5 minute read
Christmas in the Trenches
Fototeca Storica Nazionale. / Getty Images
From September 6-12, 1914, just one month into World War I, the First Battle of the Marne took place just 30 miles northeast of Paris in the Marne River Valley of France. Following the Schlieffen Plan, the Germans had been moving swiftly toward Paris when the French staged a surprise attack that began the First Battle of the Marne. The French, with the aid of some British troops, successfully halted the German advance and both sides dug in.
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The resulting trenches became the first of many that characterized the rest of World War I. Because of their loss at the Battle of the Marne, the Germans, now stuck in muddy, bloody trenches, were not able to eliminate the second front of World War I; thus, the war was to last years rather than months.
By December 1914, World War I had been raging for only four months and it was already proving to be one of the bloodiest wars in history. Soldiers on both sides were trapped in trenches, exposed to the cold and wet winter weather, covered in mud, and extremely careful of sniper shots. Machines guns had proven their worth in war, bringing new meaning to the word "slaughter."
The trenches of both sides were only a few hundred feet apart, buffered by a relatively flat area known as "No Man's Land." The stalemate had halted all but a scattered number of small attacks; thus, soldiers on each side spent a large amount of time dealing with the mud, keeping their heads down in order to avoid sniper fire, and watching carefully for any surprise enemy raids on their trench.
In a place where bloodshed was nearly commonplace, and mud and the enemy were fought with equal vigor, something surprising occurred on the front for Christmas in 1914.
German soldiers of the 11th Reserve Hussar Regiment fighting from a trench, on the Western Front, WW1.
A Christmas Truce
On Christmas Eve 1914 and again on Christmas, and in no way officially sanctified nor organized, representatives of each side would meet in the middle, in No Man's Land. They shook hands, wished each other a Merry Christmas, and were soon conversing as if they had known each other for years.
They were in front of their wire entanglements and surrounded by Germans - “Fritz and I in the center talking, and Fritz occasionally translating to his friends what I was saying. We stood inside the circle like street corner orators.”
Soon most of our company ('A' Company), hearing that I and some others had gone out, followed us . . .
What a sight - little groups of Germans and British extending almost the length of our front! Out of the darkness we could hear laughter and see lighted matches, a German lighting a Scotchman's cigarette and vice versa, exchanging cigarettes and souvenirs.
Where they couldn't talk the language, they were making themselves understood by signs, and everyone seemed to be getting on nicely. Here we were laughing and chatting to men whom only a few hours before we were trying to kill!
Some of those who went out to meet the enemy in the middle of No Man's Land on Christmas Eve or on Christmas Day negotiated a truce: we won't fire if you won't fire.
Many soldiers enjoyed meeting the unseen enemy and were surprised to discover that they were more alike than he had thought. They talked, shared pictures, exchanged items such as buttons for food stuffs.
An extreme example of the fraternization was a soccer game played in the middle of No Man's Land between the Bedfordshire Regiment and the Germans.
A member of the Bedfordshire Regiment produced a ball and the large group of soldiers played until the ball was deflated when it hit a barbed wire entanglement.
This strange and unofficial truce lasted for several days, much to the dismay of the commanding officers. This amazing showing of Christmas cheer was never
British and German soldiers meeting in No Man's Land during the Christmas Truce of 1914. Picture courtesy the National Army Museum.
British and German soldiers meeting in No Man's Land during the Christmas Truce of 1914. Picture courtesy the National Army Museum.
Ending the Truce
The historic cease fire which saw men from both sides emerge from their trenches to exchange seasonal greetings and play games of football is one of the most enduring images of the First World War.
But while the remarkable gesture of goodwill spread to many parts along the Western Front, the friendly festivities stopped half-a-mile short of the Rue De Bois near the French village of Festubert.
No Fraternizing with the Enemy
General Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien – commander of British 2nd Army Corps Expeditionary Force – issued strict warnings to his senior officers about preventing fraternization with enemy soldiers.
The men who lay shivering in the trenches embraced the Christmas spirit. In one of the truest acts of goodwill toward men, soldiers from both sides in the southern portion of the Ypres Salient would sing Christmas carols in unison across the battlefield and often talk to each other about home and places they had all been to.
There, the peace of Christmas morning was shattered by the piercing, solitary shot of a sniper's rifle fired from a German trench. Private Percy Huggins, who was on sentry duty at a forward listening post just 20 yards from the enemy, was killed with a single bullet to the head.
News of the 23-year-old soldier's death enraged his comrades of D company Hertfordshire regiment, especially his platoon Sergeant Tom Gregory.
The experienced soldier demanded he take Pte Huggins' place so he could avenge his comrade's death. He immediately set about scanning the frost-covered ground before identifying the sniper, who he took out with a single shot.
Unfortunately, that wasn't the end of the deadly exchange. Sgt Gregory continued scouring the enemy lines and located a second sniper in his sights.
But the German marksman had already spotted him and in a split-second action, he shot and killed Sgt Gregory.
The two British men made up the 149 Commonwealth servicemen who lost their lives on December 25, 1914, although many of those died of previously-inflicted wounds.
And while the incredible stories of a truce and fraternization filtered back to Britain in the days afterwards, the families of Pte Huggins and Sgt Gregory received the devastating news that they had been killed in action.
