December 25, 1914

One hundred years ago today World War I had been raging for almost five months. Already hundreds of thousands had been killed and over a million wounded. Even in the cold of winter the war was still very active. But in late December there was a lull in the fighting along a stretch of the Western Front in Belgium. With no major actions taking place here, exhausted Allied (mostly British) and German soldiers faces off in their trenches, in places no more than a hundred yards apart from each other. It was along this portion of the Front that something happened that no one would have expected.

The events that transpired seem so near unbelievable that it could easily be dismissed as a myth.  But letter after letter and journal entry after journal entry tell the same story (or versions of it, as similar events happened in many different places).

It began on Christmas Eve. In the hopes of boosting the morale of their troops France, Great Britain and Germany issued special Christmas packages to all their soldiers on the Front. They contained extra food, tobacco and alcohol, along with things not normally issued. Soldiers opened small packages with candies and desserts, paper and pencils for letters home, and other small trinkets. The care packages worked and spirits were high, and as the sky darkened on that Christmas Eve British observers noted unusual activity in the German lines. Popping up along the parapets the German soldiers mounted small sprigs of evergreen trees adorn with lit candles. Soon after singing could be heard coming from the German trenches. The British soldier’s interests were peaked and listened intently. The German singing continued into the night until the British heard these words as the Germans began a new song: “Stille nacht, heilige nacht.” The words were unfamiliar to most of the British but the melody was not, “Silent night, holy night.” In a purely spontaneous action some of the British soldiers joined in the singing and by the end of the song both the German and British trenches were singing in full force. Ending together with “Jesus der Retter ist Da!”  and “Christ the Savior is here!” Throughout the night the old Christmas hymns were sung as the tunes were known to both sides.

When the sun started to rise on Christmas day the men in both trenches went about their daily chores but other than occasional the distant fire of artillery no shots were heard. Suddenly, a German soldier started shouting: “English! English! Don’t shoot! Don’t shoot!” and two hands went up above the German parapet. Then a man crawled out. He picked up one of the sprigs of pine adorn with lit candles and started walking to the British trench. Soon a few more Germans climbed from the trench and followed suit. As the pack of Germans crossed No-mans-land, the wary British troops manned the firing line. The approaching Germans shouted again “Don’t shoot!”  Suddenly a British soldier set down his rifle and climbed out of the trench, then another and another. They approached the Germans and came face to face with them. They exchanged “Merry Christmas” and “Frohe Weihnachten,” shook hands and the Germans gave their impromptu Christmas trees to the British. More and more men from both sides started to join the growing throng in the middle of the battlefield. Eventually the commanding officers from both sides met and mutual agreed to a truce for Christmas day. For the remainder of the day no shots were fired and Germans and British passed freely across the battlefield to one another trenches. The men gave gifts to each other from their Christmas care packages. Throughout the day the men from both armies shared stories, joked and showed off pictures of family. There are multiple accounts that various locations parts of the battlefield was cleared and the men played soccer. In some locations along the Front it was more solemn. Where fighting was heavy weeks before No-man's-land was littered with bodies preserved by the winter cold and the soldiers from both sides joined to bury their fallen comrades. Other accounts note that Catholic army chaplains held Christmas mass (which was universally done in Latin at that time) for the soldiers, and the Catholics from both nations took communion. As the day waned and the sun set, men shook hands and parted with a final “Merry Christmas” and “Frohe Weihnachten” and returned to their trenches.

What happened the next day varied from place to place. In some places fighting resumed the next day as usual. But in a few places the fraternization continued unabated until New Year’s day. Reports on both sides note the fighting was halfhearted in most place following the Christmas truce with warning shots being fired more often than shooting to harm. Fighting would not truly resume along this part of the Front until one, or both, of the units stationed at the front during Christmas were rotated off the frontline.

As word of what happened trickled back to the high command of the opposing armies the leadership was mortified and many of the units that participated were broken up and reorganized into other units.

Only the British even officially acknowledge that the Christmas truce even occurred, though the scale was played down. The French, Belgian and German governments denied it even happened, even many years after the war. But the evidence is overwhelming that these events did occur, both in official and personal records. Though the majority of the soldiers involved were British and German, many French and Belgians also observed the truce, though often in a less spectacular fashion.  In some places the fraternization was limited to singing together and on Christmas day signs were put up written in the broken language of their enemies which read something like “You no shoot, we no shoot, Merry Christmas.” All told over 100,000 soldiers participated in the cease fire.

There was very little later punishment for the fraternization during Christmas, mostly because to do so would be to official acknowledge that it occurred and it was the strategy of the high command of the nations involved to dismiss the events and claim it was all rumors and hearsay. 

As for why this happened it is hard to say. Just as it is hard to say why things were able to go back to the way they were so quickly. But that Christmas day something reached across national boundaries. It even went beyond a religious commonality. Companies of Indian Hindu soldiers fighting for the British joined in the day’s events, as did the German Jews who at this time made up a notable portion of the German population.  British, French, German, Canadian, Australian, Indian and Belgian soldiers laid down their weapons for a time and were linked by their common humanity. In a world choked by war when everything went dark, on Christmas day a small shaft of light shown though and there was a moment of peace, one hundred years ago today.