The status of citizens of occupied territory is profoundly modified by the provisions of the agreement, which expressly stipulate that deportations shall cease. Both sides bind themselves not to use released soldiers or civilians in war work. The validity of Germany's promise on this point was a theme of bitter comment in England when the terms of the French agreement first became known.
SUMMARY OF DOCUMENT
The most important articles in the Franco-German convention, which is very long, may be summarized as follows:
Article 1. Direct repatriation, without regard for rank or numbers, for sub-officers, Corporals, and soldiers who have been in captivity at least eighteen months at the time when this agreement goes into force: (a) who have reached the age of 40 years and are not yet 45, and are fathers of at least three living children; (b) who have reached the age of 45, but are not yet 48.
Art. 2. Direct repatriation, man for man and rank for rank, for sub-officers, Corporals, and soldiers in captivity for at least eighteen months, and not included in any of the classes mentioned in Article 1.
Art. 3. In the exchange provided for in Article 2 no distinction will be made between sub-officers. Corporals will be ranked with them.
Art. 4. Internment in Switzerland, without regard for rank or numbers, for all officers in captivity at least eighteen months: (a) who have reached the age of 40 years and are not yet 45, and are the fathers of at least three living children; (b) who have reached the age of 45 years, but are not yet 48.
Art. 5. Internment in Switzerland, man for man, regardless of rank, for sub-officers in captivity at least eighteen months and not included in the foregoing categories.
Art. 6. The order of priority for repatriation and internment shall be determined by priority of captivity and by equal duration of imprisonment after considering age. If this order cannot be followed exactly, the repatriation of the prisoner who has to remain shall not be delayed beyond two months at most.
Art. 9. Repatriation, without regard to rank or numbers, for officers, sub-officers, Corporals, and soldiers who were taken prisoner prior to Nov. 1, 1916, and who on April 15, 1918, find themselves interned in Switzerland by reason of wounds or illness.
TRANSPORTING PRISONERS
Art. 10. The repatriation of these prisoners shall be effected in the following manner: Each train in either direction shall contain 700 prisoners of war to be exchanged, man for man. Each train coming from Germany, moreover, shall contain 100 French prisoners of war designated in Article 1, and each train from France shall contain 50 German prisoners of the same category, until the total in this class on both sides is exhausted. The repatriation shipments should contain a monthly average of 15 per cent. of noncommissioned officers and 85 per cent. of privates.
Art. 11. At the beginning of each series of ten trains of private soldiers there shall be formed on each side a convoy of 400 officers to be interned in Switzerland in accordance with Article 5. This convoy shall include, besides, 100 French officers coming from Germany and 50 German officers coming from France to be interned under Article 4, until the total on each side is exhausted.
Art. 12. The first two trainloads of officers provided for in Article 11 shall start from Lyons, the third from Constance, the fourth from Lyons, and so on alternately. The first ten trains of private soldiers arranged for under Article 10 shall start from Constance; the ten trains of the second series shall go from Lyons, and so on alternately.
Art. 13. Prisoners of war who do not yet come under the conditions prescribed in Articles 1-5 shall be repatriated or interned in Switzerland, as the case may be, as rapidly as the prescribed conditions are fulfilled.
Art. 14. Officers in sound health who are interned in Switzerland either under the present agreement or under the Berne agreement of March 15, 1918, cannot be repatriated save in exceptional cases and solely for serious illness or accident.
Art. 16. Article 19 of the Berne convention of March 15, 1918, concerning the employment of repatriated soldiers shall be applicable to prisoners benefiting from the present agreement. Released Belgian prisoners can be employed in France under the same conditions as repatriated French prisoners.
Art. 17. All the foregoing provisions are to apply to German prisoners of war captured by Belgian troops and to Belgian prisoners taken by German troops. The Belgian officers, sub-officers, and soldiers shall be included in the repatriated and interned French groups in the proportion of one Belgian for ten Frenchmen, up to the exhaustion of the number of German war prisoners who were captured by Belgian troops and who come under the foregoing provisions.
Art. 18. In the repatriation and internment of prisoners under Articles 1-5 only men in sound health are to be counted. Ill or wounded prisoners will continue to be repatriated directly or interned in Switzerland under the conditions laid down under Articles 7-18 of the Berne agreement of March 15, 1918.
Art. 20. The provisions contained in Articles 1-19 of the present convention shall cease to be in force on Aug. 1, 1919, if one of the two Governments shall have given notice to that effect to the Swiss Political Department before May 1, 1919.
FOOD FOR PRISONERS
The articles following those just summarized relate to the treatment of prisoners remaining in captivity. The most important are these:
Art. 25. The daily rations of officers must be sufficient in quantity and quality, especially as regards meat, vegetables, and seasoning, after taking into account the food restrictions imposed upon the civil population. The management of food supplies by the prisoner officers themselves is to be favored in every way.
Art. 26. The daily rations allotted to imprisoned privates in Germany and in France must contain a minimum of 2,000 calories for men not working, 2,500 calories for ordinary workers, and 2,850 calories for prisoners doing heavy work.
Art. 27. Prisoners of war shall, in general, receive the same ration of meat as the civil population.
Art. 28. The minimum ration of bread allotted to imprisoned German officers, sub-officers, and soldiers in France is fixed at 350 grams a day. It will be increased to 400 for prisoners working outside the camp. The minimum bread ration allotted to French war prisoners in Germany is the same as that for the civilian population and is never allowed to go below 250 grams.
Art. 29. The German Government authorizes for all war prisoners a collective assignment of bread at the rate of two kilograms (four pounds) of bread per man per week. The providing and distributing of these consignments of food will continue to be assured for all the camps and detachments affected by the present agreement. The provisions are to be sent free and by fast freight. The consignments are to be distributed without any charge whatever and by the most direct and rapid routes available. The empty sacks can be returned to the country of origin.
Art. 33. The provisions of Articles 25-32 are applicable to Belgian prisoners in Germany as well as to German prisoners who have fallen into the power of the Belgian Government and are now in France.
LIBERATING CIVILIANS
The second part of the agreement deals solely with civilian prisoners: