Christmas, German Front, 1914. It was a horrific moment in Europe’s history. War had recently been declared on Germany by Great Britain, France and Russia, wet winter weather had set in and mud-covered soldiers shivered on the front lines – living, fighting and dying in the trenches.

Trench and tunnel combat were brand new war tactics, and snipers operated the latest, deadly technology – machine guns. Instead of charging at one another from a great distance, warring parties were living meters apart, with a stretch of ‘No Man’s Land’ between them, in some places only 60m wide. It was unprecedented warfare.

Living at close quarters meant opposing troops could hear each other across No Man’s Land – singing, telling jokes and even making breakfast. For the first time ever soldiers at war experienced a human side to the enemy.

These circumstances were forerunners to the remarkable events that took place during that Christmas/New Year period where acts of goodwill transcended the demands by superiors to fight.

One of the diggers, Leslie Walkington, reflected later, “We hated their guts when they killed any of our friends; then we really did dislike them intensely. But otherwise we joked about them and I think they joked about us. And we thought, well, poor so-and-sos, they’re in the same kind of muck as we are.”*

Come Christmas Eve an unauthorized truce was negotiated in several locations – ‘We won’t fire if you don’t fire’. The truce lasted until midnight on Christmas Eve in some places, or until Christmas Day in others. In a few locations the truce lasted until New Year’s Day. The stated reason was to allow time to bury the dead, and for impromptu funeral services to be held. In some places the services took place in both German and English as both sides joined to honour their fallen comrades.

This led to men becoming more bold about communicating with one another. To begin with it was a risky and delicate exercise, as individuals from each side met in No Man’s Land. Eventually larger numbers ventured beyond the trenches. Corporal John Fergusson recalled what happened, “In some parts of the [front] line, representatives of each side would meet in the middle, in No Man’s Land. We shook hands, wished each other a Merry Christmas, and were soon conversing as if we had known each other for years . . .

“What a sight – little groups of Germans and British extending almost the length of our front! Out of the darkness we could hear laughter and see lighted matches, a German lighting a Scotchman’s cigarette and vice versa, exchanging cigarettes and souvenirs. Where they couldn’t talk the language they were making themselves understood by signs, and everyone seemed to be getting on nicely. Here we were laughing and chatting to men whom only a few hours before we were trying to kill!”**

To everyone’s amazement things soon progressed to the singing of multi-language Christmas carols and the soldiers gathering in No Man’s Land to play friendly games of soccer!

All along the German front, this activity recurred, taking place in different ways in different locations. Watch this video to see how it occurred in another place.

Christmas, German front, 1914. A moment in history when allegiances were put on hold, lives were valued, and Christmas cheer and goodwill overtook the battle for dominance.

What will Christmas 2011 hold for you? Perhaps this could be a moment when you too can allow your allegiances to relax, to value the lives of those around you more, and let Christmas cheer and goodwill to take on a new dimension. Yes, it would be risky. But no more risky than for those men on the German front in December 1914.

*Leslie Walkinton as quoted in Brown, Christmas Truce p23.
**Corporal John Ferguson as quoted in Brown, Christmas Truce p71.

Bibliography: Brown, Malcolm and Shirley Seaton. Christmas Truce. New York: Hippocrene Books, 1984.

Joyeux Noel (2005) is a French language feature film with English subtitles dramatising this remarkable story.  It makes a great DVD for Christmas viewing if you get the chance!