2. Protocol to the Treaty of Peace

Protocol Signed by Germany January 10, 1920 at Paris1

At the moment of proceeding to the first deposit of ratifications of the Treaty of Peace, it is placed on record that the following obligations, which Germany had undertaken to execute by the Armistice Conventions and supplementary Agreements, have not been executed or have not been completely fulfilled:

(1) Armistice Convention of November 11, 1918, Clause VII; obligation to deliver 5,000 locomotives and 150,000 wagons. 42 locomotives and 4,460 wagons are still to be delivered;

Note to (1)

The armistice convention of November 11, 1918 is printed in Treaties, Conventions, etc., 1910-23, III, 3307.

For record of the instruments of the armistice, see article 238.

(2) Armistice Convention of November 11, 1918, Clause XII;] obligation to withdraw the German troops in Russian territory within the frontiers of Germany, as soon as the Allies shall think the moment suitable. The withdrawal of these troops has not been effected, despite the reiterated instructions of August 27, September 27 and October 10, 1919;

Note to (2)

The Commander in Chief of the Allied and Associated Powers on August 27, 1919 informed the German military authorities that the time had come to evacuate German troops from Russian territory and put them on notice to act forthwith. On September 27 the Allied and Associated Governments addressed to the German Government through their Commander in Chief a note denying the arguments of a German note of September 3 that it was unable to impose obedience on its troops in the Baltic region. The German Government was invited to proceed immediately, and to continue without interruption, with the evacuation of all German troops, including staffs and services, and to repatriate any military personnel which had joined organized Russian corps after demobilization.

The Allied and Associated Governments denied German requests to victual and finance the evacuation.

On October 10 the Inter-Allied Naval Commission canceled the permit of free navigation for German ships as a result of the attack on Riga. This was relaxed on the 27th for fishing and small vessels. 1 File 185.001/141.

1

Note to (2)-Continued

The Inter-Allied Commission for the Baltic Provinces went to Berlin on November 5.. The German Government on November 10 asked for a return to the conditions for navigation prevailing before October 10.

(3) Armistice Convention of November 11, 1918, Clause XIV; obligation to cease at once all requisitions, seizures or coercive measures in Russian territory. The German troops have continued to have recourse to such measures;

(4) Armistice Convention of November 11, 1918, Clause XIX: obligation to return immediately all documents, specie, stocks, shares, paper money, together with plant for the issue thereof, affecting public or private interests in the invaded countries. The complete lists of specie and securities carried off, collected or confiscated by the Germans in the invaded countries have not been supplied;

(5) Armistice Convention of November 11, 1918, Clause XXII; obligation to surrender all German submarines. Destruction of the German submarine U. C. 48 off Ferrol by order of her German commander, and destruction in the North Sea of certain submarines proceeding to England for surrender;

(6) Armistice Convention of November 11, 1918, Clause XXIII; obligation to maintain in Allied ports the German warships designated by the Allied and Associated Powers, these ships being intended to be ultimately handed over. Clause XXXI; obligation not to destroy any ship before delivery. Destruction of the said ships at Scapa Flow on June 21, 1919;

(7) Protocol of December 17, 1918, Annex to the Armistice Convention of December 13, 1918; obligation to restore the works of art and artistic documents carried off in France and Belgium. All the works of art removed into the unoccupied parts of Germany have not been restored;

Note to (7)

The armistice convention of December 13, 1918 is printed in Treaties, Conventions, etc., 1910-23, III, 3315.

The final protocol of the Financial Subcommission of the Permanent Inter-Allied Armistice Commission dated at Spa, December 1, 1918 made provision for the restoration of valuables and objects of art as well as of securities. The financial protocol accompanying the renewal of the armistice at Trier (Trèves) December 13, 1918

Note to (7)—Continued

set forth those obligations concerning tangibles which were incumbent on Germany. The President of the Permanent InterAllied Armistice Commission (P.I.A.C.) on December 17, 1918 transmitted to the President of the German Armistice Commission (Deutscher Waffenstillstandkommission, or WAKO) a procès-verbal on "conditions for executing restitution of works of art" (P.I.A.C. 110G), which was regarded as an annex to the financial protocol of December 13, 1918. The German Commission in a letter of December 19 (Wako 3116), sought to obtain certain changes in that procèsverbal, chief among which were relaxation of demands on account of German merit in having saved much of artistic value from artillery fire and confinement of restitution to "objects taken or collected in invaded countries". These claims seem not to have been formally accepted.

