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Feature Articles: The Christmas

Truce
Updated - Saturday, 20 November, 2004

You are standing up to your knees in the

slime of a waterlogged trench. It is the
evening of 24 December 1914 and you are on
the dreaded Western Front.
Stooped over, you wade across to the firing
step and take over the watch. Having
exchanged pleasantries, your bleary-eyed and
mud-spattered colleague shuffles off towards
his dug out. Despite the horrors and the
hardships, your morale is high and you
believe that in the New Year the nation's army march towards a
glorious victory.
But for now you stamp your feet in a vain attempt to keep warm. All
is quiet when jovial voices call out from both friendly and enemy
trenches. Then the men from both sides start singing carols and
songs. Next come requests not to fire, and soon the unthinkable
happens: you start to see the shadowy shapes of soldiers gathering
together in no-man's land laughing, joking and sharing gifts.
Many have exchanged cigarettes, the lit ends of which burn brightly in
the inky darkness. Plucking up your courage, you haul yourself up
and out of the trench and walk towards the foe...
The meeting of enemies as friends in no-man's land was experienced
by hundreds, if not thousands, of men on the Western Front during
Christmas 1914. Today, 90 years after it occurred, the event is seen
as a shining episode of sanity from among the bloody chapters of
World War One a spontaneous effort by the lower ranks to create a
peace that could have blossomed were it not for the interference of
generals and politicians.

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First World War.com - Feature Articles - The Christmas Truce

The reality of the Christmas Truce,

however, is a slightly less romantic and
a more down to earth story. It was an
organic affair that in some spots hardly
registered a mention and in others left a
profound impact upon those who took
part.
Many accounts were rushed, confused or
contradictory. Others, written long after
the event, are weighed down by
hindsight. These difficulties aside, the
true story is still striking precisely
because of its rag-tagged nature: it is more 'human' and therefore all
the more potent.
Months beforehand, millions of servicemen, reservists and volunteers
from all over the continent had rushed enthusiastically to the banners
of war: the atmosphere was one of holiday rather than conflict.
But it was not long before the jovial faade was torn away. Armies
equipped with repeating rifles, machine guns and a vast array of
artillery tore chunks out of each other, and thousands upon
thousands of men perished.
To protect against the threat of this vast firepower, the soldiers were
ordered to dig in and prepare for next year's offensives, which most
men believed would break the deadlock and deliver victory.
The early trenches were often hasty creations and poorly constructed;
if the trench was badly sighted it could become a sniping hot spot. In
bad weather (the winter of 1914 was a dire one) the positions could
flood and fall in. The soldiers unequipped to face the rigours of the
cold and rain found themselves wallowing in a freezing mire of mud
and the decaying bodies of the fallen.
The man at the Front could not help but have
a degree of sympathy for his opponents who
were having just as miserable a time as they
were.
Another factor that broke down the animosity
between the opposing armies were the
surroundings. In 1914 the men at the front
could still see the vestiges of civilisation.
Villages, although badly smashed up, were still
standing. Fields, although pitted with shellholes, had not been turned into muddy
lunarscapes.
Thus the other world the civilian world and
the social mores and manners that went with it was still present at
the front. Also lacking was the pain, misery and hatred that years of
bloody war build up. Then there was the desire, on all sides, to see
the enemy up close was he really as bad as the politicians, papers
and priests were saying?
It was a combination of these factors, and many more minor ones,
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First World War.com - Feature Articles - The Christmas Truce

that made the Christmas Truce of 1914 possible.

