American Attacks Were Ordered On the Last Day of the War
Weeks of pre-negotiations followed the German feelers to President Wilson in October of 1918, seeking terms, with the main hurdle being Germany’s need to comply with the American president’s precondition that Kaiser Wilhelm II abdicate. As Wilson put it: “If the Government of the United States must deal with the military masters and the monarchical autocrats of Germany now, or if it is likely to have to deal with them later in regard to the international obligations of the German Empire, it must demand not peace negotiations but surrender“.
With the German situation continuing to deteriorate, on both the military and home fronts, the Kaiser was forced to abdicate on November 9th, fleeing into exile in Holland just steps ahead of a domestic uprising. A day earlier, a German delegation had crossed into Entente lines to work out an armistice. After three days of negotiations, its terms were hammered out and signed around 5AM on the morning of November 11th, to take effect six hours later, at 11AM. Pending the signing of a formal peace treaty, the Germans were to evacuate all occupied territories, withdraw their forces across the Rhine, and effectively demilitarize. It brought an end to the fighting, but did not amount to a full surrender of the German army.
American commanders, especially general John J. Pershing, who headed the American Expeditionary Force, were less than thrilled by the Armistice and its conditions. Pershing in particular thought that the terms were too lenient on the Germans, whom he believed should be severely defeated militarily in order to “teach them a lesson“. He also believed that “There can be no conclusion to this war until Germany is brought to her knees“. Considering that Germany was back on the warpath a bare two decades later, Pershing might have had something there.
For purposes of the 1918 Armistice, however, it meant that Pershing supported aggressive American commanders who wanted to keep fighting until the last minute. That was the case even after he knew that negotiations for an armistice had commenced. It remained the case even after he became aware that the Armistice had been signed on the morning of November 11th, and that it was due to take effect within a few hours. Chief among Pershing’s aggressive commanders who wanted to go after the Germans right up to the end was major general Charles Pelot Summerall, commander of his V Corps, then on the Meuse-Argonne front.