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Zurich Herald, 1927-11-24, Page 3ARMISTICE CAR BACK AT. HISTORICAL SPOT IN COMPIEGNE FOREST f Generous anadian Donates the Funds Necessary to House Historic Car in Fitting Surroundings ' NINE YEARS AGO RECALLED Compioone, Prance, November 11.— telfette to carry a copy.of the Armis- Through the geuerosity,:or a native of tics conditions to the German General the Dominion of Canada, Arthur H. Headquarters' at Spa, The request Fleming, now a wealthy California was granted and a messenger left ire - lumber . manufacturer, Armistice Day mediately for Spa in an automobile. this year tae brought back to this lit- Owing to the, bad. state of the roads tle town, made historie by the World and the war operations, this automo. War's conclusion --the very symbol of bile was delayed. the Armistice—the railroad car in which, ono rainy November night of nine years ago, the Germans and the Allies got together on terms which halted 50 months of fighting. Thea"Armistice Car," as it has been known, has been moved,' this month brim its. temporary (for nine years is temporary to an old race) quarters in les Invalides at Paris to a new monu- mental structure, paid for with the 150,000 'francs given by Mr. Fleming. Although when the gift was ' original- ly made the donor desired to remain anonymous, his name came out in Paris recently, and his gesture was made the subject of much warm em- inent by the French press and officials of the Government. Beautiful Structure. The structure housing the railroad car stands yhite, tall and beautiful, on the exact spot at the railroad sid- ing where a flourish of the pen brought the great war to a close. The same blotters, pens and ink wells are deployed upon the table, and to -day it presents the exact background be- fore which the final war drama was exacted. In the `dedication ceremonies, bring- ing out the citizenry of the little town the details of the Armistice as it ap- peared at the scene -of its conference. and signing were recalled as in the speeches' of M. Painievo, Minister of War, as .well as in the speeches of others prepared for the occasion. While every city of consequence hi the Allied nations recalls vividly the drama of its own observance of the .Armistice, the facts of the actual con- fer.euce on the document have been largely forgotten. There was no mad scramble of cele- brants and honking of tin horns. The only horn blown was a. bugle, an- nouncing the valiant attempt on the part of three automobile loads of Ger- man parliamentaries to get into the specified zone for the • discussion of the Armistice terms. The' night was not only black, but it was rainy and thick with November fog. Envoys Delayed Hours Out of the blackness, over a road full of deep valleys of shish holes, the automobiles proceeded toward the cross -ways on the road to La Capelle, designated for the conference after an exchange of wireless messages. At a quarter past nine on the evening, of November 8, the three cars, preceded by a detachment of German road men- ders, reached the cross-roads. The. roads were so bad. that the Germans were delayed hours,en route, and ar- rived se late that they were ungble to eobtain audience that night with Mar- shal Foch. ' The Germans were met when they alighted end conducted by French of- ficers to their temporary ` quarters. The officers sent by Foch and the Ger- man officers stepped into swift auto- mobiles and sped off. The blinds of the cars were lowered and special Military guides took positions by the side of the chauffeurs as the cars pro- ceeded to the forest of Compiegne. Unable to see Marshal Foch, the Germans spent the night at the Chat- eau de Francport, also 'known as the Chateau des Bonsltommes, on the hereditary estate o fthe Marquise de L'Aigle. They were given food and other refreshments and retired. Be- hind them, along „ miles of front, ''bombs continued to burst, men went over tho top, and.Uied in the mud. Germans, Hear Terms. On Friday morning, November 9, the 'German delegates were conveyed in automobiles tct the Rethondes rail- way station, eight miles east of Com- piegne, where Marshal Foch's special train was drawn up. Marshal Foch received the armistice parliamentaries in the saloon •car. British and Amer!. 1. : can delegates were with the MarshaL Dr. i'rzberger, leader of the armis- t ties party, introduced his 'companions. Ho then declared that he had been sent by order of tho German elnperor to tdlte cognizance of the terms of the -•<,. armistice, but thbt he would first like to solicit an immediate, suspension of hostilities. Marshal Foch, who was standing with the document hi his hands—the document .whichcontained the terms of the armistice --informed Dr. Erz- Berger, that the suspension of hostili- ties was provided for in the armistice Conclftions, and that Germany would obtain satisfaction on that point dir- • ectly her plenipotentiaries had