On Wednesday 6 November 1918, Prince Maximilian (Max) of Baden, German Imperial Chancellor, instructed the Foreign Ministry to inform German newspapers that the delegation to conclude an armistice and open peace negotiations had left Berlin for the Western Front that afternoon. The Wolff Telegraph Agency distributed the news in Germany. Press agencies in Allied countries obtained it mainly from sources in neutral countries; and newspapers in Allied countries published it in their 6 November late editions or during Thursday 7 November.
The following is a French translation of the official German press release:
LA MISSION ALLEMANDE D’ARMISTICE SE MET EN ROUTE
Bâle, 6 novembre. [Basle or Basel, in Switzerland.]
On mande de Berlin, 6 novembre (officiel).
La délégation allemande chargée de conclure un armistice et d’entamer des négociations de paix est partie de Berlin aujourd’hui après-midi pour le front occidental.
(Published in La Dépêche de Brest, Thursday 7 November 1918.)
Following the announcement, the German Army High Command Headquarters in Spa (in occupied Belgium) telegraphed at least four messages to Supreme Allied Commander Marshal Foch’s Headquarters about arrangements for the delegation to meet him to discuss an armistice. Foch’s Headquarters, in Senlis to the north-east of Paris, seem to have replied only to the first German telegram, and those below are the only ones the French High Command released for publication. In this account, the transcripts of the messages are from the front-page report of L’Écho de Paris for Friday 8 November 1918.
The Five Telegrams
Each side telegraphed their messages in clear Morse code and in their own language. The transcripts of the messages from Spa, therefore, are French translations of the originals in German, as released by the French High Command. The English translations provided have been produced specifically for this account.
The Spa messages were broadcast from the main German radio transmitter in Nauen, north-west of Berlin. The Eiffel Tower radio station picked them up and relayed them to Foch’s Headquarters in Senlis. Each side telegraphed in clear Morse code and in their own language, so the Spa messages released by the French High Command are French translations of the German originals. The English translations of them here have been produced specifically for this account.
The times-of-transmission of the Spa messages were omitted from the versions released for publication; they have to be obtained or inferred from other sources, if possible. The French times-of-receipt shown on the messages do not necessarily indicate exactly when Senlis Headquarters had received the telegrams. And the time shown on the published French reply does not necessarily indicate when it was transmitted to Spa.
French time was one hour behind German time in November 1918, so reading the stated times without being aware they were not the same for the Allies and the Germans leads to confusion. The times in the messages themselves are assumed to be German times.
The First Spa Telegram to Senlis Headquarters
Reçu le 7 novembre à 0 h. 30. [12 : 30 am]
Le haut commandement allemand, sur l’ordre du gouvernement allemand, au maréchal FOCH.
Le gouvernement allemand ayant été informé par les soins du président des Etats-Unis que le maréchal Foch a reçu les pouvoirs de recevoir les représentants accrédités du gouvernement allemand et de leur communiquer les conditions de l’armistice, les plénipotentiaires suivants ont été nommés par lui :
Général d’infanterie VON GUNDEL ;
Secrétaire d’Etat ERZBERGER ;
Ambassadeur comte OBEURNDORF ;
Général VON WINTERFELDT ;
Capitaine de vaisseau DANSELOW.
Les plénipotentiaires demandent qu’on leur communique par T.S.F. l’endroit où ils pourront se rencontrer avec le maréchal FOCH.
Ils se rendront en automobile, avec leur personnel subalterne, au lieu ainsi fixé.
Le gouvernement allemand se féliciterait dans l’intérêt de l’humanité, si l’arrivée de la délégation allemande sur le front des alliés pouvait amener une suspension d’armes provisoire.
Prière d’accuser réception.
Translation
Received 7 November at 0h. 30. [12:30 am French time]
The German High Command, by order of the German Government, to Marshal FOCH.
The German Government, having been informed by the President of the United States that Marshal Foch has been given powers to receive the accredited representatives of the German Government and communicate the armistice conditions to them, has appointed the following plenipotentiaries:
General VON GUNDEL (infantry);
Secretary of State ERZBERGER;
Ambassador Count OBEURNDORF;
General VON WINTERFELD;
Navy Captain DANSELOW.
The plenipotentiaries request to be informed by wireless telegram where they may meet Marshal FOCH.
They will be travelling to the designated place by motor car, together with assistants.
In the interest of humanity, the German Government would be happy if the arrival of the German delegation at the Allies’ front lines could be the start of a temporary suspension of hostilities.
Please acknowledge receipt.
