Jim Bradshaw: A silent night over no man's land

The wire services reported the sorry news on Dec. 19, 1914. Pope Benedict I had worked for a Christmas truce to at least interrupt fighting during World War I, but unsuccessfully.

“The efforts of the pontiff unfortunately failed, owing to the opposition of a certain power,” according to the report. Germany agreed to the truce but “Russia has declined.”

But then something amazing happened. Ordinary soldiers took things into their own hands.

On Christmas Eve, German and British soldiers quit shooting at each other and began singing carols across the lines.

The idea may have started when some Germans sent a chocolate cake to the British facing them, along with a note proposing a cease-fire and a concert.

Some accounts say the truce began when one soldier simply took it upon himself to declare it.

According to a letter written on Christmas day by British Gen. Walter Congreve, the day dawned amid “sharp frost and fog.”

But as the mist rose, so also began “an extraordinary state of affairs. … A German shouted out that they wanted a day’s truce,” and asked if a British soldier would come out if he did. “Very cautiously,” the general wrote, “one of our men lifted himself above the parapet and saw a German doing the same.”

Other German soldiers began to climb out of their trenches, calling out “Merry Christmas,” and to walk across the no-man’s-land — in some places no more than 30 yards wide — that separated the two sides.

Wary British soldiers thought at first that it was a trick, but when they saw that the Germans were carrying no weapons, they also put down their rifles and walked across to exchange cigarettes, share plum pudding, take photos together, sing carols and even to start an impromptu soccer match.

By mid-morning the festive spirit had spread along the entire 27-mile length of the British line.

British soldier Frank Richards wrote home: “On Christmas morning we stuck up a board with ‘A Merry Christmas’ on it. The enemy had stuck up a similar one. Platoons would sometimes [leave the trenches] for twenty-four hours’ rest … and my platoon had gone out … the night before, but a few of us stayed behind to see what would happen. Two of our men then threw their equipment off and jumped on the parapet with their hands above their heads. Two of the Germans done the same and commenced to walk up the river bank, our two men going to meet them. They met and shook hands and then we all got out of the trench.

“The German Company-Commander asked [the British commander] if he would accept a couple of barrels of beer and assured him that they would not make his men drunk,” Richards continued. “He accepted the offer … and a couple of their men rolled the barrels over and we took them into our trench. The German officer sent one of his men back to the trench, who appeared shortly after carrying a tray with bottles and glasses on it. Officers of both sides clinked glasses and drunk one another’s health.

“The two barrels of beer were drunk, and the German officer was right: if it was possible for a man to have drunk the two barrels himself he would have bursted before he had got drunk. French beer was rotten stuff.”

In some places, the truce lasted into the new year, but in most places the guns were silent only for a day. The general described how one day the enemies had been “shooting away” at each other, the next day playing soccer, then the next day “shooting each other” again.

The Christmas Truce of 1914 came only five months after the outbreak of war; atrocities such as the use of poison gas had not yet been heard of.

Some historians say such a cease-fire could not have happened later, that it was one of the last examples of chivalry between enemies in warfare.

Some others say the whole affair has been overly romanticized over the years.

But Christmas 1914 was unforgettable to men like Richards who were involved. One soldier wrote, “It will be a Christmastime to live in our memory.” Another said “the recollection of it will ever be one of imperishable beauty.”

The soldier who got it closest to right said: “All this talk of hate, all this fury at each other that has raged since the beginning of the war … was quelled … by the magic of Christmas.”

You can contact Jim Bradshaw at jimbradshaw4321@gmail.com or P.O. Box 1121, Washington LA 70589.