signed the clauses placed before them. Ile than read the terms in a firm void, emphasizing certain passages., During the reading of the fateful doouinent the German envoys remain- ed silent and immobile, Marshal 'Foch afterwards handed the paper to 1)r. ii7rzberger and the Herman dele- gates, bowing respeetfaliy, left the 'train withOUt proffering a word. ' After again being conveyed.te the Chateau cle Francport, the German ;:,elegatee requested staff officers to ask Maervhat Poch to authorize an. es- When the Germans accepted, . the document was brought back and sign- ed in the same railroad ear in which it was originally handed to the dele- gates. The ceremony was brief, but the few curt strokes 61 the pen which now is on view here touched off emo- tional conflagratio,us throughout the world. ' Within a few hours after the actual signing of the Armistice, Paris, Lon- don, New York, went wild with joy— and the war was .over: e The sentimental importance of the railroad car was mitigated under the general emotional stress of the first few months of joy. The car was then placed in the war relics: museum at the Invalides. The beaming was never satisfactory, however, and the French long thought that the carshould be returned to the scene of its most his- toric importance. Mr. Fleming, who made that return possible, is a native of. Halton County, Ontario, born in 1856, and educated in the common schools of the Dominion. In 1870 he went to Detroit, where he married a Miss Clara H. Fowler, • and in 1886 he .became a naturalized citi- zen. Inr 1896 he move dto California, where he engaged in the lumber busi- ness and became wealthy. He is at present a director of the Southern Carifornia Edison Company, and pres- ident of the board of trustees of the California Institute of Technology at Pasadena, th city of his permanent residence. To this institution he has given more than five million dollars in the form of the Clara H. •Fleming fund. Doubt is Cast On Greville ' ` emoirs London Firm Finds Flaws in Wilson Work London.—The Westminster Gazette has raised the question of the— authen-ticity of the diaries of Charles Gre- ville, the publication of `Which record of happenings fn the Victorian era has stirred up a lot of dust. here, The paper printed statements. 'from the heads of the Heinemann publishing firm to the effect that they had :re- ceived the completed -work from the American publishers, but on compar- ing it with the original in the British Museum Libzrary they. found . pass- ages. 'so confused and mixed up that it is almost' impossible to tell 'which were Greville's and which were inter- pellations of the editor, Wilson." The publishers have requested Doubleday, Page & Co.' to supply the original material from which the new edition was prepared, but have not yet received it. The Westminster Gazette contends that the situation must be cleared up if the authenticity of the memoirs is to be accepted. In the meantime the book is being widely quoted and discussed in the newspapers. Opinion on the pro- priety of publishink it is sharply divided. Many prominentemen have joined .in the discussion, some argu- ing_that the book is a valuable contra bution to history an dothers maintain- ing that itis, disgraceful to give the world the spiteful tattle of a man who. was notoriously unreliable and bitter minded. Greville's stories of the relations of ueen Victoria with her husband are greatly resented in some quarters, 'and, according to the Westminster Gazete, their, publication has given great offense in court circles. The Canadian Constitution Le Canada. (Lib.) : Among the es- bential liberties and rights which are part of a nation's birthright we can count without fear of contradiction the liberty and right to constfttct a constitution for itself in.aocorcla'hce with the wishes of the people, and to endow itself with a Government and Legislature which reflect and respect public opinion. Prom this point of view is Canada, whose complete au- tonoiiny and sovereignty have been proclaimed, in real fact a nation, a people which can dispose of its coir- stitution as it wishes and as the. de- sires Of its citizens demand? No, since the Canadian censtitutida can - net be touched or retouched by Cate ada withottt the sanction of Great Bri- tain. A learned but ab entminded pro - lessor met a lady of his aequaintanee attired in deep mourning. "Why are you wearing black now?" he asked lust:for the sake of something to say. •'f have just lost my husband," she answered With a sigh, "How sad!" said the professor, whose attention had wandered off again, FII hope he Wasn't the only one you had." Wberc }Inns Acknowledged Defeat The way the spot France. WHERE HISTORY WAS MA'Da NOV. 11, 191E 'here the German Armistice Car stopped. is now marked in the ood near Pethondes, Discoveries at Vimy Ridge Only. Intact °"am tion of Line Canadian Engineers Have Discovered the Only Portion left Intact of