Comments
Danselow should read Vanselow.
Military historian Patrick de Gmeline relates that the Germans transmitted this message around midnight their time, 11:00 pm French time, on 6 November, that Paris received it shortly after 11:00 pm – that is, well over an hour before the time-of-receipt shown on the published message – and that it was relayed to Senlis Headquarters shortly afterwards. 1
A copy of the telegram held in the Olivier Leroy Family Archive (available online) describes this first message as having been intercepted during the evening of 6 November (“message intercepté le 6 novembre au soir”), received by the Second Bureau at 11:30 pm (“reçu au 2e Bureau à 23 heures 30”), and telephoned to . . . Commander Riedinger at midnight (“communiqué par téléphone le 7 novembre à 0h à l’E-M Bacon (Cdt Riedinger”).) It was noted that the wireless reception was very difficult, the text was defective, and some words were uncertain (“réception très difficile – texte défectueux – mots douteux.”) 2a
[There are no essential differences in the textual information compared with that published in the newspapers. It is not known here who or what “l’E-M Bacon” was. See the Comments on the French Reply (below) about “Second Bureau” and “Riedinger”.]
The office of Edward House, the President’s Special Representative in Paris at the time, reported the Spa-Senlis telegrams to the State Department at 11:00 pm on 7 November. Regarding this first one, they stated that the German Government “transmitted” it “at 12:30 last night” (without specifying French or German time), rather than the French “received” it “at 12:30”, but did not say when it was received by the French. 3 This is presumed to be a confusion.
The telegram was also picked up by a British wireless operator at Field Marshal Haig’s Headquarters. The Intelligence Officer who translated it explained: “In a few words . . . it’s Jerry asking for an Armistice!” But no times are given. 4
Its transmission was preceded during the afternoon of 6 November by a Nauen message announcing the armistice delegation’s departure from Berlin for the Western Front. The Eiffel Tower radio station picked up the announcement, which matched what German and Allied newspapers published, but Senlis Headquarters did not release it. 2b
Only three of the delegates, Secretary of State Erzberger, Count Oberndorf and General von Winterfeldt, travelled from Berlin. They left at about 5:00 pm German time on an overnight train to Spa. Here they were joined by other members of the delegation waiting at High Command Headquarters. This Spa telegram was sent therefore while they were on their way to Belgium.
The French Reply to Spa Headquarters
7 novembre, 1 h. 25. [1 : 25 am]
Le maréchal Foch au commandement allemand.
Si les plénipotentiaires allemands désirent rencontrer le maréchal FOCH pour lui demander un armistice, ils se présenteront aux avant-postes français par la route CHIMAY-FOURMIES-LA CAPELLE-GUISE.
Des ordres sont donnés pour les recevoir et les conduire au lieu fixé pour la rencontre.
Translation
7 November, 1 h. 25. [1:25 am French time]
Marshal Foch to the German Command.
If the German plenipotentiaries wish to meet Marshal FOCH to ask for an armistice, they will present themselves at the forward French positions on the CHIMAY-FOURMIES-LA CAPELLE-GUISE road.
Orders have been given to receive them and take them to the place chosen for the meeting.
Comments
1:25 am French time was 2:25 am German time.
According to Patrick de Gmeline, the reply was sent to the Germans at 2:30 am and again at 3:00 am French time, after it had first been forwarded to Allied authorities. Apparently, 1:25 am was the time it was sent from Senlis Headquarters to the latter rather than to the Germans.
General Weygand, Marshal Foch’s Chief of Staff, drafted the reply which Foch approved. Weygand then instructed Commander Riedinger, head of the Second Bureau (French Military Intelligence) at Senlis Headquarters, to have it transmitted in clear Morse code from the Eiffel Tower. 2
According to the Edward House report to the State Department, Marshal Foch’s reply was sent at “1:19” – 01:19 Thursday morning.
There is no copy of the French Reply in the Olivier Leroy Family Archive.
The Second Spa Telegram to Senlis Headquarters
Radio en allemand, reçu le 7 novembre à 13 heures.
Du Grand Quartier Général allemand au Grand Quartier Général des Alliés.
Le commandant en chef allemand au maréchal Foch.
Les plénipotentiaires allemands pour un armistice quittent SPA aujourd’hui, seront ici à midi et atteindront à 5 heures après-midi les avant-postes français par la route CHIMAY-FOURMIES-LA CAPELLE-GUISE.
Ils sont en tout dix personnes, sous la conduite du secrétaire d’Etat ERZBERGER.
