Friday 9 November 2018

The End is in Sight


Saturday 9th November 1918

It seems as if the worries aired in yesterday's piece were unnecessary. The enemy really are finished. Their Kaiser, we understand, abdicated this morning. It is not clear exactly what this means inside Germany but with the despot gone there must be a vacuum at the heart of the state. Clearly Germans themselves believe the war is lost and Willy has paid the price.

In a clearing in the Forest of Compiegne there is a railway car. This morning a German delegation entered this car and heard terms dictated by a delegation of senior allied officers, headed by the allied supreme commander, Marshal Ferdinand Foch. These terms are believed to include complete withdrawal from all occupied territory, including the French provinces of Alsace and Lorraine which they surrendered to Germany after their defeat in 1870. Germany has two days to respond.

At the front today the city of Maubeuge fell to our troops. The 4th Battalion, Bedfordshire Regiment again attacked and retook Blaugies and moved on to take Sars-la-Bruyere and Quevy-le-Petit, three miles south-west of Mons, for the loss of four men killed and thirteen wounded.


Source: X550/5/3

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