On November 6, 1918, the German Government sent a wireless message to Marshal Foch asking him to receive German plenipotentiaries who would arrive at the French outposts on the following day (November 7) to arrange for the armistice. The mission was headed by Mathias Erzberger, secretary of state, and included General von Winterfeld, Count Alfred von Oberndorf, General von Grunnel, and Naval Captain von Sallow.
As previously noted in the last chapter devoted to military operations, the armistice was signed by the German representatives and all hostilities ceased on November 11, 1918, at 11 a. m. On the same date President Wilson announced the terms of the armistice in his address to Congress. Briefly summarized, Germany agreed to the immediate evacuation of all invaded countries, including Alsace-Lorraine, and yielded over to Allied occupation "the countries on the left bank of the Rhine," including control of the crossings of that river at Mayence, Coblenz, and Cologne; bridgeheads of thirty kilometer radius on the eastern bank and the establishment of a neutral zone from thirty to forty kilometers in breadth and running from the frontier of Holland to the Swiss frontier. Germany surrendered about half her navy, including 160 submarines, which passed at once under control of the Allies to be disarmed and interned in Allied or neutral ports. All other German warships were to be disarmed and concentrated in German naval bases and held under control of the Allies and the United States. All the railways of Belgium, Luxemburg, and of Alsace-Lorraine with their equipment were to be given up.
In the east Germany abandoned the treaties of Bucharest and Brest-Litovsk. All German troops in Russia, Rumania, or Turkey were to be withdrawn and the agents of German propaganda recalled. The Baltic was opened to the warships of the Allies, and provision was made that through Danzig or the Vistula supplies might be sent to the starving peoples of Poland and Russia.
The Black Sea ports were also to be evacuated by Germany and she must give up the Russian fleet. While the blockade was to be maintained as respected Germany, all German restriction upon the trade of neutrals was removed. Germany must give up all the prisoners she had taken, all the ships she had seized, but this was not reciprocal. German prisoners of war and German ships remained in the custody of the Allies.
While President Wilson was reading to the assembled Congress the drastic terms which Germany had been forced to accept in order to obtain peace there was a tense silence on the part of the great audience. It was only when they realized, as paragraph after paragraph was read, how complete the victory of the Allies was that faint handclapping was heard, then cheers and presently everyone in the gallery and on the floor was on his feet cheering madly. After reading the terms of the armistice President Wilson continued:
"The war thus comes to an end; for, having accepted these terms of armistice, it will be impossible for the German command to renew it."
PART V—VICTORY ON THE SEA
CHAPTER XVI
NAVAL EXPLOITS OF THE ALLIES—SUBMARINES
The fleets of the Allies, and the American fleet, had comparatively few opportunities for direct action after August 1, 1918, yet they had a great share in winning the war.