Rather than reading the armistice terms, the Germans read a prepared text to the French which began:
In the name of the Fuhrer and the Supreme Commander of the German Armed Forces, I have the following declaration to make to you: Relying on assurances given to the German Reich by President Wilson, which were confirmed by the Allied Powers, the German Army laid down its arms on November 1918. Thus ended a war that neither the German people nor their government had desired and in which her enemies, despite having overwhelmingly greater forces, were unable to claim a decisive victory over the German Army, Navy or Air Force.
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