SUPPLEMENT TO PROTOCOL OF ARMISTICE WITH AUSTRIA-HUNGARY, NOVEMBER 3, 1918.1 Contains details and executive clauses of certain points of the armistice between the allied and associated powers and AustriaHungary. (1) MILITARY CLAUSES. 1. Hostilities on land, sea, and air, will cease on all Austro-Hungarian fronts twenty-four hours after the signing of the armistice, i.e., at 3 o'clock on November 4 (Central European time). From that hour the Italian and allied troops will not advance beyond the line then reached. The Austro-Hungarian troops and those of her allies must retire to a distance of at least 3 kilometers (as the crow flies) from the line reached by the Italian troops or by troops of allied countries. Inhabitants of the 3-kilometer zone included between the two lines (above-mentioned) will be able to obtain necessary supplies from their own army or those of the Allies. All Austro-Hungarian troops who may be at the rear of the fighting lines reached by the Italian troops, on the cessation of hostilities, must be regarded as prisoners of war. 2. Regarding the clauses included in Articles 2 and 3 concerning artillery equipment and war material to be either collected in places indicated or left in territories which are to be evacuated, the Italian plenipotentiaries representing all the allied and associated powers, give to the said clauses the following interpretation, which will be carried into execution: (a) Any material or part thereof which may be used for the purpose of war must be given up to the allied and associated powers. The Austro-Hungarian army and the German troops are only authorized to take personal arms and equipment belonging to troops evacuating the territories mentioned in Article 3, besides officers' chargers, the transport train, and horses specially allotted to each 1 This supplement was not printed with the Armistice in our issue of April, 1919 (Supplement, pp. 80-84), because an authentic text was not then available. The official text is now printed from Senate Document No. 147, 66th Congress, 1st Session. unit for transport of food supplies, kitchens, officers' luggage, and medical material. This clause applies to the whole army and to all the services. (b) Concerning artillery, it has been arranged that the AustroHungarian army and German troops shall abandon all artillery material and equipment in the territory to be evacuated. The calculations necessary for obtaining a complete and exact total of the artillery divisions and army corps at the disposal of AustroHungary on the cessation of hostilities (half of which must be given up to the associated powers) will be made later, in order to arrange, if necessary, for the delivery of other Austro-Hungarian artillery material and for the possible eventual return of material to the Austro-Hungarian army by the Allied and Associated armies. All artillery which does not actually form part of the divisional artillery and army corps must be given up, without exception. It will not, however, be necessary to calculate the amount. (c) On the Italian front the delivery of divisional and army corps artillery will be effected at the following places: Trento, Bolzano, Pieve di Cadore, Stazione per la Carnia, Tolmino, Gorizia, and Trieste. 3. Special commissions will be selected by the commanders in chief of allied and associated armies on the various Austro-Hungarian fronts, which will immediately proceed, accompanied by the necessary escorts, to the places they regard as the most suitable from which to control the execution of the provisions established above. 4. It has been determined that the designations M. Toblach and M. Tarvis indicate the groups of mountains dominating the ridge of Toblach Mountains and the Valley of Tarvis. 5. The retirement of Austro-Hungarian troops and those of her allies beyond the lines indicated in Article 3 of the protocol of armistice conditions will take place within 15 days of the cessation of hostilities, as far as the Italian front is concerned. On the Italian front, Austro-Hungarian troops and those of her allies must have retired beyond the line Tonale-Noce-LavisAvisio-Pordoi-Lavinallongo-Falzarego-Pieve di Cadore-Colle Mauria-Alto Tagliamento-Fella-Raccolana-Selle Nevea-Isonzo by the fifth day; they must also have evacuated the Dalmatian territory indicated above. Austro-Hungarian troops on land and sea, or those of her allies, not having evacuated the territories indicated within the period of 15 days will be regarded as prisoners of war. 6. The payment of any requisitions made by the armies of the Allied and Associated armies on Austro-Hungarian territory will be carried out according to paragraph 1 of page 227 of "Servizio in Guerra-Part II, Edizione 1915," actually in force in the Italian army. 7. As regards railways and the exercise of the rights confirmed upon the Associated Powers by Article 4 of the armistice agreement between the Allied Powers and Austria-Hungary, it has been determined that the transport of troops, war material, and supplies for Allied and Associated Powers on the Austro-Hungarian railway system, outside territory evacuated in accordance with the terms of the armistice, and the direction and working of the railways shall be effected by the employees of the Austro-Hungarian railway administration, under the supervision of special commissioners selected by the Allied Powers, and the military Italian headquarters which it will be considered necessary to establish, the Austro-Hungarian authorities will give priority to allied military trains and will guarantee their safety. 