World's War Events Volume III Part 44

Conscription is abolished in Germany. The enlisted personnel must be maintained by voluntary enlistments for terms of twelve consecutive years, the number of discharges before the expiration of that term not in any year to exceed 5 per cent of the total effectives. Officers remaining in the service must agree to serve to the age of 45 years, and newly appointed officers must agree to serve actively for twenty-five years.

No military schools except those absolutely indispensable for the units allowed shall exist in Germany two months after the peace. No a.s.sociations such as societies of discharged soldiers, shooting or touring clubs, educational establishments or universities may occupy themselves with military matters. All measures of mobilization are forbidden.

FORTRESSES

[Sidenote: Fortifications in Rhine to be dismantled.]

All fortified works, fortresses, and field works situated in German territory within a zone of fifty kilometers east of the Rhine will be dismantled within three months. The construction of any new fortifications there is forbidden. The fortified works on the southern and eastern frontiers, however, may remain.

CONTROL

[Sidenote: Interallied commissions of control.]

Interallied commissions of control will see to the execution of the provisions for which a time limit is set, the maximum named being three months. They may establish headquarters at the German seat of Government and go to any part of Germany desired. Germany must give them complete facilities, pay their expenses, and also the expenses of execution of the treaty, including the labor and material necessary in demolition, destruction or surrender of war equipment.

NAVAL

[Sidenote: German navy to be demobilized.]

The German navy must be demobilized within a period of two months after the peace. She will be allowed 6 small battleships, 6 light cruisers, 12 destroyers, 12 torpedo boats, and no submarines, either military or commercial, with a personnel of 15,000 men, including officers, and no reserve force of any character. Conscription is abolished, only voluntary service being permitted, with a minimum period of 25 years service for officers and 12 for men. No member of the German mercantile marine will be permitted any naval training.

[Sidenote: German war vessels that must be surrendered.]

All German vessels of war in foreign ports and the German high sea fleet interned at Scapa Flow will be surrendered, the final disposition of these ships to be decided upon by the allied and a.s.sociated powers.

Germany must surrender 42 modern destroyers, 50 modern torpedo boats, and all submarines, with their salvage vessels. All war vessels under construction, including submarines, must be broken up. War vessels not otherwise provided for are to be placed in reserve, or used for commercial purposes. Replacement of ships except those lost can take place only at the end of 20 years for battleships and 15 years for destroyers. The largest armored ship Germany will be permitted will be 10,000 tons.

[Sidenote: To sweep up mines.]

Germany is required to sweep up the mines in the North Sea and the Baltic Sea, as decided upon by the Allies. All German fortifications in the Baltic, defending the pa.s.sages through the belts, must be demolished. Other coast defenses are permitted, but the number and caliber of the guns must not be increased.

WIRELESS

[Sidenote: German wireless messages only for commercial purposes.]

During a period of three months after the peace German high power wireless stations at Nauen, Hanover, and Berlin will not be permitted to send any messages except for commercial purposes, and under supervision of the allied and a.s.sociated Governments, nor may any more be constructed.

CABLES

[Sidenote: To renounce t.i.tle to cables.]

Germany renounces all t.i.tle to specified cables, the value of such as were privately owned being credited to her against reparation indebtedness.

Germany will be allowed to repair German submarine cables which have been cut but are not being utilized by the allied powers, and also portions of cables which, after having been cut, have been removed, or are at any rate not being utilized by any one of the allied and a.s.sociated powers. In such cases the cables, or portions of cables, removed or utilized remain the property of the allied and a.s.sociated powers, and accordingly fourteen cables or parts of cables are specified which will not be restored to Germany.

AIR

[Sidenote: Air personnel to be demobilized.]

The armed forces of Germany must not include any military or naval air forces except for not over 100 unarmed seaplanes to be retained till October 1 to search for submarine mines. No dirigible shall be kept. The entire air personnel is to be demobilized within two months, except for 1,000 officers and men retained till October. No aviation grounds or dirigible sheds are to be allowed within 150 kilometers of the Rhine, or the eastern or southern frontiers, existing installations within these limits to be destroyed. The manufacture of aircraft and parts of aircraft is forbidden for six months. All military and naval aeronautical material under a most exhaustive definition must be surrendered within three months, except for the 100 seaplanes already specified.

PRISONERS OF WAR

[Sidenote: Repatriation of German prisoners and interned civilians.]

The repatriation of German prisoners and interned civilians is to be carried out without delay and at Germany's expense by a commission composed of representatives of the Allies and Germany. Those under sentence for offenses against discipline are to be repatriated without regard to the completion of their sentences. Until Germany has surrendered persons guilty of offenses against the laws and customs of war, the Allies have the right to retain selected German officers. The Allies may deal at their own discretion with German nationals who do not desire to be repatriated, all repatriation being conditional on the immediate release of any allied subjects still in Germany. Germany is to accord facilities to commissions of inquiry in collecting information in regard to missing prisoners of war and of imposing penalties on German officials who have concealed allied nationals. Germany is to restore all property belonging to allied prisoners. There is to be a reciprocal exchange of information as to dead prisoners and their graves.

GRAVES

[Sidenote: Graves to be respected and maintained.]

Both parties will respect and maintain the graves of soldiers and sailors buried on their territories, agree to recognize and a.s.sist any commission charged by any allied or a.s.sociate Government with identifying, registering, maintaining or erecting suitable monuments over the graves, and to afford to each other all facilities for the repatriation of the remains of their soldiers.

SECTION VII

RESPONSIBILITIES

[Sidenote: William II charged with responsibility for war.]

"The allied and a.s.sociated powers publicly arraign William II. of Hohenzollern, formerly German Emperor, not for an offense against criminal law, but for a supreme offense against international morality and the sanct.i.ty of treaties."

The ex-Emperor's surrender is to be requested of Holland and a special tribunal set up, composed of one judge from each of the five great powers, with full guarantees of the right of defense. It is to be guided "by the highest motives of international policy with a view of vindicating the solemn obligations of international undertakings and the validity of international morality," and will fix the punishment it feels should be imposed.

[Sidenote: Persons who violated laws of war to be tried.]

Persons accused of having committed acts in violation of the laws and customs of war are to be tried and punished by military tribunals under military law. If the charges affect nationals of only one State, they will be tried before a tribunal of that State; if they affect nationals of several States, they will be tried before joint tribunals of the States concerned. Germany shall hand over to the a.s.sociated Governments, either jointly or severally, all persons so accused and all doc.u.ments and information necessary to insure full knowledge of the incriminating acts, the discovery of the offenders, and the just appreciation of the responsibility. The Judge [garbled in cabling] will be ent.i.tled to name his own counsel.

SECTION VIII

REPARATION AND RESt.i.tUTION

[Sidenote: Germany's responsibility for loss and damage.]

"The allied and a.s.sociated Governments affirm, and Germany accepts, the responsibility of herself and her allies, for causing all the loss and damage to which the allied and a.s.sociated Governments and their nationals have been subjected as a consequence of the war imposed upon them by the aggression of Germany and her allies."

The total obligation of Germany to pay as defined in the category of damages is to be determined and notified to her after a fair hearing, and not later than May 1, 1921, by an interallied Reparation Commission.