The Armistice

Armistice and Occupation: A War’s End

The fall of 1918 brought about a period of immense change for the nations of Europe. The months of October and November had witnessed some of the heaviest fighting of the entire war. American and French forces, on the offensive since late September, had succeeded in driving the Germans out of the Argonne forest and back across to the east side of the Meuse River. The German forces, weakened by constant fighting and lacking supplies and reinforcements, could do nothing to stop the Allied onslaught. Germany’s citizens were in upheaval over the prolonged war and the near state of starvation in which they existed. The Allied naval blockade of Germany was succeeding, having virtually stopped the flow of food and other vital supplies into German ports. With no reinforcements and a nation in turmoil, Germany’s new leader, Friedrich Ebert, had little choice but to ask for a general armistice. On November 7, German delegates seeking conditions for an armistice crossed over into Allied lines. Terms were discussed and a general armistice agreed upon by both sides, to begin at 11:00 am on 11 November 1918. After four years of heavy fighting, the guns on the Western Front had fallen silent. The Great War, the war to end all wars, was over.

The rest for the First Division was short-lived, as were rumors of an imminent return home. The First Division would remain in Germany as part of an occupation force to enforce the Armistice and remain ready in the event Germany failed to sign a peace treaty and hostilities resumed. The occupation consisted of policing the German population and continuing preparations for war, while trying to maintain discipline and keep the troops free from the rapidly spreading influenza virus. This balancing act of duties proved difficult for the A.E.F, which had no training or doctrine for serving as an administrative body. Health problems were among the greatest facing the occupying troops. The American occupation force was dispersed in nearly 300 German villages, with soldiers often billeted in cramped and confined quarters, many lacking enough beds and suitable mess halls. Influenza and pneumonia were rampant, as well as venereal diseases. Strict orders were given to separate sick men from the rest and provide adequate supplies of overcoats and blankets to all soldiers. Although a good start, the lack of supplies and infrastructure meant that these orders were impossible to follow during the first cold months of occupation. Strict anti-fraternization rules were given to remind soldiers that the Germans were still enemies and prevent unnecessary contact with German civilians.

With six months of negotiations nearly at an end, the Allies set a deadline of 7:00 PM, June 23, for Germany to sign the Treaty of Versailles. For five days beginning June 18, the doughboys waited in tactical assembly areas. Months of occupation duty had taken a toll – some were described as looking more like Sherman’s bummers of the Civil War than the proud First Division. On June 23, orders directed all divisions to remain in place and to make the troops as comfortable as possible. At 10:00 PM on June 28 came the welcome news that Germany had signed the treaty. Outposts were to be continued, but the troops were to return to billets. By June 29, the First Division’s last operation of the war was over.

Now it was only a matter of time before the First Division would head home. The circus was billed as “one more big get-together before leaving the Rhineland…the Biggest and Best in the AEF.” This circus, held on July 11-12, 1919 at Montabaur, had “animals and paraphernalia…procured from the Hagenback Menagerie at Cologne, Germany…” and was a fund raiser for the planned First Division monument in Washington, DC. The Director, LTC H. Hervey of the 1st Ammunition Train, had a 14-member staff and a 30-person committee of junior officers, NCOs and enlisted men. Special trains ran between Coblenz and Montabaur to get as many doughboys to the circus as possible. Soldiers used “Bucks” throughout the circus area, each “Buck” equaling a German mark in value, and available for purchase with any legal tender. The “Mid-Way” was open from 11 AM to 9:30 PM and featured a restaurant, a “Days of ‘49” Wild West show with a mock stagecoach robbery, a minstrel show, BB-gun target shooting, moving pictures, photo booths, and a dunking booth. The “Big Show” opened at 2:30 and 6:30 and included bare-back riders, bicycling bears, wire walkers, jugglers, bucking broncos, ropers, acrobats, trapeze artists, gymnasts, rough riders, Cossacks and tumblers. A team of fifty riders switched horses at the gallop and the trick dog Teddy also made an appearance. An elephant paraded and performed and more than 40 clowns competed for the crowd’s attention. “The circus was a howling success…,” so much so that the Division deployed it to Cologne later in the month, where it entertained the British soldiers.

Entertainment was not the order of the day, however; redeployment and returning stateside was. The fairly slow pace of redeployments was driven as much by the scarcity of shipping as the need to compel German acceptance of the Armistice. All foreign flagged ships departed convoy duty immediately after November 11, 1918. Even by converting cargo ships to troop carriers and employing warships, the total carrying capacity of US-flagged ships was about 150,000 troops per month for the more than 2,000,000-man AEF.

A Special Act of Congress allowed the returning doughboys to keep their uniforms and certain other pieces of equipment, but because the Army wanted the troops to return looking good, nearly every soldier, though weeks from discharge, was issued new uniforms and basic personal field equipment at Brest. Each soldier received a physical examination and men and equipment underwent delousing to prevent the spread of typhus. On August 18, even before the last trains departed the Coblenz bridgehead to take the division to awaiting ships, the first doughboys boarded transports for the voyage to the Army terminal at Hoboken, New Jersey. The eleven-day voyage in pleasant weather was uneventful by all accounts. The zig-zag pattern of travel to avoid lurking German submarines was not necessary on the trip to Hoboken. By September 6, 1919, the entire First Division was back on American soil. By September 30, the demobilization process was complete and the division headed to its new stateside home at Camp Zachary Taylor, Kentucky.