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Details
WORLD WAR ONE – ARMISTICE. Captain J.P.R. MARRIOTT (1879-1938). Typescript, letters and original ephemera from the negotiations and signature of the Armistice in the Forest of Compiègne, 7-11 November 1918, comprising:
Typescript 'Account of the proceedings which resulted in the Armistice with Germany 11th November 1918' including autograph 'Preamble' signed ('J.P.R. Marriott'), 22 September 1933. Index and 37 pages, 331 x 205mm. Tipped into an album, calf, gilt, together with:
Two autograph letters signed ('J.', 'Tickie') to his wife [Margaret], [Paris, 7 November], and [Compiègne Forest], 9 November 1918. In pencil, 6 pages, 212 x 134mm and 189 x 124mm, on two bifolia, the first with printed heading of the French Ministère de la Marine, the second with embossed heading of the Admiralty. Original envelope;
Note written on behalf of Marshal Foch during the Armistice negotiations: 'Le Maréchal Foch demande que l'Amiral Wemyss veuille bien faire rédiger son texte p[ou]r les articles / 22. 26. 28 / à modifier';
A sheet of blotting paper used at the signature of the Armistice, with autograph certification signed by the senior British representative Admiral Wemyss: 'This blotting paper was used at signature of armistice with Germany 5 a.m. 11/11/18 in the Compiegne Forest. / R.E. Wemyss';
and related items including Maxime Weygand (autograph letter signed to Marriott, Paris, 1 December 1935, portrait photograph signed and cut signature), visiting cards of Clemenceau and Foch and related printed ephemera, including the printed text of the Armistice itself (variously tipped in, laid down or loosely inserted in the album).
Eye-witnesses accounts of the Armistice which ended 'the war to end all wars'.
Descriptions of the events in the railway carriage in Compiègne Forest by one of only four British participants: Marriott's letters give a remarkably vivid account of the atmosphere and personalities of the Armistice negotiations: [Paris, 7 November:] '2.30 pm ... Just off to Foch's H.Q. & then to meet the Boches. It should all be very interesting'. [Compiegne,] 9 November: 'Here we are out in the middle of a lovely forest on a beautiful day. The Boche is in a similar train about 200' off & we await the reply to our armistice terms which have gone to Germany. // We had 2 meetings y[ester]day & I have never seen a more miserable lot of men, I feel they know the game is up and are terrified of Bolchevism [sic]. They say they are very hungry in their country & badly in need of everything. Heaps of sick. // War is a Godless business and I do so hope we shall finish it all by Monday ... The old Marechal [Foch] is the dearest old thing you ever saw I have had long yarns with him & I cannot tell you how valuable my French is. I write alone with a Boche the proces-verbale [sic] of the meetings ... Weygand the C[hief] O[f] S[taff] is a ripper too he only talks French'. Marriott's typescript memoir recounts the Allied discussions preceding the Armistice as well as the events at Compiègne, including verbatim reports of the negotiations between the respective naval representatives. It is full of evocative details, including Weygand's surprising uncertainty as to 'how we should receive the [German] delegates from a point of view of courtesy', Marshal Foch's pronounced rudeness to the German delegates ('The MARECHAL told OBERNDORF to shut up as he did not wish to listen to all that') and this vignette of a distraught young German officer: 'CAPTAIN VON HELLDORF left at noon by car for Spa with terms of Armistice. He was a nice looking young man terribly cut up by Terms of Armistice, a national misfortune. I saw him leave, '"A bottle of beer in each pocket and crying his eyes out"'.
The Armistice was negotiated between a remarkably restricted group of participants, comprising seven on the Allied side and six on the German, including translators, each living and working in a French military train in a clearing of the Forest of Compiègne behind French lines. The Allied group was headed by Marshal Foch, with Admiral Wemyss the senior British representative and head of the naval delegation, to which Marriott was also attached, and whose negotiations he recounts in detail. Marriott's 'Preamble' to his memoir of the armistice notes that 'The only other record of our Meetings which were all held in the Restaurant car are [sic] in the Archives of the Admiralty, also written by me'.
