1914 Christmas Truce. How Enemies Celebrated Christmas Together

2024 Author: Seth Attwood | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-16 15:55

The beginning of the First World War was successful for Germany. In the east, the Russian army, despite heroic resistance, was forced to retreat under the blows of the Teutons. In the west, a successful strike through Belgium allowed the Kaiser's troops to approach the capital of France, Paris. During the Battle of Aene, the Entente troops were unable to break through the German front, and the war gradually spilled over into the positional stage.

The British generally went to war as to a picnic. But by November it became clear that the "picnic" was dragging on: an unbroken front line had emerged, running from the North Sea to the Swiss border, occupied on both sides by armies in prepared defensive positions …

The front between the Flanders city of Ypres and the French town of Richebourg was hell on earth in the weeks before Christmas in 1914. More than half a million people died here under a hail of machine-gun bullets in the first months of the war. By this time, the machine gun had already proved its practical value in military operations, the word "massacre" acquired a new, hitherto unknown meaning. Although by the time of Christmas 1914, the world war had been raging for only four months, it was already one of the bloodiest wars in history. At the same time, hardly anyone who was sitting at that time in trenches and dugouts on both sides of the front assumed that what seemed like a picnic and an easy walk would stretch for another 4 long years, taking with them 12 million lives of those killed and leaving behind 55 million injured.

The guns are silent when the angels sing

In a place where bloodshed was almost commonplace, something completely amazing happened on Christmas Day 1914, not in the spirit of time and place, but in the spirit of Christmas. On December 7, 1914, Pope Benedict XV issued an appeal for an official temporary truce. He said that "the guns can be silenced even on the night when the angels sing."

Despite the fact that no official truce was announced, the family and friends of the soldiers wanted to please them on Christmas, because it is a special holiday. Soldiers on both sides received many parcels from home, in which, in addition to warm clothes, medicines and letters, there were Christmas gifts, and even garlands of fir branches. And the holiday on the western front was the same for everyone: for the Germans, and for the British, and for the French. One holiday for all belligerents.

Already a week before Christmas 1914, part of the British and German soldiers began exchanging Christmas greetings and songs through the trenches. German soldiers shouted in broken English: "A happy Christmas to you, Englishmen!" ("Merry Christmas to you English!"). And the answer was: "And the same to you, Fritz, just do not overeat sausage!"

On December 24, an unusual silence settled over the front line. German soldiers began to decorate their trenches. They began by lighting candles in their trenches and on their decorated Christmas trees, and continued the celebration by singing Christmas carols despite the shelling. As the soldiers began to sing Christmas carols, the British infantry from their trenches responded by singing English carols.

First-hand reporting

Graham Williams, an infantry gunner, recalls: “I stood on the rifle step of the trench, looking at the German line of defense, and thought about how strikingly different this Holy evening was from those I had before. Suddenly, along the breastwork of the German trenches, here and there lights began to appear, which, most likely, were given by candles lit on Christmas trees; the candles burned evenly and brightly in the calm and frosty evening air. Other sentries, who, of course, saw the same thing, rushed to wake those who were sleeping, yelling: "Just look what is happening!" And at that moment the enemy began to sing "Silent night, wonderful night …"

This was actually the first time I heard this hymn, which was not so popular with us then. They finished singing their hymn, and we thought that we should somehow respond. And we sang the psalm "First Nowell", and when we, in turn, finished singing, there was a friendly applause from the German side, followed by another favorite Christmas tune - "O Tannenbaum".

The war reluctantly took a short pause. On the Holy Night before Christmas, it seemed inappropriate for even sworn enemies to produce new senseless sacrifices, and a timid fire of human feeling lit up over the battlefield. The spirit of Christmas has already taken possession of the trenches.

Celebrating Christmas in a German trench

German soldiers emerged from the trenches, their light signals were visible. Through the machine-gun sight, they could be seen from a kilometer away. The British commander addressed his soldiers: “The enemy is preparing an offensive. Be carefull! The Scottish Highlanders from Seaford wandered dejectedly to their firing positions and fired several bursts in the direction of the lights and illumination. Nothing happened. The Germans did not shoot back. As the lights approached, voices began to be heard - people were talking to each other, many were singing. The parties began to exchange cigarettes, lit each other from the fire. It turned out that in the whole paradise surrounding the rat, many were bored without simple human warmth and a sense of camaraderie. The lack of knowledge of the language was fully compensated by energetic and colorful gestures, and soon it was already quite a good neighborly dialogue.

