The Great War, November 6-7, 1918

The Great War, November 6-7, 1918

The Great War, November 6-7, 1918

Upon his return to Spa, on November 6, after spending four days at the front, General Groener warned the Kaiser himself and the Chancellor by telegram that he had to sign an armistice, no later than Sunday 9. “Even Monday will be too late,” Groener warned. His report on the situation, drawn from his own experiences of the last few days, was disheartening: the fleet had mutinated, the revolution was imminent, and the government's authority had fallen so low that troops refused to fire on the revolutionaries.

The next day, November 7, in the morning, the German delegates for the armistice will meet in Spa. The leader of the Center Party, Matias Erzberger, a member of Prince Max's government, had agreed, albeit very reluctantly, to lead the delegation, t

hereby signing his own death sentence. So uncertain it was that Erzberger would really have the courage to enter French lines that a virtually unknown officer, General Von Gündell, had been ordered to be willing to take his place. That morning, Foch received a radio message from the German Supreme Command giving him the names of the emissaries and asking him that, “for the sake of humanity,” his arrival in France “provide a provisional suspension of hostilities.” Foch has rejected the request. At noon, the delegation left Spa in the direction of the front and crossed into the territory controlled by the French, where they were told that the negotiations would take place in the Compiègne forest.