GERMAN DECREE: NO NEGOTIATIONS ON ARMISTICE TERMS
Hitler has choreographed his own sweet revenge for the French in an elaborately conceived déjà vu of the signature of the Armistice in 1918. Hitler’s generals have insisted on a complete acceptance of the armistice terms presented to the team of French envoys at Compiegne, with no point open for negotiation. I understand that the French were instructed to accept or reject the armistice as it was – the terms would not be softened.
The French delegates were met by Hitler at 3.30pm yesterday in the same railway coach placed at the same spot in the Forest of Compiegne where Marshal Ferdinand Foch had dictated terms to the Germans in November 1918. Hitler devised this piece of historic theatre as revenge against the French and made sure that the railway coach was retrieved from a museum so that the signature of the armistice by the French will take place within it. This correspondent was reminded of Karl Marx’s words: ‘history repeats itself, first as tragedy, second as farce.’
The French negotiators at Compiegne were still deep in discussion late last night, while the terms were being considered by Marshal Petain’s government at Bordeaux. After receiving them, the delegates withdrew to a tent equipped with telephones, teleprinter, and radio. The terms were communicated to Bordeaux and new instructions were received. We do not as yet know what the terms of the armistice are.
I understand, however, that the German demands are long and detailed. The French delegates went back and forth to the railway coach to discuss points with the Germans, and then returned to the tent to talk them over.
A source revealed that Hitler, in a deliberate gesture of disdain, left the carriage immediately after the preliminaries had been completed, and returned to his headquarters, leaving General Keitel to conduct the ‘negotiations’ on his behalf. However, German aeroplanes continued to circle over the forest clearing where the discussions were taking place long after the Fuhrer had left.
General Keitel declared that the conditions put forward are designed to prevent any resumption of fighting and to provide Germany with ‘all security’. According to Keitel, provision is also made for establishing the ‘requisites for a new peace which would guarantee restitution for the wrongs done to Germany by force.’
Serial Divorcee Splits from Fifth Husband
Mr Thomas Prentice had to wait four-and-a-half years before he was granted a decree of divorce after he had split from his wife a month into their marriage – her fifth!
Mr Prentice, a chartered accountant, of Leveden Gardens, Glasgow, left the house a month after he married Ms Ada Virginia Prentice. The two at that point had already quarrelled numerous times, mainly about money, it was revealed yesterday in the Court of Session, Edinburgh. Mrs Prentice then assaulted her husband and told him to leave, which he did. And after a court action in January 1937 he has been paying his wife £800 a year alimony ever since.
Mr Prentice sought divorce on the ground of his wife’s alleged misconduct with Guy Cotte, a French language tutor, whom Ms Prentice met taking French lessons.
Ms Ada Virginia Prentice’s address was given as Kensington Gardens Square, London. She was brought up in Tennessee and, before marrying Mr Prentice in November 1935, she had been married four times, each of which had ended in divorce.
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