The day when peace
IN a silent forest cloaked by the red of autumn, the leaders of Germany and France will this week walk together down a path between two old railway tracks.
It was here, on a misty morning 100 years ago, that the deal was signed to end World War I.
The Armistice — declaring peace at the 11th hour of the 11th day of the 11th month in 1918 — was inked in a railway carriage in the forest at Compiegne, northwest of Paris.
On the eve of the centenary, German Chancellor Angela Merkel and French President Emmanuel Macron will walk side-by-side between the railway tracks where the trains housing the Germans and the French were shunted, metres from each other, so the warring parties could conclude the deal.
They will be watched over by a towering statue of Ferdinand Foch, the French marshal and commander of the Allied forces who sealed victory and signed the Armistice peace treaty in his carriage with a group of midlevel German military functionaries.
A tiny museum housing the replica of Foch’s railcar now sits at the site in Compiegne, which is one of the most important, but least-known, memorial sites of World War I.
Never before have the leaders of the two great European powers, France and Germany, come here to- gether. They will visit the site on November 10 before returning to Paris for a service and peace forum on November 11 expected to be attended by dozens of world leaders.
Museum president Bernard Letemps said it was highly symbolic for the French and German leaders to visit the little museum together.
He said the European Union anthem, Ode to Joy, or Beethoven’s Symphony No.9, would play as the pair walked together through the trees, highlighting the solidarity of a Europe torn apart in a war 100 years ago.
The museum has been rebuilt after the Germans tore it down after occupying France in World War II, and around 70,000 people a year visit.
“We have a new display and we want to show the children about the war and the fact more than one million (French military) people died. And then there was another war 20 years later,’ Mr Letemps said.
He said discussions to end the four-year Great War had begun in December 1917, but gained momentum in the later months of 1918 as German losses mounted along the Western Front.
It was decided a final negotiation would take place in early November at Compiegne, a spot chosen for its isolation and secrecy, and its location between Marshal Foch’s headquarters in Senlis, and the German base at Spa in occupied Belgium.
Foch got there first, arriving in a Wagon-Lits carriage built originally as a dining car but converted into an office. The Germans came by car to Tergnier, further north, then switched to a train and arrived the next day.
Day and night, the two sides negotiated, the Germans sending only a mid-level delegation, which would later be accused of selling out the empire after agreeing to 34 terms of surrender spelled out by the Allies.
“The final negotiation was between 2.15am and 5.15am,’’ Mr Letemps said, adding the signatures were inked in Foch’s carriage between 5.15am and 5.20am, but several hours were needed to get the message to the front lines.
“It was agreed it (the Armistice) would start at 11am.
“The clarion started and sounded along the 400km front line.’’
After more than four years, the Great War was over, but not before it killed 17 million people on both sides – seven million of whom were civilians.
Another hour away along the Western Front, an Australian service of remembrance will be held at Villers-Bretonneux on November 11 in honour of the 60,000 Australians who lost their lives fighting in World War I.
Veronica Di Toro, of Melbourne, will be one of hundreds of descendants at the service at the Australian National Memorial, honouring the service of her three uncles, who all served on the Western Front.
Ms Di Toro, who has visited the battlefields nine times, makes an effort to reach out and touch as many