Translation
Wireless telegram in German, received 7 November at 13:00 hours. [1:00 pm French time]
From German High Command Headquarters to the Allies’ High Command Headquarters. The German Commander-in-Chief to Marshal Foch.
The German armistice plenipotentiaries are leaving Spa today, will be here at midday and will reach the forward French positions on the CHIMAY-FOURMIES-LA CAPELLE-GUISE road at 5 o’clock this afternoon.
There are ten people in all, headed by Secretary of State ERZBERGER.
Comments
Marshal Foch recalled that he received this second Spa message “in the morning of the 7th” – that is, before midday – and therefore earlier than the 1:00 pm time-of-receipt shown on the published version. 5
A copy of this second message in the Olivier Leroy Family Archive shows that it was sent out at midday German time – 11:00 am French time. Its French translation differs slightly from the French newspaper version and is likely to be more accurate. It states that the delegates are leaving Spa at midday and will probably arrive at the front between four and five o’clock in the afternoon. It also mentions the delegation’s car drivers, in addition to the others in the group. 6
The Edward House report to the State Department has “1 o’clock this morning” as the time it was received. 3
Patrick de Gmeline does not mention this Spa message, but gives an account of the armistice delegates’ noon departure from Spa for the front lines on the road designated by Foch.
The three delegates travelling from Berlin arrived in Spa at 8:00 am, German time, on 7 November. Around midday, they and the rest of the delegation left High Command Headquarters for the French lines in a convoy of five motor cars.
The Third Spa Telegram to Senlis Headquarters
Radio en allemand, reçu le 7 novembre, à 13 h. 50. [1 : 50 pm]
Du Grand Quartier Général allemand au Grand Quartier Général des Alliés. Le Commandement suprême de l’armée allemande au maréchal Foch.
Pour permettre le passage de la délégation allemande au-delà des deux lignes, IL EST ORDONNE DE FAIRE CESSER LE FEU SUR LE FRONT AUJOURD’HUI A PARTIR DE TROIS HEURES DE L’APRES-MIDI, JUSQU’A NOUVEL ORDRE.
Des avant-postes allemands jusqu’aux avant-postes français, la délégation sera accompagnée par une compagnie de travailleurs de route, pour permettre aux automobiles de traverser la route de la Capelle, qui est détruite.
Translation
Wireless telegram in German, received 7 November, at 13h 50. [1:50 pm French time].
From German High Command Headquarters to the Allies’ High Command Headquarters. The Supreme Command of the German Army to Marshal Foch.
To allow the German delegation to cross the two lines, AN ORDER HAS BEEN GIVEN TO STOP FIRING ON THE FRONT TODAY AT 3 O’CLOCK IN THE AFTERNOON UNTIL FURTHER ORDERS. From the German forward positions to the French forward positions, the delegation will be accompanied by road menders to enable the motor cars to use the la Capelle road, which is destroyed.
Comments
This particular Spa-Senlis wireless telegram was considered by some American authorities to be the source of the false armistice news of 7 November 1918. 7
3:00 pm German time was 2:00 pm French time. If Senlis Headquarters had received this message as late as 1:50 pm (2:50 pm German time), as indicated, it would have given the French only ten minutes’ prior notice of the impending German cease-fire. It is likely, however, that the Germans had sent it much earlier than the published 1:50 pm time-of-receipt suggests. Indeed, another French source indicates clearly that the Germans transmitted it as early as 12:30 pm their time, 11:30 am French time, in which case Paris must have picked it up and relayed it to Senlis just a few minutes after 11:30 am.
This other source is a transcript of the cease-fire Spa message written down in German at the time by Lieutenant Henri Tscherning, a French wireless operator who picked up its transmission. It reads:
Grand Quartier Général des Alliés von Grossen Deutschen Haupt-Quartier. 1230 – W74 -Deutsche Oberste Heeresleitung an Maréchal FOCH. Um den übertritt den deutschen Delegation über die beiderseitigen ist angeordnet, dass auf … in … dass von drei Uhr nachmittags bis auf weitere das Feuer eingestellt wird. Von den deutschen Vorposten bis zu den französischen Vorposten wird diese Delegation von einem Kommando von Strassenbauabteilung begleittet. Um den Kraftwagen die der zerstörten Strasse von Capelle zu Ermöglichen…
Lieutenant Tscherning explained that 1230 meant “12h/30 German time”, W 74 meant the number of words (“Wörter”) and that there are gaps in what he was able to take down. The meaning of what he recorded is conveyed by the published French translation; the missing words do not detract from it.
