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This December marks the 100th anniversary of the famous 1914 Christmas truce, when British, French and German troops disobeyed orders and met in no man’s land to exchange gifts and other gestures of seasonal good will.  

 

By the Christmas of 1914, both sides were faced with the horrific realities of trench warfare and the resulting stalemate meant that the exhausted troops were often stationed within shouting distance of the enemy.  There had been several attempts at peace initiatives in the run up to the festive season. A group of 101 suffragettes had written and signed an open Christmas Letter addressed "To the Women of Germany and Austria", while Pope Benedict XV had begged the warring governments to allow an official ceasefire so "that the guns may fall silent at least upon the night the angels sang."

 

All calls for an end to the killing fell on death ears and hundreds of thousands of men were ordered to spend Christmas day fighting to the death over a patch of mud.  Despite the bloody-mindedness of Generals and politicians alike, it appears that the men in the trenches were not willing to completely abandon the Christmas Spirit that year. At various points across allied and German lines, soldiers of both sides ignored orders and established their own unofficial truces.

 

On Saturday 2nd January 1915, a letter was printed in the Liverpool Echo in which a British soldier, writing to his friend, described his experience of Christmas Day on the Western Front. 

 

The letter was written by acting Corporal Frank Edwards, a thirty year old Policeman from Birkenhead serving with the 3rd Rifle Brigade. This is what he wrote;

 

“Our Trenches are about 350 yards from those of the enemy, and last night we were exchanging greetings with each other by shouting over. The outcome of it was that they agreed not to fire today if we did not. You may rest assured that we promised not to do so.

 

After a time some of our fellows shouted to tell them that if they would come halfway unarmed we would meet them and have a chat. A couple of our fellows left the trenches unarmed, and, sure enough, a couple of Germans came to meet them. 

 

After a time several more of us went, myself included, and had a bit of a chat and  afterwards smoked side by side and buried dead Germans who had been lying there for fully two months.

 

You may guess that was by no means a pleasant job. However, we were on the best of terms with the Germans, and for the greater part of the day cigars, cigarettes and chocolate were freely exchanged between friend and foe.

 

One fellow had two cigars, one of which I accepted, although practically a non-smoker, and we had a smoke together. We were standing about in groups, chatting away as though we were the best of comrades. There must have been fifty of each side strolling about there. 

 

At 3 p.m. a German officer called his men in. The fellow I had the cigar off said as they parted: “To-day (Christmas Day) nice; to-morrow, shot.” As he left me he held out his hand, which I accepted, and said; “Farewell, comrade.” With that we parted, and in all probability in the course of a day or so we shall be doing our utmost to kill each other. 

 

I know this sounds like a fairy tale, but I assure you it is perfectly true. If I had not participated in it I should feel rather inclined to disbelieve it myself, as I have witnessed some very treacherous acts on the part of the Germans, but I think this will go to prove that there are honourable Germans.“

 

You can read the full article which contains other eye witness accounts of the Christmas truce here: http://www.genesreunited.co.uk/searchbna/viewrecord/bl/0000271/19150102/022/0003 Explore our collection of historic British Newspapers to see if you can find out how your ancestors may have celebrated Christmas.

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by Eric on 7 Dec 2014 08:26 : Report Abuse
Hard to believe in view of what followed in the 2 wars. :-0
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by Patrick on 7 Dec 2014 13:43 : Report Abuse
What would have happened if all the soldiers on all sides simply refuse to fight at all; not just at this historic time, but at any time?Would the Generals and politicians have gone out and fought?I think not. :-|
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by Valerie on 7 Dec 2014 19:12 : Report Abuse
Why do we have sons for someone to send them away to be butchered?
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by Michael on 7 Dec 2014 21:37 : Report Abuse
I wonder if any of those soldiers involved, actually survived the war?
It's a shame the truce didn't last longer, then perhaps my Grandfather would not have been gassed in Ypres, to die there in May 1915, whilst serving with the Canadians.
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by Kathleen on 8 Dec 2014 00:03 : Report Abuse
Very heartwarming to read this but what a tragedy afterwards.
Perhaps if it had been left to the men on both sides who could see the futility of the war it might have ended sooner.
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by Peter on 8 Dec 2014 10:39 : Report Abuse
Try reading this description of the Christmas truce as experienced by Henry Williamson:
http://www.henrywilliamson.co.uk/biography/firstworldwar/57-uncategorised/158-henry-williamson-and-the-christmas-truce
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by June Mary on 11 Dec 2014 21:23 : Report Abuse
It shows that neither our British soldiers or German soldiers didn't want to fight a war, They were pushed iinto it.. even so it must have been hard for them to show friendship with each other,, but Football and Christmas won the day.