Forward by Bob Barney – We at the Plain Truth report the pure paganism of Christmas. However, the spirit of God can always show through, even with impossible odds. A warm story on how Christian goodwill can even stop a war!
On Christmas Eve of 1914, along parts of the Western and Eastern fronts in Europe, a spontaneous truce was declared among the weary, entrenched combatants of World War I. Was this a miracle? Was it a myth? Explore these questions in The Christmas Truce, Winter 1914, the new online exhibition from the National WWI Museum and Memorial featuring dozens of firsthand accounts from men on the front lines and insights from Great War experts. Be inspired by the stories from these soldiers who laid down their weapons in a time of war to share a moment of peace.
Christmas at the Front
Published January 5, 1915 in Carlisle Journal
Amid the welter of bloodshed, bitterness and hatred in to which Germany has plunged Europe, it is some slight consolation to read in the letters of British soldiers at the front accounts of the humanising influence of Christmas on the combatants in the trenches. The Germans in this campaign have shown such a contempt not merely for chivalry but even for the rules of war as understood by civilised races that it is refreshing to find that among the private soldiers at all events the better instincts have not been altogether crushed by the horrors that have been perpetrated. Many accounts have been published of the strange and unexpected fraternising which took place between the British and German armies on Christmas day and the following letter from an officer in a Highland regiment which is published in the Times may be quoted as a fairly typical description of the curious incident.
“You need not have pitied us on Christmas day; I have seldom spent a more entertaining one despite the curious conditions. We were in the trenches and the Germans began to make merry on Christmas Eve shouting at us to come out and meet them. They sang songs (very well); our men answered by singing “Who were you with last night?” and of course, “Tipperary” (very badly). I was horrified at discovering some of our men had actually gone out imbued more with the idea of seeing the German trenches than anything else; they met halfway and there ensued the giving of cigarettes and receiving of cigars and they arranged (the private soldiers of one army and the private soldiers of the other) a 48 hours armistice. It was all most irregular but the Peninsular and other wars will furnish many such exploits; eventually both sides were induced to their respective trenches but the enemy sang all night and during my watch they played Home Sweet Home and God Save the King at 2.30am. It was rather wonderful: the night was clear, cold and frosty and across to our lines at this unusually miserable hour of need came the sound of such tunes very well played, especially by a man with a cornet who is probably well known. Christmas day was very misty and out came these Germans to wish us “a happy day”; we went out told them we were at war with them and that really they must play the game and pretend to fight; they went back but again attempted to come towards us so we fired over their heads; they fired a shot back to show they understood and the rest of the day passed quietly in this part of the line, but in others a deal of fraternising went on. So there you are; all this talk of hate, all this firing at each other that has raged since the beginning of the war quelled and stayed by the magic of Christmas. Indeed one German said “But you are of the same religion as us and today is the day of peace! It is really a great triumph for the church. It is a great hope for future peace when two great nations hating each other as foes have seldom hated, one side vowing eternal hate and vengeance and setting their venom to music, should on Christmas day and for all that the word implies, lay down their arms, exchange smokes and wish each other happiness.
Another officer on recording this incident remarks that “the whole thing is extraordinary. The men were all so natural and friendly,” and he adds that he “was astonished at the easy way in which our men and theirs got on with each other.” If this interchanging of courtesies leads to a softening of the feeling of malignant hatred towards England in Germany everyone will rejoice. There can be no peace till the issue which Germany has raised is settled but there is no reason why the horrors of war should be aggravated by the adoption of these methods of barbarism that German hatred of England seems to have prompted.