Northumbrian Gunner: Paris 2025 - Armistice Carriage

Friday, 28 March 2025

Paris 2025 - Armistice Carriage

At 05:00 on November 11th 1918 the Armistice that would come into force at 11:00 to end the First World War was signed in a railway carriage in a woodland clearing just outside the city of Compiègne.

The carriage had been commandeered from the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits (carriage no 2914D) for use on Marshall Foch's train.

11th November 1918 Compiègne Wagon Carriage no 2914
Marshal Foch and Allied Delegation

The Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits (CIWL) operated luxury trains which included sleeping cars and restaurant cars within France and across international borders throughout Europe.

Carriage number 2914D was built or the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits at the Saint-Denis works of the General Construction Company in May 1914.

Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits
Restaurant Car Design

Prior to WW1 2914D operated on the Paris to Saint-Brieuc (Brittany) route and the Paris to Le Mans route. On the outbreak of war priority for use of train routes was ceded to the military. In 1916 2914D was placed in to storage at Cinchy in the northern part of Paris. It was brought back into use in 1918 on the Paris - Caen Route.

Restaurant Car 2914D 1914 in operation

In October 1918 2914D was commandeered by the Army and sent back to the works at Saint-Denis where it was built. It was converted into an office and mobile headquarters equipped with a telephone, telegraph and a large table installed in the middle of one end.

Restaurant Car 2914D 1918
Conversion Plans

Restaurant Car 2914D Interior Conversion 1918

Restaurant Car 2914D French Army

Restaurant Car 2914D became part of a train for Marshall Foch, the Supreme Allied Commander from 28 October 1918.

General Foch's train Compiègne en route Rethondes

Germany first signalled that they wanted to discuss the terms of an armistice on 7th November. In preparation for the Armistice, Foch's train moved to a forest clearing near the village of Rethondes near Compiègne.

Loco 232 Nord 3843 used to pull Marshall Foch's train

Marshal Ferdinand Foch's train
Compiegne 8 November 1918
Source: IWM Q58432

Restaurant Car 2914D
Compiegne 8 November 1918
Source: IWM Q 60954

The site was used for artillery ammunition supply and had two railway lines coming into it. One was used to bring ammunition in to the site from the manufacturing areas, and one to take ammunition out to the front line. This would allow it to be used for two trains, one for the French delegation and one for the German delegation.

French and German Delegations trains

Restaurant Car 2914D Armistice negotiations

Negotiations on the terms of the armistice were conducted over the next few days until finally at 05:00 on November 11th 1918 the Armistice was signed. It would come in to force at the eleventh hour of the eleventh day of the eleventh month and bring the First World War to an end.

Armistice negotiations November 1918

Armistice signing Allied Delegation

After the First World War Carriage 2914D continued to be used for meetings between French and German representatives. In 1920 it formed part of the President of France's train.

Carriage 2914D and President of France

Given the significance of Carriage 2914D the French Government requested the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits (CIWL) to loan the Armistice Carriage for an exhibition at Les Invalides. The directors of the company gifted the Armistice Carriage to the French nation.

The carriage was initially sent to the CIWL works at Saint-Denis works to be refurbished and restored back to the configuration of November 1918.

Armistice Carriage 2914D

On the 27th April 1921 French Army engineers moved 2914D into the courtyard at Les Invalides where it would go on display.

French Army Engineers moving 2914D into Les Invalides

Les Invalides 2025

Armistice Carriage 2914D Les Invalides

The significance to the French nation of the Clairière de l'Armistice, (Glade of the Armistice) where Carriage 2914D was used for the signing, was such that the site would become a memorial.

Two sections of railway tracks were restored with signs marking the location of the French and the German trains. On the 11th November 1922 the Clairière de l'Armistice memorial was opened by Marshal Ferdinand Foch and the President of France Alexandre Millerand in the presence of of the French veterans.

