in their organization of an army, had accepted a similar wording some considerable time previously. It was out of the question then to demand more for us than the Poles had been granted, both out of consideration for them and for the French themselves.
The wording of the decree was as follows:
Art. 1. The Czechoslovaks, organized in an independent army, and acknowledging the authority of the supreme French command in military affairs, will fight under their own flag against the Central Powers.
Art. 2. In a political respect the management of this national army devolves upon the National Council of the Czech and Slovak territories, with headquarters in Paris.
Art. 3. The equipment of the Czechoslovak Army, as well as its further activity, is ensured by the French Government.
Art. 4. As regards its organization, control, administration, and legal jurisdiction, the same regulations will apply to the Czechoslovak Army as are current in the French Army.
Art. 5. The independent Czechoslovak Army will be recruited from:
(ii)(i) Czechoslovaks now serving in the French Army.
(ii) Czechoslovaks serving elsewhere, in as far as they are granted permission to be transferred to the Czechoslovak Army, and also volunteers who enter this army for the period of the war.
Art. 6. This decree will be carried out in accordance with ministerial instructions, which are to be issued later.
Art. 7. The Prime Minister, the Minister of War, and the Minister of Foreign Affairs, are each requested to carry this decree into effect, as far as it applies to himself, and it will be published in the official gazette of the French Republic and printed in the bulletin of laws.
Given at Paris, December 16th, 1917.
R. Poincaré,
President of the Republic.
G. Clemenceau,
Prime Minister and Minister of War.
S. Pichon,
Minister of Foreign Affairs.
For this reason my efforts were more and more directed towards bringing about at an early date the signature of the statutes by the French Government and the National Council, as well as their publication. New circumstances made it desirable that a few minor additions should be introduced in them (for example, on the subject of the uniform, as demanded by Štefánik), so that, as I have already stated, they were not actually published until February 7, 1918.
These two documents, the decree and the statutes, are
