It is understood that failure to execute Articles 3 and 18 completely in the period specified is not to give reason for a repudiation of the Armistice, save where such failure is due to malice aforethought. To ensure the execution of the present convention under the most favourable conditions, the principle of a permanent International Armistice Commission is recognised. This Commission will act under the supreme authority of the High Command, Military and Naval, of the Allied Armies. The present Armistice was signed on the 11th day of November 1918, at five o'clock A.M. (French time). (Signed) F. FOCH. ERZBERGER. R. E. WEMYSS. OBERNDORFF. WINTERFELDT. VANSELOW. _Annexe No. 1._ 1. The evacuation of the invaded territories, Belgium, France, and Luxemburg, and also of Alsace-Lorraine, shall be carried out in three successive stages according to the following conditions: _First Stage._--Evacuation of the territories situated between the existing front and line No. 1 on the map to be completed within five days after the signing of the Armistice. _Second Stage._--Evacuation of territories situated between line No. 1 and line No. 2, to be carried out within four further days (nine days in all after the signing of the Armistice). _Third Stage._--Evacuation of the territories situated between line No. 2 and line No. 3 to be completed within six further days (fifteen days in all after the signing of the Armistice). Allied and United States troops shall enter these various territories on the expiration of the period allowed to the German troops for the evacuation of each. In consequence the Allied troops will cross the present German front as from the sixth day following the signing of the Armistice, line No. 1 as from the tenth day, and line No. 2 as from the sixteenth day. 2. _Evacuation of the Rhine District._--This evacuation will also be carried out in several successive stages: (1) Evacuation of territories situated between lines 2 and 3 and line 4, to be completed within four further days (nineteen days in all after the signing of the Armistice). (2) Evacuation of territories situated between lines 4 and 5 to be completed within four further days (twenty-three days in all after the signing of the Armistice). (3) Evacuation of territories situated between lines 5 and 6 (line of the Rhine) to be completed within four further days (twenty-seven days in all after the signing of the Armistice). (4) Evacuation of the bridgeheads and of the neutral zone on the right bank of the Rhine to be completed within four further days (thirty-one days in all after the signing of the Armistice).