.
It was all over in 10 minutes.
General Keitel completed his docu-
ment and Hitler walked from the
car while a band trumpeted "Deut-
schland Uber Allies" and the Nazi
hymn, the Horst Vessel song.
What Hitler's general had read to
the French showed how sharp had
been his memories of this forest and
the railway car and what had come
out of it half a lifetime ago.
Preamble
Here is what the preamble said:
fBy the order of the Fuehrer and
supreme commandments I have
t h following communication t
make:
"In reliance on assurances given
to the German Reich by the Ameri-
can President Wilson and confirmed
by the Allied powers, German armed
forces laid down their arms in No
vember, 1918.
s'Therewith was ended a war
the German people and it's
government had not wanted and in
the enemy, despite tremen-
dous superiority, did not success
in any way conquer the Ger
man army, navy or German air
force.
However, at the moment of the
of the German a1rnistice COM
mission, violation Of the ceremon-
promise began. On Nov.
II, 1918, in this a then began the
time of suffering of the German
"What dishonor and humiliation,
what human and material suffering
could be caused had it's outlet here.
Broken promises and perjury con-
spired against a people which after
more than four years of heroic re-
sistance had only one weakness-be-
lief in the promises of democratic
statesmen.
ION Sept. 8, 1895 years after
the outbreak of the World war
England and France again declared