On the outbreak of World War I in August 1914, many assumed it would be finished by Xmas. Devoted teenage men were eager to enlist in the army as soon as possible as they presumed they would miss out on the action. Suffice to say, history has confirmed that their positive outlook was misdirected as the war would not end till 1918. The German progress was halted at the First Battle of Marne and the drive for the sea developed as the Allies and Germans both dug in. It was the commencement of the trench warfare of the Western Front.
The outcome was lines of trenches running from the North Sea to Switzerland along a 440 mile front. The battle lines moved very little as a war of attrition broke out. Initial trenches weren't well constructed and were liable to collapse. Even by trench warfare standards, 1914 was pretty lousy. As winter neared, the infantry on the front line realized that the war would not be all over by Xmas after all.
The Western Front ran through both Belgium and France with infantry from France, Belgium and United Kingdom manning a range of areas. In some positions, the German trenches were no more than 30 yards away. Being in such proximity allowed the soldiers to call to their opponents or even display signs. On the German belt buckles was the inscription "Gott Mitt Uns" (God is with us). The British reply was "We've got mittens too." Some of the verbal exchanges were a bit more black humour. A volley of shots would bring the response "Missed" or "Right a bit".
Regardless, it was these exchanges that laid the foundations of a handful of surprising scenes along the length of the Western Front on 24th December 1914. The Germans celebrate Christmas on the 24th as opposed to Great Britain and France who celebrate on the 25th). The weather had got better and on the 24th, the sounds from the German trenches were completely different. They began singing carols and positioned Christmas Trees across their trenches. Soldiers started calling to each other and eventually, some ventured into no man's land where they spoke and exchanged cigarettes, food and souvenirs. Reports of the ceasefire varies as there were in fact a handful of truces up and down the lines. They were mostly in the sections manned by the British as the Germans were occupying Belgium and French soil so the Christmas spirit was less in evidence among these soldiers.
The Christmas Truce of 1914 was unofficial but as many as 100,000 soldiers were thought to have been involved. As well as fraternisation, the chance was also taken to reclaim and bury the fallen. One of the most famous parts of the truce was the football match between the British and Germans. There are lots of conflicting tales concerning the match with an array of finals scores. This would suggest there were quite a few games at various places.
The length of time the truce lasted also varied but generally, it was over on Xmas Day. Typically, hostilities started again by mutual understanding. In one case, on the morning of the 26th December 1914, Captain Stockwell of the Royal Welsh Fusiliers fired into the air and stood above the parapet. His opposite number in the German trench also stood up, they saluted and stepped down. Captain Stockwell heard the German fire a couple of shots into the air and World War I resumed. Of course, the Xmas Ceasefire was very much against the wishes of British commanders and in the subsequent years, artillery barrages were ordered for Christmas Eve.
In 2008, a plaque to the Christmas Truce on the Western Front was unveiled at the village on Frelinghen and was the 1st memorial to the incidents of Christmas 1914. The legacy the truce left behind is noteworthy with several books being penned, and it was also the inspiration for many different songs.
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Throughout the Great War, fighting on the
Western Front was terrible but in spite of this, British and German soldiers still found time to be human for a short time in December 1914.
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