all the. Battle Fields Along the Western Front To Be Preserved as a. Permanent Meinorial MOVING SIGHT By "A Canadian in France" Vimy Ridge, Monday, Oct. 17 Thousands of former soldiers are visiting the battlefields of France and Belgium, in the hope of finding trenches, dug -outs, or the exact spot where they received their "blighties." In the Ypres Salient they see no- thing but flourishing fields of corn; flax, oats, and barley. There :s not a trench left in Belgium except a few doubtful examples on Hill 60. In France the scars of war are more visible, but a strenuous peasantry has filled the shell holes and has rebuilt its farms on the front line. It ie amazing how swiftly the plough and the.,.,building 'contraotor have wiped out all traces of war, Sniper's Post I -found to -day the only spot • in France where a man can feel that he is back again in, 1914-1918; where be can stand at a sniper's post and fit the rotted butt of a rusted rifle to his shoulder as he peeps out between the bushes towards the German trenches. The wire is still up in ';No man's Land," duck boards lie in the trenches, officers' beds, rotting and collapsed, still lie in the chalk dug- outs. Hundreds of names and many mess- ages are written on the chalk in in- delible pencil, as fresh -as when they were written ten years ago Mille bombs with the pins in them repose on ledges, cans of bully beef, tin hats—all the familiar debris of those sad days—are to be seen as they were left. This amazing spot is the famous Grange Tunnel, on Vimy Ridge, which has just been opened up by the Cana- dian Battlefield Memorial Commis- sion. It is to be preserved for the benefit of posterity as a Mind of text- book on trench warfare, and is destin- ed to become elle most remarkable re-. Iie of the war. Lining Memorial The project began a year ago as a side -line to the Canadian memorial on Vimy Ridge, which will not be ,eon/plated until 1981. The stone for this stupendous shrine comes from the ancient Roman quarries round the Bay of Spalato in Dalmatia. While waiting for supplies of this stone to arrive, it occurred to the Canadian. engineers that it might be interest- ing tootr to locate the famous Grange Labyrinth -the miles of underground passages which the Canadians pushed out farwlthin a few yards of the enemy's linea. Map references were taken, and the entrance to the tunnel was discover- ed choked up with brushwood. The work of clearing the tunnel has taken a year, and it is not yet completed. So interesting ,were the discoveries that the commission decided to re- build the trenches, preseRe the dug- outs, and make the Grange Tunnel a permanent sight. The trenches have been lined with concrete sandbags. The concrete is poured in wet, so that when the . sandbags rot the marks of the mesh will remain; the Buck- boards have been cast in concrete, all wood has been taken out of the dug- outs, and the passages have been re- inforced with concrete and metal, -The Grange Tunnel has at Ieast a century of life before it. I was shown around the tunnel by r Captain T7nwin Simpson, Royal Cana- dian Engineers, who is in charge of the work. On the way down is a notice: "These walls are sacred to the names of soldiers who inscribed them during their occupation in the war of 914-1918. Please omit yours." A Labyrinte We entered a dark tunnel and found ourselves in a Iabyrinth of pas- sages, dug -outs and battalion head- quarters cut far below the ground level in the white chalk of Vimy Ridge. It was as thought we had been switched back to April 1917— that time when the Canadian divi- sions advonced to the conquest of Vimy ridge. Nothing, had. changed. The smoke from the candles once set in niches to light the passages was still black on the chalk. The dugouts and the walls of the com- municating passages were covered with names carved in the chalk or written in pencil and as legible as when they were inscribed during the great battle of Arras. The maple leaf of Canada was carved with an original variety in a hundred differ- ent places, and on the wall's I read at random such inscriptions as these:- 103234- James Burton, A Com- pany, the Royal Canadian Regi- ment, May 8, 1917. Still alive and kicking. 