The Christmas Truce

Note: This piece was written during Christmas time and some of the language is extremely present tense.  Just pretend it is still Christmas time and enjoy the feeling it brings.

Alas, it is Christmas time once again.  Christmas is the one time of year where you are discouraged from acting like an asshole for at least 48 hours and most people do.  Also, it is the one time of year where we are constantly asked what our favorite Christmas time mediums are.  What’s your favorite Christmas song?  What’s your favorite Christmas movie?  What’s your favorite Christmas location?  As a society we have come to accept there are a handful of activities and interests which are only relevant to one month out of the year.  Seriously, have you ever heard someone listening to Christmas carols in June and not thought they were out of their mind?  You know who I am talking about.

I had to work for most of the day on Christmas Eve this year and my coworkers and I were extremely productive while everybody was already on vacation.  By productive, I mean we ate Chinese takeout and watched Ghostbusters, so, best Christmas Eve ever?  While being “productive”, I was comparing my Christmas favorites with one of my coworkers and I was asked what my favorite Christmas story was.  This question is not asked often and I had to think about it for a few minutes.  Most people might pick works of fiction such as A Christmas Carol or a Charlie Brown Christmas.  I find reality to be more interesting than fiction and my favorite Christmas story is a large dose of reality.  Before continuing, please know while this is a happy story it does have a depressing context and ending.  If you do not want a slice of anguish to ruin your Christmas palate then please stop reading.  My favorite holiday story takes place on December 25^th, 1914 and is called the Christmas Truce. 

In case you do not have a grasp of dates, this story takes place on the Western Front during World War One (told you this would ruin your day so stop complaining).  British troops along the front were removing the bodies of their comrades who had fallen during the month long Battle of Ypres in Belgium.  This was the largest battle the British army had engaged in since the war began in August and was an utter disaster.  British soldiers were senselessly mowed down because of their commander’s lack of understanding of modern warfare or how to change tactics which clearly were not working.  The bravery and the tenacity of soldiers left a large impression on the German army and one commander famously commented, “never have I seen such lions led by such lambs”. 

Every major power fighting this war promised their citizens the troops would be home by Christmas.  After five months of brutal fighting there were eight millions casualties and an entire front where the armies measured advancements by feet instead of miles; no one was going to be home for Christmas.  British soldiers had these thoughts in the back of their minds on this Christmas day when they were locating the remains of their fallen brethren.  It was during this time they heard something which was not gun fire or artillery shells flying through the air.  They heard their counterparts on the German side singing “Stille Nacht” (Silent Night).  German soldiers as homesick and battle weary as the British were celebrating Christmas the only way they could with the only family they had.  In a well defined military manner the British responded in kind, by singing O’ Come All Ye Faithful.  A dare by the Germans for a British soldier to brave No Man’s Land to trade a bottle of wine for a big cake led to a truce along the lines for the duration of Christmas Day.

An unofficial truce began taking place among the line troops and mid-level officers on both sides.  These were soldiers who had been trying to wipe each other out for months and all of a sudden they were shaking hands and wishing each other a Merry Christmas.  Troopers were trading items both sides needed such as cigarettes, coffee, and other food items.  There are several accounts of British and German soldiers swapping stories (mostly personal stories about families) and conversing as if they had known each other for years.  Several impromptu soccer matches sprung up even with a lack of basic equipment, like soccer balls.  Empty corn beef cans for balls and spiked German helmets for goal posts would be used in small games but there was one professional match which would put them all to shame and provide some extra flair for this historical footnote.  A soldier appeared out of nowhere with a real soccer ball and a match between an elite German unit and some Scottish soldiers took place with officials keeping the game civil. Should be noted the Scots were playing in Tartan Kilts.  The Germans found this amusing when gusts of wind would reveal they were wearing nothing under their kilts. 

Ack! There's no shame in what God gave me ya Puritan pukes!

 

The German side of me is happy to report the Germans won that game 3-2. 

 

 

The truce would end as amiably and as suddenly as it had begun.  Commanding generals on both sides were furious when they learned of the truce and ordered an all out offensive on both sides to take place at midnight. German soldiers sent their British counterparts notes detailing that the violence was about to begin again and it was their honor to warn them of this. Alright, you have had your dessert and now it is time for the damn veggies.

Problem? Didn't think so.

 

The Germans and the British share a common ancestry and were not historical enemies which is why they could share Christmas together, for the most part.  The truce was not universal even among those lines.  A Scottish regiment warned German troops they would be shot if they crossed the lines.  A truce did not break out on the French lines because of their history and the slight fact one-third of France was under German occupation.  There was no truce of any kind on the Eastern Front because the Russians were constantly being rolled back, also they do not celebrate Christmas until January 7^th (in Soviet Russia, Christmas celebrates you!).  One Austrian corporal who would later author Mein Kempf was quoted as saying, “Have you Germans no sense of honor left at all”?

The truce would last for one day and would never happen again.  Fraternization among the lines was never supposed to happen and the military leaders on all sides would see to that.  This is why major military offensives during that war would take place around winter time, so the soldiers would not have a chance to think about crossing the lines.  Many of the accounts of this truce were written by soldiers who would never make it home and would never celebrate another Christmas again.  What is the point of this you must be asking now?  If it was your intention to ruin my Christmas then mission accomplished jack-hole! 

 

More soldiers were killed in this war than the previous three hundred years of European wars combined.  This is was one of the first instances in modern history where people actively believed we were living in the end of days.  During this blackness and unspeakable violence, there was one moment of light.  Soldiers on both sides who simply wanted a reprieve from this evil were willing to break bread with their enemies over a common cultural belief. British and German soldiers understood they had more in common with each other than the leaders of their nations who had thrown them into a fight they could not understand or adapt to.  This one small, bright, moment in one of the darkest periods of modern history proves we have more in common with each other than with the leaders who represent us or we ourselves would like to admit.  I think about this and hope I can be as humane as possible to my fellow man.  Merry Christmas.