Typescript 'Account of the proceedings which resulted in the Armistice with Germany 11th November 1918' including autograph 'Preamble' signed ('J.P.R. Marriott'), 22 September 1933. Index and 37 pages, 331 x 205mm. Tipped into an album, calf, gilt, together with:
Two autograph letters signed ('J.', 'Tickie') to his wife [Margaret], [Paris, 7 November], and [Compiègne Forest], 9 November 1918. In pencil, 6 pages, 212 x 134mm and 189 x 124mm, on two bifolia, the first with printed heading of the French Ministère de la Marine, the second with embossed heading of the Admiralty. Original envelope;
Note written on behalf of Marshal Foch during the Armistice negotiations: 'Le Maréchal Foch demande que l'Amiral Wemyss veuille bien faire rédiger son texte p[ou]r les articles / 22. 26. 28 / à modifier';
A sheet of blotting paper used at the signature of the Armistice, with autograph certification signed by the senior British representative Admiral Wemyss: 'This blotting paper was used at signature of armistice with Germany 5 a.m. 11/11/18 in the Compiegne Forest. / R.E. Wemyss';
and related items including Maxime Weygand (autograph letter signed to Marriott, Paris, 1 December 1935, portrait photograph signed and cut signature), visiting cards of Clemenceau and Foch and related printed ephemera, including the printed text of the Armistice itself (variously tipped in, laid down or loosely inserted in the album).
Eye-witnesses accounts of the Armistice which ended 'the war to end all wars'.
Descriptions of the events in the railway carriage in Compiègne Forest by one of only four British participants: Marriott's letters give a remarkably vivid account of the atmosphere and personalities of the Armistice negotiations: [Paris, 7 November:] '2.30 pm ... Just off to Foch's H.Q. & then to meet the Boches. It should all be very interesting'. [Compiegne,] 9 November: 'Here we are out in the middle of a lovely forest on a beautiful day. The Boche is in a similar train about 200' off & we await the reply to our armistice terms which have gone to Germany. // We had 2 meetings y[ester]day & I have never seen a more miserable lot of men, I feel they know the game is up and are terrified of Bolchevism [sic]. They say they are very hungry in their country & badly in need of everything. Heaps of sick. // War is a Godless business and I do so hope we shall finish it all by Monday ... The old Marechal [Foch] is the dearest old thing you ever saw I have had long yarns with him & I cannot tell you how valuable my French is. I write alone with a Boche the proces-verbale [sic] of the meetings ... Weygand the C[hief] O[f] S[taff] is a ripper too he only talks French'. Marriott's typescript memoir recounts the Allied discussions preceding the Armistice as well as the events at Compiègne, including verbatim reports of the negotiations between the respective naval representatives. It is full of evocative details, including Weygand's surprising uncertainty as to 'how we should receive the [German] delegates from a point of view of courtesy', Marshal Foch's pronounced rudeness to the German delegates ('The MARECHAL told OBERNDORF to shut up as he did not wish to listen to all that') and this vignette of a distraught young German officer: 'CAPTAIN VON HELLDORF left at noon by car for Spa with terms of Armistice. He was a nice looking young man terribly cut up by Terms of Armistice, a national misfortune. I saw him leave, '"A bottle of beer in each pocket and crying his eyes out"'.
The Armistice was negotiated between a remarkably restricted group of participants, comprising seven on the Allied side and six on the German, including translators, each living and working in a French military train in a clearing of the Forest of Compiègne behind French lines. The Allied group was headed by Marshal Foch, with Admiral Wemyss the senior British representative and head of the naval delegation, to which Marriott was also attached, and whose negotiations he recounts in detail. Marriott's 'Preamble' to his memoir of the armistice notes that 'The only other record of our Meetings which were all held in the Restaurant car are [sic] in the Archives of the Admiralty, also written by me'.
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