Chapter II.—Armament, munitions and material (Art. 164 to 172)
Article 164.
Up till the time at which Germany is admitted as a member of the League of Nations the German Army must not possess an armament greater than the amounts fixed in Table No. II annexed to this Section, with the exception of an optional increase not exceeding one-twenty-fifth part for small arms and one-fiftieth part for guns, which shall be exclusively used to provide for such eventual replacements as may be necessary.
Germany agrees that after she has become a member of the League of Nations the armaments fixed in the said Table shall remain in force until they are modified by the Council of the League. [Page 324] Furthermore she hereby agrees strictly to observe the decisions of the Council of the League on this subject.
Text of May 7:
The number of employés or officials of the German States, such as customs officers, forest guards and coastguards, shall not exceed that of the employés or officials functioning in these capacities in 1913.
The number of gendarmes and employees or officials of the local or municipal police may only be increased to an extent corresponding to the increase of population since 1913 in the districts or municipalities in which they are employed.
These employees and officials may not be assembled for military training.
Note to V, 164
Germany’s admission to the League of Nations took place on September 8, 1926; see notes under articles 1 and 42.
In connection with the second paragraph of this article, see the reference to article 53 of the draft convention of December 9, 1930 in the note to the preamble of this part V (p. 309).
Article 165.
The maximum number of guns, machine guns, trench-mortars, rifles and the amount of ammunition and equipment which Germany is allowed to maintain during the period between the coming into force of the present Treaty and the date of March 31, 1920, referred to in Article 160, shall bear the same proportion to the amount authorized in Table No. III annexed to this Section as the strength of the German Army as reduced from time to time in accordance with Article 163 bears to the strength permitted under Article 160.
Text of May 7:
At the expiration of two months from the coming into force of the present Treaty the German Army must not possess an armament greater than the amounts fixed in Table No. II, annexed to this Section, with the exception of an optional increase not exceeding one-twentyfifth part or small arms and one-fiftieth part for guns, which shall be exclusively used to provide for such eventual replacements as may be necessary.
Article 166.
At the date of March 31, 1920, the stock of munitions which the German Army may have at its disposal shall not exceed the amounts fixed in Table No. III annexed to this Section.
[Page 325]Within the same period the German Government will store these stocks at points to be notified to the Governments of the Principal Allied and Associated Powers. The German Government is forbidden to establish any other stocks, depots or reserves of munitions.
Text of May 7:
At the expiration of two months from the coming into force of the present Treaty, the stock of munitions which the German Army may have at its disposal shall not exceed the amounts fixed in Table No. III annexed to this Section.
Within the same period the German Government will store these stocks at points to be notified to the Governments of the Principal Allied and Associated Powers. The German Government is forbidden to establish any other stocks, depots, or reserves of munitions.
Article 167.
The number and calibre of the guns constituting at the date of the coming into force of the present Treaty the armament of the fortified works, fortresses, and any land or coast forts which Germany is allowed to retain must be notified immediately by the German Government to the Governments of the Principal Allied and Associated Powers, and will constitute maximum amounts which may not be exceeded.
Within two months from the coming into force of the present Treaty, the maximum stock of ammunition for these guns will be reduced to, and maintained at, the following uniform rates:—fifteen hundred rounds per piece for those the calibre of which is 10.5 cm. and under: five hundred rounds per piece for those of higher calibre.
Article 168.
The manufacture of arms, munitions, or any war material, shall only be carried out in factories or works the location of which shall be communicated to and approved by the Governments of the Principal Allied and Associated Powers, and the number of which they retain the right to restrict.
Within three months from the coming into force of the present Treaty, all other establishments for the manufacture, preparation, storage or design of arms, munitions, or any war material whatever shall be closed down. The same applies to all arsenals except those used as depots for the authorised stocks of munitions. Within the same period the personnel of these arsenals will be dismissed.
[Page 326]Article 169.
Within two months from the coming into force of the present Treaty German arms, munitions and war material, including anti aircraft material, existing in Germany in excess of the quantities allowed, must be surrendered to the Governments of the Principal Allied and Associated Powers to be destroyed or rendered useless. This will also apply to any special plant intended for the manufacture of military material, except such as may be recognised as necessary for equipping the authorised strength of the German army.
The surrender in question will be effected at such points in German territory as may be selected by the said Governments.
Within the same period arms, munitions and war material, including anti-aircraft material, of origin other than German, in whatever state they may be, will be delivered to the said Governments, who will decide as to their disposal.
Arms and munitions which on account of the successive reductions in the strength of the German army become in excess of the amounts authorized by Tables II and III annexed to this Section must be handed over in the manner laid down above within such periods as may be decided by the Conferences referred to in Article 163.
