This is a true story culled from AbeBook.com and ‘Silent Night: The Story of the World War I Christmas Truce’ by Stanley Weintraub which I wish to share with folks at Christmas. It is one fascinating Christmas’ stories nonetheless rarely told. It took place in the trenches of World War I and it still stands as the only time in history that peace spontaneously arose from the lower ranks in a major conflict, bubbling up to the officers and temporarily turning sworn enemies into friends. It was a day in 1914 that the passion for Christmas overcame political prejudices to celebrate the day Christ was born. This is one of the accounts on that day:
“During World War I, in the winter of 1914, on the battlefields of Flanders, one of the most unusual events in all of human history took place. The Germans had been in a fierce battle with the British and French. Both sides were dug in, safe in muddy, man-made trenches six to eight feet deep that seemed to stretch forever.
All of a sudden, German troops began to put small Christmas trees, lit with candles, outside of their trenches. Then, they began to sing Christmas carols and though their language was unfamiliar to their enemies, the tunes were not. After a few trees were shot at, the British became more curious than aggressive and crawled forward to watch and listen. And after a while, they began to sing.
A spontaneous truce resulted. Soldiers left their trenches, meeting in the middle to shake hands. The first order of business was to bury the dead who had been previously unreachable because of the conflict. Then, they exchanged gifts. Chocolate cake, cognac, postcards, newspapers, tobacco. In a few places, along the trenches, soldiers exchanged rifles for soccer balls and began to play games.
Despite the constant machine gun fire and artillery bombardments of the western front, and even though in some places front-line troops were a mere 60 yards away from the enemy's lines, soldiers on both sides received gift boxes containing food and tobacco prepared by their governments that Christmas. The Germans, who had a direct land link to their home country also managed to send small Christmas trees and candles to troops at the front. And, notwithstanding the fact that a Christmas cease-fire proposed by Pope Benedict XV had already been rejected by both sides as ‘impossible,’ on Christmas Eve the ‘law of unanticipated consequences went to work'.
By Christmas morning, the ‘no man's land’ between the trenches was filled with fraternizing soldiers, sharing rations and gifts, singing and (more solemnly) burying their dead between the lines. Soon they were even playing soccer, mostly with improvised balls.
According to the official war diary of the 133rd Saxon Regiment, ‘Tommy and Fritz’ kicked about a real football supplied by a Scot. ‘This developed into a regulation football match with caps casually laid out as goals. The frozen ground was not an issue and the game ended 3-2 for Fritz.’ It is also reported that the troops did not engage in major hostilities till they were relieved in Jan the following year’’.
Having served with United Nations and ECOWAS Monitoring Group as a peacekeeper, such a spontaneous truce (ceasefire) is amazing and I hope the commemoration of the Birth of Christ will bring families, friends, nations as well as enemies together. I hope we experience joy and peace during this season as we share the love of Christ which was poured across the heart of men. Let us use this occasion to exchange pleasantries, gifts and good tidings.
Merry Christmas and a prosperous New Year.
Major (retired) Peter Sosi
(peter_sosi@yahoo.co.uk)