(8) Armistice Convention of January 16, 1919, Clause III and Protocol 392/1 Additional Clause III of July 25, 1919; obligation to hand over agricultural machinery in the place of the supplementary railway material provided for in Tables 1 and 2 annexed to the Protocol of Spa of December 17, 1918. The following machines had not been delivered on the stipulated date of October 1, 1919. 40 "Heucke" steam plough outfits; all the cultivators for the outfits; all the spades; 1,500 shovels; 1,130 T.F. 23/26 ploughs; 1,765 T.F. 18/21 ploughs; 1,512 T.F. 23/26 ploughs; 629 T.F. o m. 20 Brabant ploughs; 1,205 T.F. o m. 26 Brabant ploughs; 4,282 harrows of 2 k. 500; 2,157 steel cultivators; 966 2 m. 50 manure distributors; 1,608 3 m. 50 manure distributors;

Note to (8)

The armistice convention of January 16, 1919 is printed in Treaties, Conventions, etc., 1910–23, ш, 3323.

The Spa protocol of December 17, 1918 provided for execution of clause IV a and b of note 2 annexed to the armistice convention of November 11, 1918 (ibid., p. 3314). In the files of the Permanent Inter-Allied Armistice Commission it is P.I.A.C. 117/T and is appendix H of the Report of the American Section of the P.I.A.C. dated March 13, 1919. P.I.A.C. Protocol 392/T is a protocol of the Subcommission for Delivery of Agricultural Machines, Spa, April 29, 1919, which established prices for such machinery at the mean average of April 1, 1914 and 1919. Owing to the pressing need for agricultural machinery, certain of the obligations of Germany

Note to (8)—Continued

for delivering railway material were transferred to agricultural implements.

Continued execution was provided in part VIII, annex IV, paragraph 7, of the treaty of peace.

(9) Armistice Convention of January 16, 1919, Clause VI; obliga-| tion to restore the industrial material carried off from French and Belgian territory. All this material has not been restored;

(10) Convention of January 16, 1919, Clause VIII; obligation to place the German merchant fleet under the control of the Allied and Associated Powers. A certain number of ships whose delivery had been demanded under this clause have not yet been handed over;

(11) Protocols of the Conferences of Brussels of March 13 and 14, 1919; obligation not to export war material of all kinds. Exportation of aeronautical material to Sweden, Holland and Denmark.

Note to (11)

The protocols of the conference of Brussels of March 13 and 14, 1919 are printed in Der Waffenstillstand, 1918–19, 11, 179.

A certain number of the above provisions which have not been executed or have not been executed in full have been renewed by the Treaty of June 28, 1919, whose coming into force will ipso facto render the sanctions there provided applicable. This applies particularly to the various measures to be taken on account of reparation.

Further, the question of the evacuation of the Baltic provinces has been the subject of an exchange of notes and of decisions which are being carried out. The Allied and Associated Powers expressly confirming the contents of their notes, Germany by the present Protocol undertakes to continue to execute them faithfully and strictly.

Finally, as the Allied and Associated Powers could not allow to pass without penalty the other failures to execute the Armistice Conventions and violations so serious as the destruction of the German fleet at Scapa Flow, the destruction of U. C. 48 off Ferrol and the destruction in the North Sea of certain submarines on their way to England for surrender, Germany undertakes:

(1) A. To hand over as reparation for the destruction of the German fleet at Scapa Flow:

(a) Within 60 days from the date of the signature of the present Protocol and in the conditions laid down in the second paragraph of Article 185 of the Treaty of Peace the five following light cruisers:

Königsberg,
Pillau

Graudenz,

Regensburg,
Strassburg.

(b) Within 90 days from the date of the signature of the present Protocol, and in good condition and ready for service in every respect, such a number of floating docks, floating cranes, tugs and dredgers, equivalent to a total displacement of 400,000 tons, as the Principal Allied and Associated Powers may require. As regards the docks, the lifting power will be considered as the displacement. In the number of docks referred to above there will be about 75 per cent. of docks over 10,000 tons. The whole of this material will be handed over on the spot;

B. To deliver within 10 days from the signature of the present Protocol a complete list of all floating docks, floating cranes, tugs and dredgers which are German property. This list, which will be delivered to the Naval Inter-Allied Commission of Control referred to in Article 209 of the Treaty of Peace, will specify the material which on November 11, 1918, belonged to the German Government or in which the German Government had at that date an important interest;

C. The officers and men who formed the crews of the warships. sunk at Scapa Flow and who are at present detained by the Principal Allied and Associated Powers will, with the exception of those whose surrender is provided for by Article 228 of the Treaty of Peace, be repatriated at latest when Germany has carried out the provisions of Paragraphs A. and B. above;

D. The destroyer B. 98 will be considered as one of the 42 destroyers whose delivery is provided for by Article 185 of the Treaty of Peace;

(2) To hand over within 10 days from the signature of the present Protocol the engines and motors of the submarines U. 137 and U, 138 as compensation for the destruction of U.C. 48;

(3) To pay to the Allied and Associated Governments before January 31, 1920, the value of the aeronautical material exported, in accordance with the decision which will be given and the valuation which will be made and notified by the Aeronautical InterAllied Commission of Control referred to in Article 210 of the Treaty of Peace.