8. On territory to be evacuated at the cessation of hostilities all mines on roads or railway tracts, all mine fields and other devices for interrupting communications by road or rail must be rendered inactive and harmless. 9. Within a period of eight days from the cessation of hostilities, prisoners and Italian subjects interned in Austria-Hungary must cease all work, except in the case of prisoners and interned who have been employed in agricultural pursuits previous to the day on which the armistice was signed. In any case they must be ready to leave at once on request of the commander in chief of the Italian Army. 10. Austria-Hungary must provide for the protection, safety, and supplies (expenses of these to be repaid) of the various commissions selected by the Allied Governments to take over war material and to exercise general control, whether in the territory to be evacuated or in any other part of Austria-Hungary. (II) NAVAL CLAUSES. 1. The hour for the cessation of hostilities by sea will be the same as that of the cessation of hostilities by land and air. Before that time the Austro-Hungarian Government must have furnished the Italian Government, and those of the associated powers, with the necessary information concerning the position and movements of the Austro-Hungarian ships, through the wireless station. at Pola, which will transmit the information to Venice. 2. The units referred to in Articles II and III, to be surrendered to the associated powers, must return to Venice between 8 a.m. and 3 p.m. on November 6; they will take a pilot on board fourteen miles from the coast. An exception is made as regards the Danube monitors, which will be required to proceed to a port indicated by the commander in chief of the forces of the associated powers on the Balkan front, under such conditions as he may determine. 3. The following ships will proceed to Venice: Teghethoff. Saida. Novara. Helgoland. Nine destroyers of Tatra type (at least 800 tons) of most recent construction. Twelve torpedo boats (200-ton type). Mine layer Chamaleon. Fifteen submarines built between 1910 and 1918, and all German submarines which are, or may eventually be, in Austro-Hungarian waters. Premeditated damage, or damage occurring on board the ships to be surrendered will be regarded by the Allied Governments as a grave infringement of the present armistice terms. The Lago di Garda flotilla will be surrendered to the associated powers in the port of Riva. All ships to be surrendered to the associated powers will be concentrated in the ports of Buccari and Spalato within 48 hours of the cessation of hostilities. 4. As regards the right of sweeping mine fields and destroying barrages, the Austro-Hungarian Government guarantees to deliver the maps of mine fields and barrages at Pola, Cattaro, and Fiume to the commander of the port of Venice, and to the admiral of the fleet at Brindisi within 48 hours of the cessation of hostilities, and within 96 hours of the cessation of hostilities, maps of mine fields and barrages in the Mediterranean and Italian lakes and rivers, with additional notification of such mine fields or barrages laid by order of the German Government as are within their knowledge. Within the same period of 96 hours a similar communication concerning the Danube and the Black Sea will be delivered to the commander of the associated forces on the Balkan front. 5. The restitution of merchant ships belonging to the associated powers will take place within 96 hours of the cessation of hostilities, in accordance with the indications determined by each associated power which will be transmitted to the Austro-Hungarian Government. The Associated Powers reserve to themselves the constitution of the commission referred to in Article 5, and of informing the Austro-Hungarian Government of its functions and of the place in which it will meet. 6. The naval base referred to in Article VI is Spalato. 7. The evacuation referred to in Article VII will be effected within the period fixed for the retirement of the troops beyond the armistice lines. There must be no damage to fixed, mobile, or floating material in the ports. Evacuations may be effected via the Lagoon canals by means of Austro-Hungarian boats which may be brought in from outside. 8. The occupation referred to in Article VIII will take place within 48 hours of the cessation of hostilities. The Austro-Hungarian authorities must guarantee the safety of vessels transporting troops for the occupation of Pola and of islands and other places as provided for in the terms of the armistice for the land Army. The Austro-Hungarian Government will give directions that the ships belonging to associated powers proceeding to Pola should be met 14 miles out by pilots capable of showing them the safest way into port. All damage to the persons or property of the Associated Powers will be regarded as a grave infringement of the present armistice terms. |