The Christmas Truce.

December 25, 1914
The Christmas Truce

Just after midnight on Christmas morning, the majority of German troops engaged in World War I cease firing their guns and artillery and commence to sing Christmas carols. At certain points along the eastern and western fronts, the soldiers of Russia, France, and Britain even heard brass bands joining the Germans in their joyous singing.
At the first light of dawn, many of the German soldiers emerged from their trenches and approached the Allied lines across no-man's-land, calling out "Merry Christmas" in their enemies' native tongues. At first, the Allied soldiers feared it was a trick, but seeing the Germans unarmed they climbed out of their trenches and shook hands with the enemy soldiers. The men exchanged presents of cigarettes and plum puddings and sang carols and songs. There was even a documented case of soldiers from opposing sides playing a good-natured game of soccer.
The so-called Christmas Truce of 1914 came only five months after the outbreak of war in Europe and was one of the last examples of the outdated notion of chivalry between enemies in warfare. In 1915, the bloody conflict of World War I erupted in all its technological fury, and the concept of another Christmas Truce became unthinkable.

 

I've heard and read this many times.

Absolutely unbelievable. To think that these men could show such friendliness to each other under such horrid conditions is amazing. Then they got back in their trenches and threw bombs at each other????

I still think it is the best story from any war in history.

Cheers Peter.
merry xmas.

 

Peter,
This is one of my favourite stories and I am so glad you shared it.

YouTube - Christmas 018 ~ Christmas In The Trenches

Great little clip with the story being told.

 

Peter,

A wonderful story to read.

It just proves that Fact can be stranger than fiction. It must have been a really eiry time for both sides knowing that they had to start killing each other after the truce.
I wonder if it changed the outlook of many soldiers on both sides?

Regards
Tom

 

Just after midnight on Christmas morning, the majority of German troops engaged in World War I cease firing their guns and artillery and commence to sing Christmas carols..


Not technically true - the majority of German troops weren't actively engaged in any truce event and, in certain parts of the line and within certain units (Both French and German), troops were purposely engaged in aggresive patrol action during Christmas 1914.

dave.

 

I was under the impression it was only a few isolated units..The military channel has been running a few doc's about this event.

I bought a film a year or so ago and still haven't got round to watching it yet.
http://www.play.com/DVD/DVD/4-/1121200/Joyeux-Noel/Product.html

It does look good

Cheers

 

Hmmm. Didn't I read ~ quite possibly on this very forum. Or TGWF. Or possibly even the Dutch, photographic site The Heritage of the Great War ~ how the Brass, certainly on 'our' side, were apoplectic about the whole deal of xmass truces. They heard about the first incidents and went ballistic. Swore to charge any units found to be involved in such.

I think what I read stated that there were certain 'names' were mentioned, but no one actually got officially carpeted for it.

I wonder how that effected the ensuing xmasses? Did both sides simply shoot and shell the shit out of eachother, without respite? Or was there a tendancy to just ease up a little and lose accuracy? Drop the odd one on No Mans Land, for the record.

Somehow, I find it hard to swallow, that the order to 'Fix Bayonets' could ever be issued, as one listens to the other side singing carols ..... But then; I think of Gallipolli .....

 

Somehow, I find it hard to swallow, that the order to 'Fix Bayonets' could ever be issued, as one listens to the other side singing carols ..... But then; I think of Gallipolli .....


Where May 24th 1915 saw another famous truce!

Dave.

 

Was that one considered 'Legal', Dave? Or did the Ruperts have a fit about that too?

 

That's intriguing, Owen; So, the next year, the Germans appeared to be up for it, and yet were rebuffed or ignored?

Have we any indication whether this was due to a hardening attitude of the allied troops ~ or if it was down to the furore I mentioned earlier, and maybe even the fact that Top Brass was known to be coming around?

 

Where May 24th 1915 saw another famous truce!

Dave.

Another nice thing to read about. Never heard about it. I'll look it up tomorrow.

 

Was that one considered 'Legal', Dave? Or did the Ruperts have a fit about that too?