Clairière de l'Armistice memorial opening 11-Nov-1922

The Armistice Carriage 2914D was ultimately destinated for the Clairière de l'Armistice. It remained on display at Les Invalides until 1927 when it was sent to the Compagnie Internationale des Wagons-Lits works at Saint-Denis for refurbishment. A carriage shed was built for the carriage to go on permanent display. After being refurbished 2914D was transported to the Clairière de l'Armistice in October 1927. The carriage shed was officially opened on 11th November 1927.

Clairière de l'Armistice
Carriage Shed Opening 11th November 1927

Clairière de l'Armistice
Carriage Shed

In September 1939 France and Germany were once again at war and it would be the German Army that was victorious. Hitler had launched his attack on France, as well as the Low Countries, on 10th May 1940. The Germans occupied Holland, Belgium and Luxembourg, forced the British to evacuate through Dunkirk and on 17th June 1940 France capitulated.

Hitler ordered that the signing of the armistice agreement between France and Germany would take place in the same railway carriage in the exact same spot near Compiègne where the armistice of 1918 was signed. To do so German engineers removed Armistice Carriage 2419D from the Museum of the Armistice carriage shed and positioned it where it was on 11th November 1918.

June 1940 Armistice Carriage 2914D removed from
Museum of the Armistice carriage shed

June 1940 Armistice Carriage 2914D
repositioning to 11-Nov-1918 position

On the 21st June 1940 Adolf Hitler and the German delegation toured the Clairière de l'Armistice site and then boarded the Armistice Carriage. They were later joined by the by the French delegation to negotiate the terms of an armistice. Hitler would leave in the evening.

Hitler 21st June 1940 and Carriage 2914D

German Delegation 21st June 1940 and Carriage 2914D

Hitler and entourage 1st June 1940 Carriage 2914D

At 6.50 p.m. German summertime on June 22 1940 the Armistice was signed in Carriage 2914D as it had been in 1918. It was however the Germans who were dictating the terms in 1940.

22nd June 1940 Armistice signed Carriage 2914D

One the Armistice was signed Hitler ordered that the Armistice Carriage be taken to Berlin and the Clairière de l'Armistice destroyed. He wanted to remove the memorial that commemorated French victory in 1918.

Armistice Carriage 2914D being moved to Berlin

Armistice Carriage 2914D Crepy en route to Berlin

German Army Engineers destroying Clairière de l'Armistice

German Army Engineers destroying Carriage Shed

Carriage 2914D reached Berlin on July 5, 1940 and transported to the Brandenburg Gate where it was put on display.

Carriage 2914D arrives Berlin

Carriage 2914D Brandenburg Gate

The Armistice Carriage was then moved to the Alt Museum where it remained on display until 1944.

Carriage 2914D Alt Museum Berlin 1940

Carriage 2914D Alt Museum Berlin 1942

By 1944 Germany was being pushed back from the territories it occupied in the East, West and Italy. German infrastructure, industrial capacity and cities, including Berlin were being heavily bombed, German was loosing the war.

Berlin 1944

Carriage 2914D was moved from Berlin to an area 250 km Southwest of the capital. Firstly to Ruhla, then Gotha before ending up at Crawinkel. The area was liberated by the Americans in April 1945. The Carriage however was not found intact. It had been burnt out, probably as a result of an accident, possibly on Hitler's orders.

Carriage 2914's Journeys WW2

Compiègne was liberated on 1st September 1944, and the Clairière de l'Armistice returned to being a focus for commemoration. In October patriots gathered in the clearing to celebrate liberation. On 11th November 1944 the Armistice commemoration was held at a temporary memorial. The site was restored (with German POWs used as labour) and the inauguration of the new memorials was conducted on 11th November 1946.

With the restoration of the Clairière de l'Armistice, the Compagnie Internationale des wagons-lits offered a carriage from the same series as 2914D to represent the orginal Armistice Carriage.

A new carriage shed and museum was constructed. Fixtures and fittings from the pre war musuem, which had been hidden by the curator in 1940, were restored back to the museum. Carriage number 2439D was refurbished to the same state as 2914D when the armistice was signed in November 1918. The restored 'Armistice Carriage' was transported to the carriage shed in the Clairière de l'Armistice.

The opening ceremony of the new carriage shed and museum took place on November 11, 1950.