670080, W. J. Auchincloss, A Company, Royal Canadiate Regi- ment, May 8, 1917. Untouched by whizz -bangs as yet. I cannot describe the feelings with which a man in these days ap- proaches the inscriptions written be- low the earth of the Arras sector. In their cheery naivete we who have sur- vived and can look back on 1917 with the calm unconcern of historians, seem to touch hands once more with these Canadian boys who, ten years ago, crouched in these chalk dug -outs, still "alive and kicking," still "un- touched by whizzbangs," joking, laughing, waiting„ quite unconscious that they were carving not only their names, but also history. Headquarters We walked for about half a mile, going deeper into Grange subway, un- til we came to battalion headquarters. "ADAMSON'S ADVENTURES"—By O. Jacobson. AS OMINEN/ CITIZEN OF OUR COMUNITy WE • WOULD LIKE YOUR oPINIO AS To THE CoMING • ELECTION' NYOU BE'LIEVE PR H BITI / �vVHg413You l OPINION ON WOMEN'S teRESSI 1 'Nom FOR YOUR.., PICTURE,YoULL .GET A FULL PAGE SURE! i „ it's a Pi -- The Field of Honour (Nov. 11, 1922), e Onbe „more o'er them the Grand OK', Flag was flying, If ,And British sc l4fers formes ,.anal marched e'erh.ead; They may have known, God knows) that weesware trying To honor still, though late, our ti0p known dead. They may have known, God known what we wore saying; Mayhap have joined in hymn andlt whisper'd prayer, May have seen the tokens we , were proudly laying And_ known at last, that after all—t "we care. The ashen clouds wore big with tears] and weeping And as the martial musio died away Our sad thoughts strayed to thee& who too were sleeping In those ' far distant fields—this Poppy Day. Frank Fairleigh i On the wail of a dark, damp chalk chamber, which had been used as an officersi mess during the Canadian e•dvance on Viiny, were carved the following names:— Major McCaghey, Major Coniine.) "Lietutenant Abbott, Lieutenant Jamieson, Lieutenant H. Cook, May) 10, 1917. , 52 Battalion Canadians (B Company). Iii a little carved shield were the. words, "Dick Swift." We stood there, Iighting ivatehes is, the dark, wondering what had hap- pened to these men, wondering whether they still live somewhere at home in Canada, or whether they .fell on Vimy Ridge, No matter whether they are alive or dead, their person- alities live beneath the soil of Prance so vividly that one expects to meet them round the next corner, While we were going on towards Mine Shaft, which the Canadians drove beneath the enemy lines, my foot kicked a small object. It was a tin of bully beef! It had been opened, but it had net been eaten, and it was ten years old! I leave to the imagination of any man who knows what bully beef was like when comparatively young to judge how this specimen looked and smelt. "Sea this?" said Captain Simpson, holding up a queer grey slab. It was gun cotton, stamped 1916. "Down there, about 100 feet below our present level," he said, "we found. a dump of Mills bombs and also, sacks of T.N.T. We have removed them reverently." In the amazing collection of names written on the wails I came across two which roused by curiosity. They were: Ship No. 7,129, lst Section, 7th Division, XJ.S.M.C., Texas Leather Neck Corps, Ship No, 3,112, G -M., 2nd Class. 3rd Division, Flagship, U.S.S., Sara- toga, Asiatic Fleet. Problem of the Ridge What on earth were these two American sailors doing with the Canadian armies en Vimy Ridge? How did they get there? Were they deserters from the American Navy who; becoming weal of .America's in- decision, had joined up with the Canadians? Or were they ship- wrecked mariners who had gone to Vimy in search of life? I prophesy that books will sours day be written about Grange Tunnel and the names which it perpetuates. The Canadian Battlefields Memorial Commission has carved, perhaps un- wittingly, a greater memorial even than that expensive shrine which the Canadian Government is now build- ing on the crest a Vimy Ridge. Here in this dark tunnel, and here only, do we seem to meet the men who fought and died. Here only do we seem to see again in the long chalk passages those well-known faces; here only can we read their signatures—no doubt in many cases their `"last written words—written with the indelible pencils with which they wrote their letters home. Canada has, with splendid and cha- racteristic foresight, carved a shrine which is sacred not only to her army, but also to all the Allies. IIere British, French, and Belgians will lather in years to come and say: "This 1x luny gr41,en liyarl d,lring, the great vftr." The drange Tar jiekis, and alwltys will be, thaMgreatest and most touch ng' sight on the west ern ±rent. lee- es Engineering Feateel:.'e During the early mouths of 1917 eleven large subways were construct- ed to aid the concentration of the Canadtau troops for the attack on Vimy Ridge. The largest was the • Grange Tunnel, built mainly by the 7th Canadian Infantry Brigade. Grange Tunnel had three exists for the troops, and constant streams of men, wounded and unwounded, 'pass- ed through it during the battle. Its • minimum depth was, twenty-five feet, it bad electric light and a water sups ply, and there were numerous dug- outs, dressing stations, and nieeeml. -Oen dumps.' %,., r',�,r' erittx ---,mese e kap At tt .recent diene ref leather inane- ,lacturers the distinguished guest of the evening moved the toast in some-' tiring 1.111 this fashion; "Gentlemen,' e should do wail to emulate the ex' npie of British leather, and be strong, tensile, and water' -resisting. Niot'Iern methods may have, to tntriry extent, modified these qualitielr, but, at least, we are still .(lifting his Masa) water -resisting," ,,