IF ONLY FOR A DAY: THE CHRISTMAS TRUCE OF 1914 (Dedicated to all soldiers on war fronts all over the world)

 

IF ONLY FOR A DAY

THE CHRISTMAS TRUCE OF 1914

(Inspired by a short video titled “Christmas Inspiration”

DEDICATED TO ALL SOLDIERS ON WAR FRONTS ALL OVER THE WORLD

Christmas Truce was an unofficial and impromptu cease-fire that occurred along the Western Front during World War I. The pause in fighting was not universally observed. Neither was it sanctioned by commanders on either side, but, along some two-thirds of the 48 km front controlled by the British Expeditionary Force, the guns fell silent for a short time.

Just after midnight on Christmas morning, the majority of German troops engaged in World War I in the region of Ypres, Belgium ceased firing their guns and artillery and commenced to sing Christmas carols, including ‘Stille Nacht’ (‘Silent Night’). At certain points along the eastern and western fronts, the soldiers of Russia, France, and Britain even heard brass bands joining the Germans in their joyous singing.

At the first light of dawn, many of the German soldiers emerged from their trenches and approached the Allied lines across no-man's-land, calling out "Merry Christmas" in their enemies' native tongues.

At first, the Allied soldiers feared it was a trick, but seeing the Germans unarmed they climbed out of their trenches and shook hands with the enemy soldiers.

The truce occurred five months after hostilities had begun. Lulls occurred in the fighting as armies ran out of men and munitions and commanders reconsidered their strategies following the stalemate of the Race to the Sea and the indecisive result of the First Battle of Ypres. 

In the week leading up to 25 December, French, German and British soldiers crossed trenches to exchange seasonal greetings and talk. In some areas, men from both sides ventured into no man's land on Christmas Eve and Christmas Day to mingle and exchange food and souvenirs. There were joint burial ceremonies and prisoner swaps, while several meetings ended in carolling. Men played games of football with one another, creating one of the most memorable images of the truce.

The countries of Europe went to war in the summer of 1914 with enthusiasm and the belief that the conflict would be over by Christmas of that year. Within only a few months, however, hundreds of thousands of soldiers had been killed in heavy fighting. The German advance had been checked at the Marne, and the “Race to the Sea” between Germany and the Allies had played out at Ypres.

During the first eight weeks of World War I, French and British troops stopped the German attack through Belgium into France outside Paris at the First Battle of the Marne in early September 1914. The Germans fell back to the Aisne valley, where they dug in. In the First Battle of the Aisne, the Franco–British attacks were repulsed and both sides began digging trenches to economise on manpower and use the surplus to outflank, to the north, their opponents.

In the Race to the Sea, the two sides made reciprocal outflanking manoeuvres and after several weeks, during which the British forces were withdrawn from the Aisne and sent north to Flanders, both sides ran out of room. By November, armies had built continuous lines of trenches running from the North Sea to the Swiss frontier.

The result was a bloody stalemate, with a front that stretched from the Swiss border to the North Sea.

The soldiers looked around and all they saw were corpses of their friends and colleagues.

By December 1914 the reality of trench warfare had settled in, and weeks of heavy rain had turned both the trenches and the No Man’s Land that separated them into a cold, muddy morass. For those on the Western Front, daily life was miserable, but it was a misery that was shared by enemies who were, in some places, separated by less than fifty meters.

Before Christmas 1914, there were several peace initiatives. The Open Christmas Letter was a public message for peace addressed "To the Women of Germany and Austria", signed by a group of 101 British women's suffragettes at the end of 1914.

Pope Benedict XV, on 7 December 1914, had begged for an official truce between the warring governments. He asked "that the guns may fall silent at least upon the night the angels sang", which was refused by both sides.

Roughly 100,000 British and German troops were involved in the informal cessations of hostility along the Western Front.  The Germans placed candles on their trenches and on Christmas trees, then continued the celebration by singing Christmas carols. The British responded by singing carols of their own.

The two sides continued by shouting Christmas greetings to each other. Soon thereafter, there were excursions across No Man's Land, where small gifts were exchanged, such as food, tobacco, alcohol, and souvenirs such as buttons and hats. The artillery in the region fell silent. The truce also allowed a breathing spell where recently killed soldiers could be brought back behind their lines by burial parties. Joint services were held.

In many sectors, the truce lasted through Christmas night, continuing until New Year's Day in others.

On Christmas Day, Brigadier-General Walter Congreve, commander of the 18th Infantry Brigade, stationed near Neuve Chapelle, wrote a letter recalling that the Germans declared a truce for the day. One of his men bravely lifted his head above the parapet and others from both sides walked onto no man's land.

Officers and men shook hands and exchanged cigarettes and cigars; one of his captains "smoked a cigar with the best shot in the German army", the latter no more than 18 years old. Congreve admitted he was reluctant to witness the truce for fear of German snipers.

So the soldiers on both sides abandoned their trenches and walked to “No Man’s Land” and for as long as the truce lasted forgot their deadly differences.

The high commands on both sides ordered an end to the truce when they heard of it. George Ashurst described how unpopular this made them. We got orders come down the trench, 'Get back in your trenches every man,' by word of mouth down each trench; 'Everybody back in your trenches,' shouting.

In the days following Christmas, violence returned to the Western Front, although the truce persisted until after New Year's Day in some areas.

The following year, a few units arranged ceasefires but the truces were not nearly as widespread as in 1914. This was, in part, due to strongly worded orders from commanders, prohibiting truces.

Soldiers were no longer amenable to truce by 1916. The war had become increasingly bitter after the human losses suffered during the battles of 1915.

As you celebrate Christmas 109 years after the Christmas Truce of 1914 it is a time to make friends with people you had treated with disdain all year long.

This life is too short to keep fighting against each other. This life is too short to be holding grudges.

Let’s pull down all our differences, all the anger, all the bitterness and all the un-forgiveness.

We might have a whole lot off differences. You may be a Moslem or a Christian. You may even be Black, White or Coloured.

Be you African, American or even Asian. Are you rich or poor or middle class?

When we fight it is humanity that suffers.

Let us work and live together like brothers and sisters.

No matter the situation, let’s stop pulling each other down but always push each other up.

Let us stop competing with each other and start completing each other.

Together we stand and divided we fall.

MERRY CHRISTMAS 

AND HAPPY NEW YEAR