Note to V, 169
The quantities of material delivered by the German Government to the Inter-Allied Commissions of Control, according to a speech by the Chancellor of the German Reich on March 16, 1935, were as follows:
| Army | |
| Cannon and heavy-gun barrels | 59,897 |
| Machine-guns | 130,558 |
| Mine throwers and barrels | 31,470 |
| Guns and carbines | 6,007,000 |
| Machine-gun bores | 243,937 |
| Cannon carriages | 28,001 |
| Machine-gun carriages | 4,390 |
| Bullets | 38,750,000 |
| Hand- and gun-grenades | 16,550,000 |
| Fuses | 60,400,000 |
| Rounds of ammunition for hand weapons | 491,000,000 |
| Tons of shell case | 335,000 |
| Tons of cartridge cases | 23,515 |
| Tons of power | 37,600 |
| Ammunition empties | 79,500 |
| Telephones | 212,000 |
| Flame throwers | 1,072 |
| Armored cars | 31 |
| Tanks | 59 |
| Observation cars | 1,762 |
| Wireless stations | 8,982 |
| Field bakeries | 1,240 |
| Pontoons | 2,199 |
| Tons of equipment for soldiers | 981.7 |
| Sacks of equipment for soldiers | 8,230,350 |
| Pistols and revolvers | 7,300 |
| Machine-gun sleds | 180 |
| Transportable workshops | 21 |
| Anti-aircraft gun carriages | 12 |
| Limbers | 11 |
| Steel helmets | 64,000 |
| Gas masks | 174,000 |
| Machines of the former war industry | 2,500 |
| Gun barrels | 8,000 |
| Air Forces | |
| Pursuit and bombing planes | 15,714 |
| Airplane motors | 2,757 |
| Navy: Material that was either destroyed, scrapped, sunk, or handed over— |
|
| First-class battleships | 26 |
| Coastal cruisers | 4 |
| Armored cruisers | 4 |
| Small cruisers | 18 |
| Schooling and other ships | 21 |
| Torpedo boats | 83 |
| Submarines | 315 |
On February 21, 1920 the peace conference invited the Reparation Commission to proceed with the sale of war material to be destroyed. The commission asked the Inter-Allied Military Commission of Control to designate those materials “susceptible of utilization for manufactures of a purely industrial character”, so that they might be sold for non-military use and brought to the credit of Germany. The Conference of Ambassadors gave the Reparation Commission on May 26, 1920 an interpretation of article 169 with regard to the determination of utilizable material and the disposition of that not destroyed. The Conference of Ambassadors on June 1, 1922 classified German matériel and confirmed all prior decisions of the Inter-Allied Military Commission of Control. However, concessions were [Page 328] made as to automobiles, railroad equipment, clothing (with the exception of uniforms), and tools.
The Supreme Council at Boulogne on June 22, 1920 invited the Reparation Commission to proceed with the liquidation of all materials referred to in articles 169, 192, and 202 with the exception of what the Allied and Associated Powers retained for themselves under the treaty. The Inter-Allied Military, Naval, and Air Commissions of Control were charged with turning over to the Reparation Commission lists of this material, which was delivered as of July 11, 1919. The Reparation Commission decided on March 5, 1921 how the matériel in question should be credited. An allowance to Germany was made only for matériel of a non-military character, while what was taken out of Germany by the Allied and Associated Powers and absorbed into their military, naval, or aeronautic equipment was not to be credited unless it was finally sold or applied to civil purposes. A decision as to matériel of non-German origin was left to the Allied and Associated Governments.
Sales of converted war material credited to reparation up to December 31, 1922 amounted to 44,996,567 gold marks.
On June 2, 1923 the Conference of Ambassadors instructed the Bureau for Liquidation of German War Material (B.L.M.G.) to cease its activities on June 30 with respect to naval and air material.
Article 170.
Importation into Germany of arms, munitions and war material of every kind shall be strictly prohibited.
The same applies to the manufacture for, and export to, foreign countries of arms, munitions and war material of every kind.
Note to V, 170
The Supreme Council at San Remo on April 26, 1920 adopted a procedure for the disposition of the matériel mentioned in this article and existing in Germany; this included instructions for the Inter-Allied Naval Committee for the Destruction of ex-Enemy Ships (C.N.E.D.N.E.) and for the Inter-Allied Naval Commission of Control which later, on January 29, 1921, was given full authority to decide questions concerning the classification of matériel and to return to the German Government matériel which could be “really used for commercial purposes”.
The Conference of Ambassadors on November 24, 1920, decided that the prohibition in the second paragraph would not extend to [Page 329] non-combat matériel which would be exported in direct consequence of sales effected by the Reparation Commission in execution of the Supreme Council’s decision of June 22 (article 202). Articles 7 and 8 of the Spa agreement of July 16, 1920 provided that no sum should be credited to Germany for the light cruisers or matériel handed over or to be handed over under the protocol of January 10, 1920 (page 743), nor any of the proceeds from the sale of warships and naval war matériel surrendered under the naval clauses.
The division of receipts under this article was made as follows: Great Britain 70 percent, France 11 percent, Italy 11 percent, Japan 8 percent, by article 12 of the financial agreement of March 11, 1922.
The proceeds under the article were credited to Germany in Series “C” bonds.
A law respecting the import and export of war material “in the sense of Article 170, par. 2, and Article 192, par. 4”, enacted December 22, 1920 (Reichsgesetzblatt, 1920, ii, 2167), was not published until January 13, 1921. Of 52 articles listed 31 were not to be imported.
Article 171.
The use of asphyxiating, poisonous or other gases and all analogous liquids, materials or devices being prohibited, their manufacture and importation are strictly forbidden in Germany.
The same applies to materials specially intended for the manufacture, storage and use of the said products or devices.
The manufacture and the importation into Germany of armoured cars, tanks and all similar constructions suitable for use in war are also prohibited.
Article 172.
Within a period of three months from the coming into force of the present Treaty, the German Government will disclose to the Governments of the Principal Allied and Associated Powers the nature and mode of manufacture of all explosives, toxic substances or other like chemical preparations used by them in the war or prepared by them for the purpose of being so used.