On the eve of the Truce, the British Army (still a relatively small
presence on the Western Front) was manning a stretch of the line
running south from the infamous Ypres salient for 27 miles to the La
Bassee Canal.
Along the front the enemy was sometimes no more than 70, 50 or
even 30 yards away. Both Tommy and Fritz could quite easily hurl
greetings and insults to one another, and, importantly, come to tacit
agreements not to fire. Incidents of temporary truces and outright
fraternisation were more common at this stage in the war than many
people today realise even units that had just taken part in a series
of futile and costly assaults, were still willing to talk and come to
arrangements with their opponents.
As Christmas approached the festive
mood and the desire for a lull in the
fighting increased as parcels packed with
goodies from home started to arrive. On
top of this came gifts care of the state.
Tommy received plum puddings and
'Princess Mary boxes'; a metal case
engraved with an outline of George V's
daughter and filled with chocolates and
butterscotch, cigarettes and tobacco, a picture card of Princess Mary
and a facsimile of George V's greeting to the troops. 'May God
protect you and bring you safe home,' it said.
Not to be outdone, Fritz received a present from the Kaiser, the
Kaiserliche, a large meerschaum pipe for the troops and a box of
cigars for NCOs and officers. Towns, villages and cities, and
numerous support associations on both sides also flooded the front
with gifts of food, warm clothes and letters of thanks.
The Belgians and French also received goods, although not in such an
organised fashion as the British or Germans. For these nations the
Christmas of 1914 was tinged with sadness their countries were
occupied. It is no wonder that the Truce, although it sprung up in
some spots on French and Belgian lines, never really caught hold as it
did in the British sector.
With their morale boosted by messages of thanks and their bellies
fuller than normal, and with still so much Christmas booty to hand,
the season of goodwill entered the trenches. A British Daily
Telegraph correspondent wrote that on one part of the line the
Germans had managed to slip a chocolate cake into British trenches.

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First World War.com - Feature Articles - The Christmas Truce

Even more amazingly, it was

accompanied with a message asking for
a ceasefire later that evening so they
could celebrate the festive season and
their Captain's birthday. They proposed
a concert at 7.30pm when candles, the
British were told, would be placed on the
parapets of their trenches.
The British accepted the invitation and
offered some tobacco as a return
present. That evening, at the stated
time, German heads suddenly popped up and started to sing. Each
number ended with a round of applause from both sides.
The Germans then asked the British to join in. At this point, one very
mean-spirited Tommy shouted: 'We'd rather die than sing German.'
To which a German joked aloud: 'It would kill us if you did'.
December 24 was a good day weather-wise: the rain had given way
to clear skies.
On many stretches of the Front the crack of rifles and the dull thud of
shells ploughing into the ground continued, but at a far lighter level
than normal. In other sectors there was an unnerving silence that
was broken by the singing and shouting drifting over, in the main,
from the German trenches.
Along many parts of the line the Truce was spurred on with the arrival
in the German trenches of miniature Christmas trees Tannenbaum.
The sight these small pines, decorated with candles and strung along
the German parapets, captured the Tommies' imagination, as well as
the men of the Indian corps who were reminded of the sacred Hindu
festival of light.
It was the perfect excuse for the opponents to
start shouting to one another, to start singing
and, in some areas, to pluck up the courage to
meet one another in no-man's land.
By now, the British high command
comfortably 'entrenched' in a luxurious
chteaux 27 miles behind the front was
beginning to hear of the fraternisation.
Stern orders were issued by the commander of the BEF, Sir John
French against such behaviour. Other 'brass-hats' (as the Tommies
nick-named their high-ranking officers and generals), also made
grave pronouncements on the dangers and consequences of parleying
with the Germans.
However, there were many high-ranking officers who took a
surprisingly relaxed view of the situation. If anything, they believed it
would at least offer their men an opportunity to strengthen their
trenches. This mixed stance meant that very few officers and men
involved in the Christmas Truce were disciplined.

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First World War.com - Feature Articles - The Christmas Truce