He recalled that it was about 1:30 pm French time, 2:30 pm German time, on 7 November when his equipment caught the message from the Nauen radio transmitter – twenty minutes before the time-of-receipt shown on the one published by the newspapers. 8 Presumably, he had heard a repeat transmission of the message originally sent out by the Germans at 12:30 pm their time, 11:30 am French time – well before the announced German afternoon cease-fire was due to start at 3:00 pm their time, 2:00 pm French time.
The Edward House report to the State Department has “1.30 o’clock this morning” as the time this third Spa message was received, and “after 3.30 this afternoon” (German time presumably) as the start-time of the German cease-fire order. 3
There is no copy of this Spa message in the Olivier Leroy Family Archive. However, there is a copy of a French order transmitted at “15 heures” – 3:00 pm French time, 4:00 pm German time, on 7 November – for a French cease-fire in the vicinity of the German Armistice Delegation’s crossing-point to last from the time of receipt of the order until midnight (later extended until 6:00 am the following day). 9
The text of this Spa message in Patrick de Gmeline’s account is essentially the same as the message’s text published in the French newspapers.
The Fourth Spa Telegram to Senlis Headquarters
Radio reçu le 7 novembre, à 18 heures (en allemand).
Le Commandement suprême allemand au maréchal Foch.
En raison du retard, la délégation allemande ne pourra traverser la ligne des avant-postes qu’ENTRE 8 ET 10 HEURES DU SOIR, à HAUDROY, deux kilomètres nord-ouest LA CAPELLE.
Translation
Wireless telegram (in German) received 7 November at 18:00 hours [6:00 pm French time].
The German Supreme Command to Marshal Foch:
Because of delays, THE GERMAN DELEGATION WILL NOT BE ABLE TO CROSS THE FORWARD POSITIONS at HAUDROY, two kilometres north-west of LA CAPELLE, UNTIL BETWEEN 8 AND 10 O’CLOCK THIS EVENING.
Comments
Haudroy lies to the north-east not the north-west of la Capelle.
A copy of this Spa telegram in the Olivier Leroy family Archive shows the time 17 h 30 – 5:30 pm – at the beginning of its message. This may be the time the French received it (most likely), or the German transmission time – 4:30 pm French time. 10
The Edward House report to the State Department says that the message “was sent at 4 o’clock this afternoon” (no French-/German-time clarification), but gives no time of receipt by the French. 3
Patrick de Gmeline’s account does not mention this Spa message.
The delegation eventually arrived at the French forward positions at 8:20 pm French time, 9:20 pm German time. Some sources give one or the other of these times without explanation.
From the crossing point, the delegation was later taken to the railway station at Tergnier. From here, they travelled by special train to the village of Rethondes in the Compiègne Forest, north-east of Paris and not far from Senlis, arriving at about 7:00 am on Friday 8 November. The first armistice meeting took place at 9:00 am, in Marshal Foch’s special train standing a short distance away.
Some General Observations
1. German military records containing copies of the Spa messages sent to Senlis have not been located for this article. Many German military archives from 1914-1918 were lost during the 1939-1945 War, and the records of the Spa High Command Headquarters may have been among them. Versions in German of the first two telegrams exchanged are available online; but they appear to be translations into German from the versions published in French and contain no details not shown in the latter. See:
Federal Archives, Freiburg (Department Military Archives), ‘Archival and Other Holdings’. (The author would like to acknowledge here the assistance and time generously given by Michael Ogglesby in attempting to locate German records for November 7 1918.)
Der 1. Weltkrieg im November 1918: Der Weltkrieg am 7. November 1918. ‘Die Waffenstillstandsunterhandlugen – Telegrammwechsel Hindenburg und Foch’.
2. The times given in the telegrams in the House Report to the State Department are clearly at variance with the times given in the telegrams cited from other sources. Perhaps this was because of inaccurate transcription of the House Report telegrams and confusion over their morning/afternoon receipt. Or perhaps Edward House, as President Wilson’s Special Representative in Paris, received transcripts of the telegrams from Senlis Headquarters not long after they were initially received, and the second and third Spa messages arrived initially at “1 o’clock this morning” and at “at 1.30 o’clock this morning” respectively – 12 hours or so before the times-of-receipt shown on the published, repeated-transmission, versions of the telegrams.
