The Christmas Truce of 1914 has entered into the lore of the Great War. While it is a great symbol of why the Western Front war should have been rethought rather than fought, the truce was not a universal thing.
The Government of His Britannic Majesty, George V, by the Grace of God, of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and of the British Dominions beyond the Seas, King, Defender of the Faith, Emperor of India, sent its might, the British Expeditionary Force (BEF), to the European mainland. By December 1914 on battlefields from France to Poland and the Balkans, hundreds of thousands of soldiers had already died. “Over by Christmas” they said, why do men say such things? It is needless chatter when the price was to be paid in young men’s lives.
Unlike the secular French Republic, the UK is officially a Christian state. Back then the Anglican Church remained strong in the hearts of the English and even those who were not members of the Church of England or especially devout retained a healthy reverence for the traditions and celebrations of the faith. Christmas was a holy day. In the West at least. In 1914, the Russian Empire was still on the Julian calendar, which was 13 days behind the Gregorian calendar, so there was no truce on the Eastern Front as for Germans it was December 25th, but for the warriors of the Tsar, it was only the 12th of December.
Likewise the soldiers of France had seen their territory overrun by the Kaiser’s swift advance, as Teutonic soldiers swept across the Belgian frontier to threaten France from the north. Beneath le Tricolore, few could rest easy, nor would they accept a pause.
Entendez-vous dans les campagnes
Mugir ces féroces soldats ?
Ils viennent jusque dans vos bras
Égorger vos fils, vos compagnes !Aux armes, citoyens,
Formez vos bataillons,
Marchons, marchons !
Qu'un sang impur
Abreuve nos sillons!1 (The French National Anthem)
So the truce that has captured the imagination was largely one of the British Empire and the forces of the German Realm. Junior British officers tended to be natural leaders, men of the old aristocracy and well-off commoners. They took the initiative, no commands came down from headquarters, the decision to “Live and Let Live” was the policy of the officers in the field. They gave out the word on Christmas Eve not to fire unless fired upon. The Germans took note along the front, and on the morning of Christmas Day, they showed themselves, waving at the British lines that were sometimes less than 100 yards away. The message was klar: “if you won’t, we won’t.”
The British-controlled area of the front was about 30 miles long and most of that line observed this completely unauthorized and unofficial truce with the Germans. A foreign soldier serving in the 16th Bavarian Reserve Infantry Regiment complained that his comrades had no German honor because they greeted the British as Christian soldiers instead of shooting them dead, his name was Adolf Hitler. No one listened to him, if only that remained true forever after.
They continued their soldierly camaraderie with an enemy who also understood both duty and honor. They played soccer, exchanged gifts, and joined one another in burying their dead and honoring their fellows who did not make it to Christmas. Some kept the truce going until Boxing Day, December 26, others went back to fighting, and some also kept the truce going until New Year’s. If the soldiers could pause for Christmas, why could not the politicians and crowned heads? At this point it was clear that the war had not gone the way any of them had predicted. Boxing Day originated as a day when servants, tradespeople, and the poor received gifts from the wealthy, and one theory is that the name came from the boxes the gifts were placed in. In 1914 too many of the elite, in their pride, gave their working class soldiers the gift of man-sized boxes into which they could repose their mortal remains. But on Christmas, officers led their men in a celebration of the birth of the Prince of Peace. Their leaders should have heeded the message.
Love this Albert speak volumes of how fat mankind have fallen..Interesting note just how wars were fallen during Christmas day. ..Merry Christmas