World War I Christmas Miracle On the Western Front
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A Less Romanticized Version
- First World War
The practical reasons for the truce. - All Quiet on the Western Front - a Book Review
My review of the astounding book about the toll the First Wrold War took on German soldiers as well as USA troops. Devasting and haunting. - All Quiet on the Western Front- the Film
Film describes the terrors of World War I for the young soilders of the world.
All Quiet on the Western Front for Christmas 1914
In Christmas truce started by the Germans in WWI, firing stopped the entire Western Front and the Germans put out little Christmas trees. They sang "Stille nacht, heilige nach" (Silent night, holy night), while the British responded with "O Come all ye Faithful."
There is some speculation that the stories about a truce on Christmas Day between British and German troops in World War I is a fairy tale. However, Snopes.com and a blog called Christmas Spirit seem to have proof that the story is true. In addition, veterans of WWII remember their fathers and grandfathers talking about it. In addition, one of the participating veterans of the Christmas Truce of 1914 lived until 2005, still telling the story.
A letter about the truce was discovered a box of other writing materials and it is from a young man, a British private called "Boy" by his family, in the trenches of the Western Front in WWI. He experienced the Christmas Day Truce of 1914 and the letter is worth up to 1000 British pounds or more.
The truth appears to be that at the Western Front, opposing sides even had a soccer match in No Man's Land.
The closest event to approach this one is the showing off of North and South Korean troops on either side of the DMZ with their martial arts training. It's been going on for year but is just not the same. It is not in a good spirit, but highly competitive and threatening.
In 1914, a British private wrote five pages in pencil on notebook paper. To his mother he writes, "dear Mater...the Germans began placing ...lights all along the edge of their trenches and coming over to us - wishing us Happy Christmas....since about teatime yesterday, not a shot has been fired on either side up to now."
"They also gave us a few songs so we had quite a social party...Some of our chaps went over to their lines. I think they've all come back bar one from E Co. They no doubt kept him as a souvenir."
"After breakfast we had a game of football at the back of our trenches! We've 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. He was about 100 yds from our trench. A few of our fellows went out and helped to bury him...About 10.30 we had a short church parade, held in the trench. How we did sing. O come all ye faithful."
For dinner on Christmas day, the enemies ate together a meal of "fried bacon and dip-bread followed by hot Xmas pudding, then muscatels and almonds, oranges, bananas, chocolate, cocoa and smokes."
"...There must be something in the spirit of Christmas as today we are all on top of our trenches running about. Whereas other days we have to keep out heads well down...I had a parcel from B G's Lace Dept containing a sweater, smokes, under clothes etc. We also had a card from the Queen, which I am sending back to you to look after please..."
Veteran Alfred Anderson
Alfred Anderson, the last surviving World War I soldier to have witnessed the guns falling silent along 500 miles of the Western Front during the spontaneous "Christmas Truce" of the War to End all Wars, died at age 109 in 2005.
He was Scotland's oldest man.
Adrerson had been a member of the famous Scottish Black Watch regiment.
♣
Bronner's Silent Night Chapel and the story of the original chapel in Germany.
Alfred Anderson
Christmas Truce
The cross below was built as a memorial to the Christmas Truce of December 25, 1914 in Ypres, Belgium. The inscription reads:
1914
The Khaki Chum's Christmas Truce
1999
85 Years
Lest We Forget.
Christmas in the Trenches
WWI
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WW-I GEN. BILLY MITCHELL, FATHER- MODERN DAY AIR FORCE
Current Bid: $4.50
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1914 $10 WORLD WAR I ERA CURRENCY-- BRIGHT HIGH GRADE !
Current Bid: $149.95
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AMERICA AT WAR ~ 3 VOLUME BOXED SET,CIVIL WAR, WW I & 2
Current Bid: $9.95
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WW I German Pickelhaube Helmet
Current Bid: $462.85
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Original World War I Jacket, Jodphers & Long Wool Coat
Current Bid: $150.00
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The Christmas Truce
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Christmas Truce: The Western Front December 1914 (Pan Grand Strategy Series)
Price: $11.18
List Price: $14.99 |
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The Christmas Truce (History Channel)
Price: $4.78
List Price: $24.95 |
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Silent Night: The Story of the World War I Christmas Truce
Price: $5.66
List Price: $15.00 |
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Truce
Price: $12.66
List Price: $19.99 |
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Joyeux Noel (Widescreen)
Price: $7.19
List Price: $14.94 |
War News
- Sri Lanka Completes Return of War Refugees to Jaffna (Update1)Bloomberg7 hours ago
Nov. 27 (Bloomberg) -- Sri Lanka said it completed the return of Tamil civilians displaced in the war with Tamil Tiger rebels to the northern Jaffna district as part of plans to settle almost 122,000 people in camps by the end of January.
- Video: Holiday at WarCBS News8 hours ago
Many U.S. troops at war this Thanksgiving would give anything to be with their family, but there is still an important battle to fight. Mandy Clark has more on U.S. troops celebrating Thanksgiving at war.
- South Korea Admits Civilian Massacre During WarNew York Times20 hours ago
Authorities executed at least 4,900 civilians suspected of communist sympathies at the start of the Korean War.
- S. Korea admits civilian massacre in warUPI11 hours ago
SEOUL, Nov. 26 (UPI) -- South Korea should formally apologize for the massacre of thousands of civilians at the beginning of the Korean War, a commission said Thursday.
