File No. 763.72119/8964
The Diplomatic Liaison Officer with the Supreme War Council ( Frazier) to the Secretary of State
[Received October 10, 4.35 a.m.]
145. The three Prime Ministers will meet at Versailles this after noon; they have summoned Marshal Foch to report on the military situation. The latter yesterday formulated his conception of the terms of an armistice. Broadly speaking, they include evacuation by the Germans of all territory up to the left bank of the Rhine, with bridgeheads on the Rhine to be held by the Allies.
In a conversation with Lloyd George and Bonar Law this morning I noted a tone of disappointment that the President had not left the terms of armistice to the military men. Lloyd George said that along a large part of the front the Germans were in full retreat with the Allies close on their heels; this put the Germans in an embarrassing position but if they were allowed time to evacuate France and Belgium they could place their armies in position for a defensive campaign. It would have been otherwise if the evacuation [Page 352] of Alsace-Lorraine had been included as a condition of the armistice and he thought the Italians would regret that the Trentino was not included also.
Mr. Lloyd George intimated that M. Clemenceau was not entirely in accord with President Wilson’s fourteen points and said that the British Government would like to have a definition of the meaning of the expression “freedom of the seas”. He doubted whether British Army could be induced to resume hostilities if Alsace-Lorraine were not restored to France; he did not even feel sure that the French Army would fight again under these circumstances.