Yes, it was considered "legal" as it was mainly for humanitarian and hygiene purposes (not really the same type of "nicey nicey" truce as Xmas 1914, Marcus - more of a necessity for both sides). Aussie TV made a film about it quite a few years ago.

Dave.

 

Have we any indication whether this was due to a hardening attitude of the allied troops ?


The attitude of most of the French troops didn't need hardening by 1915. With the culture of "revanche" that had been instilled in much of the population since 1871, Christmas 1914 saw these "invading hordes" once again on their soil. There was no way that most of them were going to swop greetings with such people in 1914 ,never mind in 1915.

I doubt that there would have been many who felt particularly festive towards the Germans in 1915 in the British Army either - though there would be many who would have welcomed it simply as a "day off".

Dave.

 

This was the third year in a row that I waited until my family was asleep on Christmas Eve, and wandered off into the dark with a candle lantern, my books of Wilfred Owen and Siegfried Sassoon poetry, and of course alcohol for a toast. This year I also brought a pine branch.

It might seem weird for little old me to think about this in my Pennsylvania field, but it means a great deal to me. As an agnostic who is no longer a giddy child on Christmas, I will take my seasonal meaning where I see it. Even if its those mens', not mine. I borrow it to pay respect and help remember. Christmas 2014, I hope to be in Belgium.

 

I know it isn't Christmas but i will have forgotten about this by then.

Newspaper clipping from The West Cumberland Times dated 6th Jan. 1915.

 

good day peter clare very senior member.25th dec.2008.10:14am.re:the christmas truce,an amazing day.the sad thing about it.they were probably all dead the following week.to both sides on that day.well done. and to all the dead on both sides the following week.may they rest in peace regards bernard85 :WW2T:

 

To mark the 1914 centenary the Shorncliffe Redoubt, based in Kent, is planning a project to resurrect a 'Christmas tin' containing various comforts for 'frontline' troops:
http://www.shornclifferedoubt.com/
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There is also a group of volunteers who have extensively researched the 1914 'Christmas Truce' and published a book on the subject ("Not a Shot was Fired"):
http://www.christmastruce.co.uk/index.html

For those living in Cumbria, on 4 November 2014, I have asked the co-authors of this work (Alan Cleaver and Lesley Park) to do a presentation about the 1914 Christmas Truce to the Friends of Whitehaven Museum at The Beacon Museum, Whitehaven.

Some of my own relatives were serving on the Western Front when the 1914 Christmas Truce took place (2nd Bn, Border Regiment).
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I read a book about this general topic years ago. Wish I could remember the title/author. I went back to the library to look for it last year, but it must have been sold, lost or stolen because it didn't even show up in their catalog any more.

This book went far beyond the initial 1914 event and documented numerous instances that occurred once the utter futility of trench warfare with its massed, frontal infantry assaults against defense-in-depth, machine guns with interlocking fields of fire etc. . These were not so much full truces and occurred between major offensives. They were more like unspoken, mutual understandings between battle-weary front line troops of both sides in a given sector. "You make sure your mortar rounds fall short of my lines and I'll do the same for you"...that sort of thing. The book also talked about night reconn patrols that would sit in shell holes in no-man's land all night rather than raiding enemy tranches. It was an attempt to circumvent what were seen as suicidal tactics being passed down from the upper echlons.

Eventually it became something of a cat-and-mouse game between the troops and their own officers. For example, the officers started requiring that night patrols bring back "proof" that they had actually been "on the other side" (e.g.: sections of German barbed wire, pieces German equipment). Another command reaction in sectors which became "too quiet" because of these implicit truces was to rotate out the "offending" unit(s) and bring in a different, more "gung-ho" bunch of troops who would behave more aggressively. This was usually enough to upset the peaceful status-quo and provoke the other side, thereby "breaking" the unofficial "truce".

The the absolutely squalid conditions, the relatively static nature of the fronts and the horrible slaughter exacted (resulting in little if any territorial gain over long period of time) has to have taken a terrible, psychological toll on the participants of that war, imparting a particular feeling of pointlessness.