On December 7th, 1914, Pope Benedict XV pleaded for an official truce between the combatant governments, asking “that the guns may fall silent at least upon the night the angels sang”. His request was officially denied. Despite the absence of an official truce, approximately 100 000 British and German soldiers were involved in a series of widespread unofficial ceasefires along an approximately 27 mile stretch of the Western Front. The Christmas Truce of 1914 has become an everlasting symbolic moment of peace, love and humanity amidst the brutality and unnecessary slaughter of the First World War.
The Lead up to Christmas
The Christmas spirit and the desire for a lull in the fighting grew as Christmas approached, primarily due to the arrival of packages from home and from the State. British soldiers received plum puddings and Princess Mary Boxes. These were metal cases engraved with an outline of Princess Mary (George V’s daughter) and filled with chocolates, butterscotch, cigarettes, 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 home safe”.
German soldiers also received the Kaiserliche: packages from the Kaiser containing a large meerschaum pipe for the troops and a box of cigars for NCO’s and officers. Copious gifts of food, warm clothes and letters of thanks were also delivered to both sides from towns, villages, cities and numerous support associations.
Although French and Belgian soldiers did receive packages, and although some units experienced ceasefires for Christmas, this sentiment was not as intense as for German and British soldiers: 1914 was the year France and Belgium were invaded and occupied. The Christmas spirit emanated across No Man’s Land, if any, was understandably weak.
Christmas Eve, 1914 – The Initial Truce
The initial Truce commenced on Christmas Eve when German soldiers were decorating the area around their trenches in Ypres, Belgium. They placed candles on the parapets of their trenches, erected small pine Christmas trees which were decorated with candles and scattered along the parapet and sang carols. The British responded by singing carols of their own. Christmas greetings were shouted across No Man’s Land.
A British correspondent for the Daily Telegraph reported that in one section of the trench, German soldiers sneaked chocolate into British lines. Accompanying it was a message asking for a ceasefire for later that evening to celebrate the festive season and their Captain’s birthday. They proposed a concert at 7:30pm, when candles would be placed on the parapets of their trenches. The British accepted the invitation and offered some tobacco as a present in return.
At 7:30pm that evening, German heads appeared suddenly above the trenches, and began to sing. Each song ended with applause from both sides. When the Germans requested the British join them, one British soldier shouted: “We'd rather die than sing German”, warranting the German response: “It would kill us if you did”. In some sections of trench, the fighting merely subsided a little, in other sections, the sound of artillery and gun fire and shouting was replaced by singing.
Christmas Day, 1914
Upon hearing of the fraternisation, commander of the BEF John French, comfortably situated in a chateau well behind the front issued orders against the behaviour. However, the fraternisation between German and British soldiers began once the sun rose on Christmas Day.
Venturing into No Man’s Land, British and German troops exchanged small gifts such as food, tobacco and alcohol, and souvenirs such as hats and buttons. In a few places, soldiers who had been barbers in civilian times gave free haircuts. The account of one British soldier, Bruce Bairnsfather, identifies a British soldier cutting the hair of the German soldier kneeling in front of him. A German juggler and showman gave an impromptu performance of his routine in No Man’s Land.
The ceasefire of the Christmas Truce also allowed for a few friendly games of soccer in No Man’s Land. On January 1st, 1915, the London Times published a letter from a Major in the Medical Corps reporting that in his sector the British played a game of football against the Germans opposite and were defeated 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 Christmas Truce was initiated through more morose means on some parts of the Front, as both sides took the lull in combat as an opportunity to retrieve the bodies of their fallen comrades from No Man’s Land and give them a decent burial. Joint ceremonies were held for fallen British and German soldiers. The opponents inevitably began fraternising once this was over. In parts of the Western Front, aggressive behaviour remained conspicuously absent well into 1915; in others, just until Christmas night.
Resuming the War
Captain J.C. Dunn, the Medical Officer in the Royal Welch Fusiliers, recorded how hostilities resumed on his section of the trench once an agreement to end the ceasefire was reached. He wrote that “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. [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.”
However, in some regions of the Western Front, the fighting continued throughout Christmas with no truce affected. The ensuing years of the First World War saw ceasefires arranged between few units for Christmas (and other events such as Easter) primarily due to the strong orders against fraternisation from commanders on both sides.
Today, realists perceive the Truce merely as a temporary respite induced by the season of goodwill, but willingly exploited by both sides to reinforce defences and decipher each other's positions. Romantics assert the Truce was an effort by normal men to instigate an end to the carnage.
Furthermore, the Christmas Truce of 1914 reflected the growing attitude of live and let live that was entrenching itself along the Western Front, where the development of stalemate had necessitated a brutal war of attrition. It also reflected the tenuous nature of humanity at the time, as combat resumed once the Truce had been ended as easily as it had begun.
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