December 20, 2007
The True Story of the Christmas Truce

By Dave Maxwell

On December 24, 1914 in the area of Ypres, Belgium, a unique event occurred during the first winter of World War I. England, France and Germany had been at war in the area since August, but now it was Christmas Eve. In their trenches, not more than 100 yards away from the British trenches, German soldiers began decorating the area for Christmas. They began by placing candles on trees, and then continued the celebration by singing Christmas carols, most notably, Stille Nacht (Silent Night). British troops in the trenches across the way responded with well-known English carols. The two sides continued by shouting Christmas greetings back and forth. Soon afterwards, there were calls for visits across the “No Man’s Land” where small gifts were exchanged – whiskey, jam, cigars, chocolate and the like. The artillery in the region was silent that night. The impromptu truce, began a breathing spell where recently fallen soldiers from the day before could be brought back behind their lines by burial parties. At one funeral, soldiers from both sides gathered and read a passage from Psalm 23.

In many sectors, the truce lasted through Christmas night, but in some areas, it continued until New Years Day.

British Commanders Sir John French and Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien were not pleased with the truce and vowed that no such occurrence would happen again. However, both left command before December 1915. During the rest of the years of World War I, artillery bombardments were ordered for Christmas Eve, so there were be no further lulls in battle. And troops were also rotated through various sectors of the front to prevent them from becoming overly familiar with the enemy. Yet, despite these measures, there were a few more friendly Christmas encounters, but on a much smaller scale than 1914.

The seeds of World War I were really laid in 1839 when England and France signed a pact with Belgium. This was the first of a long series of treaties, which, through implication and fear, pit nation against nation. All of this continued until the summer of 1914 when war broke out following the assassination in Yugoslavia of Franz Ferdinand, heir to the Austro-Hungarian Empire. The guns of August marched into action before anyone could stop it.

Because it was the beginning of modern warfare and the machine gun, old style tactics were useless, but Generals still tried and the casualty rates were staggering. As some said, a whole generation of young men was lost in just few months. Neither side could gain a distinct advantage. Trench warfare settled in and would last until 1918.

Close to Christmas, 1914, a number of truces along the trench lines of France and Belgium took place. However, the British were fully expecting a large-scale attack, but perhaps underestimated the German love of Christmas. It all began when German troops brought Christmas trees into their trenches and began decorating them. Christmas carols were sung, Silent Night included, and slowly both sides begin to lower their guard.

During the Christmas truces, the Germans were usually the ones to reach out first to the enemy, often crossing No Man’s Land. Other times, calls were made out: “Tommy, come over here and talk with us.” The British would reply” “Fritz, you come over here.” So one brave German and one brave Brit did meet in No Man’s Land. Both sides soon joined in. In one famous case, the English Bedfordshire regiment played football (soccer) with the Germans. The game ended when the make-shift ball hit some barbed wire and deflated. Score: Germany 3 England 2.

In some of the Christmas Day meetings, the Germans brought beer along with them. Family photographs were sometimes shared, as well as tobacco or food. The Royal Welsh Fusiliers, ordered to stay in their own trenches, tossed tins of jam and bully beef over anyway and shouted “Merry Christmas.”

Historian Jennifer Rosenberg notes in her book “Peace in No Man’s Land,” that before the Christmas Truce, it had been raining heavily. The troops were caked in mud, and nobody had energy to do much of anything but lay there and get rained upon. “Restless in their trenches, covered in mud, and eating the same rations every day, some soldiers began to wonder about the unseen enemy, men declared monsters by propagandists,” she wrote.

The truce ended by mutual agreement. In places, one solider from each side climbed on top of the trench, saluted the other, climbed back down and the shooting started again.

Whatever the case, the end result of the Christmas Truce of 1914 was a firmer front. However, afraid of what might happen if the Brits and the Germans got friendly, Sir John French and Sir Horace Smith Dorrien never allowed something similar to happen again.

Word of the truces reached the home front in January 1915, in the form of soldier’s letters. Local newspapers quickly picked up on these accounts and some even reprinted the letters. One letter from an unknown British solider was sold at auction in London in November, 2006 for $29,512. The solider wrote in part, “...The Germans commenced by placing lights all along the edge of their trenches and coming over to us – wishing us a Happy Christmas, etc. They also gave us a few songs, so we had quite a social party. Several of them can speak English very well so we had a few conversations. Some of our chaps went over to their lines…We had a few Germans over to see us this morning. They also sent a party over to bury a sniper we shot in the week….A few of our fellows went out and helped to bury him….We can hardly believe that we’ve been firing at them for the last week or two…it all seems so strange….I never expected to shake hands with Germans between the firing lines on Christmas Day and I don’t suppose you thought of us doing so. So after a fashion, we’ve enjoyed our Christmas.”

Letters home from German soldiers said much the same thing. Lt. Johannes Niemann of the 133rd Royal Saxon regiment wrote: “…suddenly my orderly threw himself into my dugout to say that both the German and Scottish soldiers had come out of their trenches and were fraternizing along the front. I grabbed my binoculars and looking cautiously over the parapet and saw the incredible sight of our soldiers exchanging cigarettes, schnapps and chocolate with the enemy. Later a Scottish solider appeared with a football which seemed to come out of nowhere and a few minutes later a real football match got underway.”

As newspapers printed a few more letters, the military quickly placed notices to state that the truces were fleeting; the French and German governments denied they ever happened. But it did happen; the soldiers knew they did, in Belgium at Christmas, 1914.

Today, some of the sites have markers to tell what happened there and relatives of some of those involved, from both sides, have even met in the middle, where their ancestors did “In Flanders fields where poppies grow…” one Christmas long ago.