soldiers. In the villages back of the line there were impromptu
celebrations and the civilians in holiday spirit saluted the Americans,
shouting "the war is finished."

Northeast of Verdun, just before 11 o'clock, American artillery-men in
loading a six-inch howitzer, wrote "good-luck" on a ninety-pound shell
and "let 'er go." The shot was aimed at the crossroad at Ornas, just
ahead of the American lines.

While the bells of the ancient Verdun Cathedral were ringing the news of
peace the fortress city was illuminated and a military procession headed
by the drum corps of the Twenty-sixth American division swung along the
crowded streets accompanied by a French detachment of buglers
representing the famed defenders of Verdun.

Only a half hour before the Germans had thrown large shells within the
city walls, apparently as a reminder that Verdun was still within the
range of their guns to the hills to the northeast.

Monday afternoon and night virtually was the first time that Verdun had
not been shelled in many hours almost since the war began.

CHAPTER LIII

THE DRASTIC TERMS OF SURRENDER

The end of the war came with almost the dramatic suddenness of its
beginning. Bulgaria, hemmed in by armies through which no relief could
penetrate, asked for terms. The reply came in two words, "Unconditional
Surrender."

Turkey, witnessing the rout of her army in Palestine by the great
strategist, General Allenby, and a British army, asked for an armistice.
The Porte signed without hesitation an agreement comprising twenty-five
severe requirements.

The surrender of Bulgaria and Turkey forced Austria's hand. The terms
under which it was permitted to capitulate were even harder than those
granted to Turkey. They comprised eighteen requirements divided into
military and naval clauses.

Germany, proud, imperial Germany, met the greatest humiliation of all
the Teutonic allies when the Kaiser and the German High Command were
brought to their knees. Thirty-five clauses, the most severe and drastic
ever demanded from a great power, were included in the armistice
agreement. Only the imminent menace of an invasion of Germany would have
sufficed to compel the German representatives to sign such a document.
Following are the drafts of the Turkish, Austrian and German armistice
agreements.

THE TURKISH AGREEMENT

1. The opening of the Dardanelles and the Bosporus and access to the
Black Sea. Allied occupation of the Dardane