- Cold War-era manual reveals CIA 'magic'UPI13 hours ago
WASHINGTON, Nov. 26 (UPI) -- A Cold War-era CIA manual instructing agents in the arts of deception and stage-style trickery is headed for U.S. book shelves.
- South Korea Admits Civilian Massacre During WarNew York Times25 hours ago
Military and police executed at least 4,900 civilians in the opening months of the Korean War for fear that they were communist sympathizers.
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Comments
I had read bits and peices of the stories of this truce and thought it was WWII. when I read All Quiet on the Western Front when I heard about the WWI veteran of Scotland dying and looked into it more at the time.
Very good article Patty!
The horrors of War then and now are beyond my comprehension.
Great HUB
regards ZSuzsy
I recently re-read All Queit on the Western Front recetnly about WWI and reviewed it. It was a horrible war, I guess they are all horrible.
I cant understand wars, I can only associate wars with greed
Great hub good work
Thank you
Great hub. It is not so hard to believe that the human spirit, sometimes, overwhelm our sensibilities and prejudices until all is stripped away and the heart is laid bare.
Yes, as in the times of many of the Olympics when people are brought together. I am thankful there are Olympic games every two years now.
Thank you for this hub. Your breadth of knowledge and info continues to amaze me.
Thanks Peter. I had to learn speed reading in college to survive when I came up on my second quarter and one Lit. course alone had 14 books to read in 9 weeks. That was in addition to my anthopology course that had 5 or 6.
I read a lot I think.
Great Hub Patty.
Fascinating and surreal.
I guess truth really is stranger than fiction sometimes, huh?
As for wars only being for greed or power, that may be true at the outset but it doesn't mean they're not worth fighting. I think WWII is about as good an example of a war worth fighting as can be found in modern history.
-M.
Remember the Star Trek episode with Joan Collins in which we saw a world in which Hitler had not been stopped? Horrifying thought, that.
I feel like I'm a participant in a Vulcan mind meld!
(That's a true classic episode, btw - one of my favorites.)
YOu make me smile! :) I like the mind meld as well.
Thumbs Up!
Thank you Prince Maak! I will attempt to find a story from later wars as well. I have heard bits and pieces about celebrations in WWII ans Korea, and will ponder it for awhile. Thanks again, I'm glad to have done this Hub.
Great Hub, Patty. I remember hearing a couple of times while I was growing up, from family members or teachers who were children or young adults themselves during World War I, about a Christmas Truce during World War I. A year or so ago the film "Joyeux Noel" which was a story about the Christmas Truce involving German, French and Scots troops in one section of the front, came out on DVD. The movie claimed to be based upon an actual incident and was jointly produced by the German, French and Scots film boards.
On the Mises.org blog site there is an article by John V. Denson on 12/19/05 http://www.mises.org/story/1978in which he reviews the book "Silent Night: The Story of the World War I Christmas Truce" by Stanley Weintraub (I haven't read this book yet so my comments are based upon Denson's review) that is based upon diaries and letters sent home by soldiers involved in the truce on both sides. He also quotes from official government sources and reports which makes it difficult to dismiss the truce as a "fairy tale" as these governments would be the ones most interested in hiding the truth about the truce. Here is one quote from the book as reprinted in the review:
"'During a House of Commons debate on March 31, 1930, Sir H. Kinglsey Wood, a Cabinet Minister during the next war, and a Major 'In the front trenches' at Christmas 1914, recalled that he 'took part in what was well known at the time as a truce. We went over in front of the trenches and shook hands with many of our German enemies. A great number of people [now] think we did something that was degrading.' Refusing to presume that, he went on, 'The fact is that we did it, and I then came to the conclusion that I have held very firmly ever since, that if we had been left to ourselves there would never have been another shot fired. For a fortnight the truce went on. We were on the most friendly terms, and it was only the fact that we were being controlled by others that made it necessary for us to start trying to shoot one another again.' He blamed the resumption of the war on 'the grip of the political system which was bad, and I and others who were there at the time determined there and then never to rest. . . . Until we had seen whether we could change it.' But they could not. (p. 169–70)"
There is also an interview with the historian/author Weintraub in "National Review OnLine" http://www.nationalreview.com/weekend/history/hist in which Weintraub describes his motivations for the book and his research. In the interview he claims that he found letters in January 1915 local newspapers in Britain from soldiers at the front describing the recent truce (war time censorship rules apparently came later in the war) as well as detailed reports in the British archives from commanders at the front about the truce. Some of the reports even included the scores from the soccor games between the opposing sides.
While Weintraub speculates in his book about what the future would have been like if the truce had turned into real peace, in the interview he admits that too many European governments would have fallen (forced out either by street riots or new Parliamentary elections which the party in power would have lost) and as a result the politicians in power could not afford to allow the truce to last.
Again, an excellent Hub.
And a grand addition you have made, Chuck!
Would that such a truce always would last.
A sad thing is that there are still wars going on... a year later still not all the soldiers will be spending Christmas at home with their families....
It was a good hub last year and is still great this year.
regards Zsuzsy
When will humans outgrow war, do you think? In addition, the terrorist attacks in Mumbai yesterday left me speechless in wonderment.
Stacie Naczelnik says:
2 years ago
Interesting story. Thank you for sharing this.