principle. It was agreed that there should be a Czechoslovak flag and uniform with special Czechoslovak badges and a béret. The National Council reserved to itself the right and duty of submitting its proposals to the Ministry of War. Negotiations on the practical and technical side of these matters were long, and were still in progress when Štefánik returned from America. In negotiating on the wording of the agreement in July and August, I was concerned only with specifying the principles and our rights involved in these practical matters.
The main principles of the new military organization included, of course, the recognition on the part of France that the soldiers of this army must take an oath of allegiance to the Czechoslovak nation. The recruiting of troops was to be carried out by the National Council in France, Russia, America, Serbia, and Italy for the whole duration of the war. The implication of this was that this agreement with France contained a formulation of our whole politico-military scheme, as elaborated by us with reference to the current political events in Paris. The elaborated scheme of organization dealt with all details of recruiting, and provided for recruiting committees, their rights and duties. Recruiting could be carried out only in the name of the National Council, and the French authorities were to act merely as executive bodies.
The officers were to be appointed and promoted only by the National Council in agreement with the French Government, and Czechoslovaks were to have the preference. The language of command was to be the national language, but all important documents were to be bilingual. The head of the army was to be a French General, appointed after agreement with the National Council. As regards discipline, the French military legal code was to be adopted, and it was agreed to set up Czechoslovak courts-martial as soon as an adequate staff of Czechoslovak officers was available for this purpose.
In financial matters the principle agreed upon was that our troops should receive the same pay as the French, and that all expenditure should be recorded in special accounts, a settlement of which by the Czechoslovak nation could, if necessary, be stipulated during the peace negotiations.
As regards prisoners of war who were unfit for military service, and disabled soldiers, the National Council and the Ministry of Munitions were to arrange a special “Statut du travail pour les ouvriers tchécoslovaques en France.” The
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