RHINELAND EVACUATION

Taranaki Daily News, 3 September 1929, Page 9

RHINELAND EVACUATION

FRENCH PREMIER’S VIEWS

RATIFICATION A CONDITION

EIGHT MONTH’S ALLOWANCE

By Telegraph—Press Assn. —Copyright. Australian Press Association. Received Sept. 2, 9.10 p.m. London, Sept. 1.

M. Briand made a great impression at Saturday’s Cabinet meeting by the emphasis he laid on the fact that there would be no evacuation of the Rhineland till the French and German Parliaments ratified The Hague plan, says the Paris correspondent of the Morning Post. In any case, said M. Briand, the period of eight months allowed for the evacuation would not be reckoned till the Young plan was effectively in operation.

RHINE OCCUPATION HISTORY.

DISPOSITION OF THE TROOPS.

DIFFICULTIES AND GRIEVANCES.

At the armistice the Germans were > forced to submit to the occupation by | Allied troops of the left bank of the Rhine, with bridgeheads on the opposite shore as a guarantee against an attempt to renew the war. The Peace Treaty imposed this occupation as a security for the execution of her obligations by Germany (Part XIV., Articles 428-432). The Allied troops were to remain in occupation of various territories for 15 years, and this period could be extend/ ed if Germany refused to carry out her obligations in respect of reparation. In September, 1926, Germany’s return into the family of European nations was made complete by her admission to the League of Nations, with a permanent seat on the Council. In September, 1928, the Allies promised to Germany the total evacuation of the still occupied territories oh the Rhine as soon as the question of reparation payments had found a satisfactory solution. ~ On June 28, 1919, the so-called Rhineland Agreement was signed between Germany on the one hand and Britain, France, Belgium, and the United States on the other. By this document, concurrent with the Peace Treaty, the regime of occupation was definitely established. ADMINISTRATIVE AUTHORITY. The Rhineland High Commission was set up. as the supreme inter-Allied organisation in the occupied area. The decrees issued by this commission were to have the force of law for securing the maintenance, security, and requirements of the forces in occupation. The commission was to control railways, posts, telegraphs and telephones, and have the right of requisitioning accommodation for the troops. Otherwise', in so far as it did not come into conflict with the needs of the occupation, the German civilian administration was permitted to remain. But persons committing offences against the Allied troops wers to be tried by military tribunals. German authorities obstructing the ordinance of the commission could be summarily removed from the occupied area.

The situation, however, was complicated by the United States refusing to ratify the Versailles Treaty. The American troops so long as they remained in the Rhineland continued to live under the regime established at the armistice, until they were withdrawn in January, 1923, the United States and Germany having signed a separate peace in November, 1921. ALLOCATION OF ZONES.

In the beginning the occupied area was divided among the Allies in the following manner: The Belgians were in the north around Aix-la-Chapelle, the British held Cologne and the adjoining district, the Americans were at Coblenz, where was the seat of the Rhineland Commission, and the French were spread over the southern part, including the Bavarian Palatinate. After the depaiture of the Americans their zone was also transferred to the French. From the very first difficulties arose between the forces in occupation and. the German Administration. The. chief trouble was with the French, who, by bringing in coloured troops, antagonised the focal population and provided material for the spread of German grievances abroad. Another source of German complaints was through suspending the export and import regulations of the Reich on the’ frontier between the occupied territories and France and Belgium, by which the Allies created a hole through which foreign goods were poured into Germany and German goods were brought out free from all duties and restrictions. This “hole” was stopped only in March, 1920, but a year later the Rhineland Commission. established a customs line between occupied and non-occupied Germany. OCCUPATION OF THE RUHR. Conditions in the occupied area became steadily more unfavourable as Germany’s default- on reparation Payments became more pronounced. After the London Conference of February, 1921, when Germany again refused .to comply with the demands of the Allied Reparation Commission, the area of oe-_ cupation was extended to include the rich industrial centres of Ruhrort, Duisbur*' and Dusseldorf, simultaneously with the creation of the internal customs barrier already mentioned. This additional occupation was cancelled in October, 1921. Then came the occupation's of the Ruhr by the French and Belgians in January, 1923, after fruitless 0 attempts all through 1922 to extract from the Reich the payments demanded by the Reparations Commission. The legal basis for the operation in the Ruhr was provided by the decision of the Rhineland Commission taken on February 26, 1923. This decision was taken by a majority vote. of all the members against the dissenting view o the British representative. A state of hidden warfare prevailed after this in the whole occupied area with the exception of the British zone in and around Cologne. At the same time a separatist movement sprang up aiming at the entire separation of the Rhineland from the rest of Germa y. This was the period of the catastrop

fall of the mark and signs of approching chaos in Germany. The tension was , relieved only in the summer of with the coming into force of the famous Dawes Plan for German reparation payments. On August 10, 1924, the French v and German Governments came to an understanding for the termination of the Ruhr occupation, provided the Goveinment of the Reic hloyally carried ou the London Agreement of the same date. y. This evacuation began in August, Lh«, A:.i and was completed by July, 1925. Ruh-. ' rort, Duisburg and Dusseldorf, which had been re-occupied during the Ruhr affairs, were liberated in August of the same year. . Simultaneously with the application. ~y of the Dawes Plan the regime in the occupied Rhineland was considerably re- . laxed, and steps were taken to make the - presence of Allied troops less visible to < the population. -/d