3. Amazingly, Charles F. Horne in his “comprehensive . . . source record of the world’s Great War” (published in 1920) omitted from an English translation of the first Spa message the Germans’ proposal for a temporary cease-fire when their armistice delegation reached the Front. Similarly, a translation of the third message omitted the part about the Germans ordering a cease-fire from 3:00 pm to allow their armistice delegation to cross the lines. The omissions appear to be deliberate. 11
4. Stanley Weintraub claims that Marshal Foch responded to the Germans’ “plea for cessation of hostilities”, contained in their first Spa telegram, by announcing a “temporary cease-fire in the [crossing-point] area for the hours during which the delegation would be picking its way through the lines”. And adds that the Germans “answered that the truce delegation would be preceded by a road-repair company to patch what was left of the cratered La Capelle road.” 12
The texts of the five published Spa-Senlis messages above clearly indicate that this representation of them is misleading: the French made no cease-fire announcement in their reply to the Germans’ first Spa telegram – Marshal Foch ignored their request for a cessation of hostilities; the German telegram containing the road-repair information was not in response to Foch’s reply to their first Spa telegram, but was part of the notification, several hours later, of their 7 November 3:00 pm cease-fire order to enable their armistice delegates to cross the front lines.
© English text, James Smith
(Uploaded February 2018; Reviewed, with additional material: 2020; 2022; 2023.)
ENDNOTES
1. Patrick de Gmeline, LE 11 NOVEMBRE 1918: La 11e heure du 11ejour du 11emois. ‘Jeudi 7 novembre’, pp192-197; 218-219. (Presses de la Cité. Paris. 1998).
The source of the Spa messages cited by de Gmeline is not specified, but may be the Riedenger private archive noted in the Bibliography on page 405.
2a. « 6 novembre 1918 – soir. URGENT & SECRET. Message intercepté le 6 novembre au soir ». Wesserling, mémoires familiales, Stamm, Binder. http://www.wesserling.fr
2b. « 6 novembre 1918 – après-midi. Le Commandant en Chef allemand Au G.Q.G. Du Service d’Information de Nauen. Wesserling, mémoires familiales, Stamm, Binder. http://www.wesserling.fr
3. “The Special Representative (House) to the Secretary of State. (Telegram). Paris, November 7, 1918, 11 p.m. [Received November 7, 8.31 p.m.]
For the President:
German Government at 12:30 last night transmitted the following radio to Marshall Foch . .
Marshal Foch sent in reply at 1.19 the following . . . .
Two further German radios were received. Number 1, received at 1 o’clock this morning . . .
The second one was received at 1.30 o’clock this morning . . . . orders have been given to stop firing on that part of the front today after 3.30 this afternoon until further orders . . . .
A third radio was sent at 4 o’clock this afternoon from the supreme German commander to Marshal Foch . . . .”
In: Papers Relating to the Foreign Relations of the United States, 1918. Supplement 1, The World War, Volume I. Part 1: The Continuation and Conclusion of the War – Participation of the United States, page 481. (US Government Printing Office. Washington, DC. 1933.) [Online]
4. Peter Hart, The Last Battle. Endgame on the Western Front, 1918.Chapter 10. ‘Battle of the Sambre, 4 November’, p318. (Profile Books. London. 2018)
5. The Memoirs of Marshal Foch, Book II, Chapter XIV, ‘The Armistice’, p466. (New York, 1931) Translated by Col. T. Bentley Mott.
6. «7 novembre 1918 – 12h h. allemande. Radio allemand. Commandement suprême armée allemande au maréchal Foch.» Wesserling, mémoires familiales, Stamm, Binder. http://www.wesserling.fr
7. See ‘‘The American Army G-2 (SOS) Report on the False Armistice News’, and ‘The 3:00 pm Cease-Fire Orders and the False Armistice News’ on this website.
8. Henri Tscherning, lieutenant radio de la 66eDivision de Chasseurs Alpins : ‘Comment j’ai appris l’Armistice’, p1 of article in La Liaison des Transmissions. 119, 1979.
9. «7 novembre 1918 -15h. ORDRE.» And «7 novembre 1918 -18h 30. ORDRE.» Wesserling, mémoires familiales, Stamm, Binder. http://www.wesserling.fr See ‘Local Cease-Fires for the German Armistice Delegation’ on this website.
10. «7 novembre 1918 – 17h 30.» Wesserling, mémoires familiales, Stamm, Binder. http://www.wesserling.fr
11. Charles F. Horne, The Great Events of the Great War: A Comprehensive and Readable Source Record of the World’s Great War. Volume 6, Chapter XXVI, ‘The Armistice’, pp.396-397.
12. Stanley Weintraub, A Stillness Heard Round The World. The End of the Great War: November 1918.‘The Dining Car in the Forest’, p47. (New York. 1985.)
The False Armistice, 7 November 1918 