The Rhineland Republic: Part II
Julian Piggott, former British Commissioner in Cologne, tells the story, as he witnessed it, of the French attempt in 1923 to create a buffer state on their eastern frontier. The first part of this articles can be found here.
During the night of January 11-12th French cavalry and tanks reached the outskirts of Essen. By midday columns of infantry were pouring into the Rathaus square, silently watched by sullen crowds. All shops and houses were barred and shuttered. Oberbürgermeister Luther and his Aldermen received General Rampon with dignity and protested formally against the “illegal application of military force to a disarmed and defenceless population.” The General replied that the troops were there solely to guarantee the safety of the technicians whose job it was to ensure the resumption of reparations deliveries, deliberately withheld by the magnates of the Ruhr.
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