Do you know the story of the Christmas Truce during World War I? It was a difficult time. Yet, amidst so many hardships, privations, and death, opponents agreed to meet peacefully on this sacred night. Germans and allies took time to rejoice together on this holy day.
In what was commonly known as the ‘Live and Let Live’ system, in quiet sectors of the front line, brief pauses in the hostilities were sometimes tacitly agreed, allowing both sides to repair their trenches or gather their dead.
Timeline Of Events
Late on Christmas Eve 1914, British Expeditionary Force (BEF) soldiers heard German troops in the trenches opposite them singing carols and patriotic songs. They saw lanterns and candles in small fir trees along their trenches. Messages began to be shouted between the trenches.
The following day, Christmas Day, British and German soldiers met in no man’s land and exchanged gifts. Some items traded were tobacco, chocolate, schnapps, and ribbons. They took photographs, and some played impromptu football games. They also took the time to bury casualties and repair trenches and dugouts. After December 26, meetings in no man’s land dwindled.
On December 25, 1914, Captain Robert Hamilton, a lieutenant with the Royal Warwickshire Regiment, made this entry into his diary: “A day unique in the world’s history. I met the [German] officer and we arranged a local armistice for 48 hours. As far as I can gather, this effort of ours extended itself throughout the whole line. Soldiers on both sides met [by the] hundreds and exchanged greetings and gifts.”
Was It Celebrated Everywhere?
The truce was not observed everywhere along the Western Front. Fighting continued elsewhere, and casualties occurred on Christmas Day. Some officers were unhappy with the truce and worried that it would undermine the fighting spirit and the winning attitude. Because of this peaceful meeting, the High Commands on both sides tried to prevent any truces on a similar scale from happening again. Nonetheless, there were isolated incidents of soldiers holding brief truces later in the war, not only at Christmas.
The temporary truce occurred at Ploegsteert Wood on the Western Front, near Flanders.