Seeing the unarmed Germans, "Tommy" (as British soldiers are called) began to emerge from their trenches. One of the officers of the British army described the events as follows: “I looked out of the trench and saw four German soldiers who came out of their trenches and walked in our direction. I ordered two of my men to go and meet the "guests", but without weapons, since the Germans were unarmed.

But my guys were afraid to go, so I went alone. When the Germans approached the barbed wire, I saw that they were three privates and an orderly. One of them said in English that he only wanted to wish us a Merry Christmas. I asked what order the Germans received from the officers, since they went in our direction, and they replied that there was no order, and they went without permission.

We exchanged cigarettes and went our separate ways. When I returned to the position, I saw that there was no one in our trenches. Looking around, I was surprised to see a crowd of 100-150 British and German soldiers. They laughed and celebrated."

Christmas has taken over officers and aviation

The middle command staff adopted the principle: "If you cannot prevent, lead!" In the absence of the generals, the officers allowed their soldiers to leave their posts in small groups of 3-4 people, and they themselves were not averse to talking with "colleagues in the shop" on the other side of the front. By eight o'clock in the morning, rather large groups had formed on both sides of the field. The trenches were orphaned without soldiers. The Germans took a beer barrel with them, the Scots rehabilitated themselves with Christmas pudding.

British Army officer Bruce Barnsfather also witnessed the "Christmas truce." This is how he recalled those events: “I would not have missed this unique and strange Christmas for anything. I noticed a German officer - lieutenant, and being a bit of a collector, I hinted to him that I had chosen some of his buttons … I took out my wire cutters and with a few dexterous movements took off a couple of his buttons and put them in my pocket. Then I gave him two of mine in exchange. Finally, I saw one of my machine gunners, who was a bit of an amateur hairdresser in civilian life, cutting the unnaturally long hair of the obedient Bosch, who patiently kneels on the ground while the automatic scissors cut the back of his head."

A little later, the recent enemies even played football in the neutral zone. Interestingly, football matches between the British and the Germans happened quite often during the armistice. Most often, the “Swabians” beat the founders of football. Many British newspapers later wrote about those matches on the battlefield.

Aviation also took part in the truce. So, on Christmas night, a British pilot flew over the French city of Lille, occupied by the Germans, and dropped a large, well-packed plum pudding into the very center of the enemy positions.

The "Christmas truce" was also used to collect the corpses of the dead soldiers who had been lying for several months in a no-man's land. There were even joint church services held.

The Russian-German front is celebrating Christmas

The same events took place on the Eastern Front. At the end of December 1914, the German-Russian front passed through the territory of the Kingdom of Poland, on the line of the Bzura and Ravka rivers. There were many Catholics in both the German and Russian armies. Historians recall that during the battle of Sochaczew, the "Mazur" in German "pickelhaub" helmets fought to the death with their compatriots in Russian hats. But on Christmas night, the fighting died down, and the Polish song "Cicha noc" resounded over the battlefield. It was sung by both "Germans" and "Russians". After all, the holiday was one for everyone.

In December 1914, on the North-Western Front, there were cases of the so-called Christmas "fraternization" between the soldiers of the 249th Danube Infantry Regiment and the 235th Belebi Infantry Regiment of the Russian army and soldiers of the Kaiser's army. In a telegram from the commander of the 1st Russian army, General A. Litvinov, it was noted that the Germans more and more often "invite Russians to visit." So, 20 soldiers, 4 non-commissioned officers and one corporal of the 301st Bobruisk Infantry Regiment of the 76th Infantry Division of the Russian Imperial Army accepted the invitation of the Germans to visit them and, leaving their positions, went to the "Fritz". During one of the fraternities between the Russians and the Germans, a chanting competition took place. The soldiers exchanged bread, cigarettes, alcoholic drinks, chocolate.

The beginning of a new century. Understanding that on the other side of the trenches is not the enemy, but the enemy. More in common with those on the other side of the trenches than with those who command and control. And the Christmas truce is a vivid symbolic moment of peace and humanity against the backdrop of one of the bloodiest wars in modern history.