Interestingly, the German High Command's ambivalent attitude

towards the Truce mirrored that of the British.
Christmas day began quietly but once the sun was up the
fraternisation began. Again songs were sung and rations thrown to
one another. It was not long before troops and officers started to
take matters into their own hands and ventured forth. No-man's land
became something of a playground.
Men exchanged gifts and buttons. In one or two places soldiers who
had been barbers in civilian times gave free haircuts. One German, a
juggler and a showman, gave an impromptu, and given the
circumstances, somewhat surreal performance of his routine in the
centre of no-man's land.
Captain Sir Edward Hulse of the
Scots Guards, in his famous
account, remembered the approach
of four unarmed Germans at 08.30.
He went out to meet them with one
of his ensigns. 'Their spokesmen,'
Hulse wrote, 'started off by saying
that he thought it only right to come
over and wish us a happy
Christmas, and trusted us implicitly
to keep the truce. He came from Suffolk where he had left his best
girl and a 3 h.p. motor-bike!'
Having raced off to file a report at headquarters, Hulse returned at
10.00 to find crowds of British soldiers and Germans out together
chatting and larking about in no-man's land, in direct contradiction to
his orders.
Not that Hulse seemed to care about the fraternisation in itself the
need to be seen to follow orders was his concern. Thus he sought out
a German officer and arranged for both sides to return to their lines.
While this was going on he still managed to keep his ears and eyes
open to the fantastic events that were unfolding.
'Scots and Huns were fraternizing in the most genuine possible
manner. Every sort of souvenir was exchanged addresses given and
received, photos of families shown, etc. One of our fellows offered a
German a cigarette; the German said, "Virginian?" Our fellow said,
"Aye, straight-cut", the German said "No thanks, I only smoke
Turkish!"... It gave us all a good laugh.'
Hulse's account was in part a letter to his mother, who in turn sent it
on to the newspapers for publication, as was the custom at the time.
Tragically, Hulse was killed in March 1915.
On many parts of the line the Christmas Day truce was initiated
through sadder means. Both sides saw the lull as a chance to get
into no-man's land and seek out the bodies of their compatriots and
give them a decent burial. Once this was done the opponents would
inevitably begin talking to one another.
The 6th Gordon Highlanders, for example, organised a burial truce
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First World War.com - Feature Articles - The Christmas Truce

with the enemy. After the gruesome task of laying friends and
comrades to rest was complete, the fraternisation began.
With the Truce in full swing up and
down the line there were a number of
recorded games of soccer, although
these were really just 'kick-abouts'
rather than a structured match.
On January 1, 1915, the London
Times published a letter from a major
in the Medical Corps reporting that in his sector the British played a
game against the Germans opposite and were beaten 3-2.
Kurt Zehmisch of the 134th Saxons recorded in his diary: 'The English
brought a soccer ball from the trenches, and pretty soon a lively
game ensued. How marvellously wonderful, yet how strange it was.
The English officers felt the same way about it. Thus Christmas, the
celebration of Love, managed to bring mortal enemies together as
friends for a time.'
The Truce lasted all day; in places it ended that night, but on other
sections of the line it held over Boxing Day and in some areas, a few
days more. In fact, there parts on the front where the absence of
aggressive behaviour was conspicuous well into 1915.
Captain J C Dunn, the Medical Officer in the Royal Welch Fusiliers,
whose unit had fraternised and received two barrels of beer from the
Saxon troops opposite, recorded how hostilities re-started on his
section of the front.
Dunn wrote: 'At 8.30 I fired three shots in the air and put up a flag
with "Merry Christmas" on it, and I climbed on the parapet. He [the
Germans] put up a sheet with "Thank you" on it, and the German
Captain appeared on the parapet. We both bowed and saluted and
got down into our respective trenches, and he fired two shots in the
air, and the War was on again.'
The war was indeed on again, for the
Truce had no hope of being
maintained. Despite being wildly
reported in Britain and to a lesser
extent in Germany, the troops and
the populations of both countries
were still keen to prosecute the
conflict.
Today, pragmatists read the Truce as
nothing more than a 'blip' a temporary lull induced by the season of
goodwill, but willingly exploited by both sides to better their defences
and eye out one another's positions. Romantics assert that the Truce
was an effort by normal men to bring about an end to the slaughter.
In the public's mind the facts have become irrevocably mythologized,
and perhaps this is the most important legacy of the Christmas Truce
today. In our age of uncertainty, it comforting to believe, regardless
of the real reasoning and motives, that soldiers and officers told to
hate, loathe and kill, could still lower their guns and extend the hand
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First World War.com - Feature Articles - The Christmas Truce

of goodwill, peace, love and Christmas cheer.

Contributed by Simon Rees

Bulgaria mobilised a quarter of its male population during WW1, 650,000 troops in
total.
Original Material Michael Duffy 2000-05, SafeSurf Rated

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