The Christmas Truce of December 1914

Following the outbreak of World War I in 1914, most people thought it would be settled by Christmas. Devoted young men were anxious to enlist in the army as soon as possible as they feared they would miss out on the fighting. Suffice to say, history has confirmed that their positive outlook was misdirected as the war would not finish right up until 1918. The German advance was halted at the First Battle of Marne and the race for the sea started out as the Allies and Germans both dug in. It was the beginning of the trench warfare of the Western Front.

The end result was lines of trenches running from the North Sea to Switzerland along a 440 mile front. The battle lines moved very little as a battle of attrition broke out. Original trenches were not well built and were prone to cave in. Even by trench warfare standards, 1914 was pretty horrendous. As winter approached, the soldiers on the front line knew that the war would not be all over by Xmas after all.

The Western Front ran through both Belgium and France with infantry from France, Belgium and United Kingdom manning a range of areas. In some positions, the German trenches were no more than 30 yards away. Being in such close proximity allowed the soldiers to call to their opponents or even display signs. On the German belt buckles was the inscription “Gott Mitt Uns” (God is with us). The British reply was “We’ve got mittens too”. Some of the verbal exchanges were a bit more black humour. A volley of shots would bring the response “Missed” or “Right a bit”.

Nonetheless, it was these exchanges that laid the foundations of a few extraordinary moments across the Western Front on 24th December 1914. The Germans celebrate Christmas on the 24th as opposed to UK and France who celebrate on the 25th). The weather had improved and on the 24th, the voices from the German trenches were completely different. They began singing carols and set Christmas Trees on their trenches. Troops began calling to each other and inevitably, some embarked into no mans land where they spoke and swapped cigarettes, food and souvenirs. Stories of the truce may differ greatly as there were actually quite a few truces up and down the lines. They were predominantly in the sectors manned by the British as the Germans were occupying Belgium and French land so the Christmas spirit was less in evidence amongst these troops.

The Christmas Truce of 1914 was unofficial but as many as 100,000 infantry were thought to have been involved. As well as fraternisation, the chance was also taken to recover and bury the fallen. One of the most well-known parts of the truce was the football match between the British and Germans. There are any number of inconsistant stories concerning the game with a variety finals scores. This would suggest there were various games at several locations.

The length of time the truce lasted also varied but in general, it was over on Xmas Day. In most cases, the war started again by mutual understanding. In one case, on the morning of the 26th December 1914, Captain Stockwell of the Royal Welsh Fusiliers fired into the air and stood above the parapet. His counterpart in the German trench also stood up, they saluted and stepped down. Captain Stockwell heard the German fire a couple of shots into the air and World War I started again. Nonetheless, the Xmas Truce was very much against the wishes of British commanders and in the subsequent years, artillery barrages were ordered for Xmas Eve.

In 2008, a plaque to the Xmas Truce on the Western Front was unveiled at the village on Frelinghen and was the first memorial to the incidents of Christmas 1914. The legacy the truce left behind is substantial with a multitude of books being published and it was also the inspiration for a number of songs.

In World War One, fighting on the Western Front was horrific yet in spite of this, British and German soldiers still found time to be human for a short time in December 1914.

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