June 21: ON THIS DAY IN HISTORY
ON THIS DAY IN 1919, the Brooklyn Daily Eagle reported, “PARIS — Members of the Peace Conference and Parisians generally are trying to believe the Germans will sign, but secret information from Weimar indicates that the Independent Socialists wish to sign, that the Majority Socialists and the Catholic Center party are divided, but that the Majority Socialists will follow Erzberger. The National Liberals seem definitely against signing. Meanwhile the Allied military authorities are proceeding with their preparations to advance, as if the German refusal to yield were a certainty, and at the same time the Conference authorities at Versailles are making their preparations for the final ceremony, acting apparently on the assumption that the signatures of the German envoys will be attached to the treaty. Interest in the proceedings, which has lagged and all but died, is brought to a dramatic pitch by the suspense. At no time since the armistice has there been such tense expectation. No one has any definite opinion either way, but most people seem to believe that the Germans, out of sheer stupidity, if for no other reason, will attempt a refusal.”
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ON THIS DAY IN 1940, the Eagle reported, “COMPIEGNE FOREST, via German field telephone to Berlin (U.P.) — Adolf Hitler today gave to France his terms of armistice on the spot where Germany signed an end to the World War in 1918. The fuehrer had the famous 1918 armistice railroad car moved to the exact spot where the first armistice was signed and sat in the seat which Marshal Foch occupied at that time. I stood in the old dining car No. 2419-D of the Wagon-Lits Company today where the World War armistice was signed and watched the German chancellor hand to French delegates the terms by which he would heal a 22-year-old ache to German pride. Outside the sun was bright and the pleasant forests of Compiegne were quiet and at peace. War seemed far away. The terms given France today were based on three premises. They were read to the four French emissaries by Col. Wilhelm Keitel after Hitler had handed them his terms. The armistice, said the preamble read by Keitel, must: 1. Assure Germany that France will not again take up the battle; 2. Give Germany assurances needed for carrying on the war against Britain; 3. Lay the foundations for an ultimate new peace in which Germany will receive restitution for wrongs done her ‘by force of arms.’”
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