The Christmas Truce
- History Fix Podcast
- 3 days ago
- 13 min read
Mini Fix # 26
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When World War I erupted in July of 1914, soldiers as young as 18 rushed off to the trenches to fight. Most were told it would be a very short war. It would be over by Christmas and they’d be home to celebrate with their families. That’s what they were told. But as Christmas of 1914 neared, there was no end to the war in sight. In fact, it was only just getting started. The men, boys really, crowded into filthy cramped trenches in the ground where they were constantly fired upon from enemy trenches, sometimes as little as 30 meters away. Heavy rainfall meant everything was wet all the time and now and, as December wore on, everything was cold too. Cold and wet and missing home and now Christmas was coming and they wouldn’t be there to celebrate with their families after all. December 1914 was a dark time for troops on both sides who had had their hopes falsely raised and now dashed. But, in this time of sadness and desperation, something truly remarkable happened, an anomaly, a light in the darkness. Starting Christmas morning, all along the western front, spontaneous ceasefires were taking place. Enemy troops climbed out of their trenches, shook hands, shared cigarettes, played soccer. They took photographs together and wrote letters home about it. Soon, news of the Christmas truce appeared in newspapers all over Europe but, to this day, some don’t believe that it happened. How could it? So, is this beautiful story actual history or merely a myth? Let’s fix that.
Hello, I’m Shea LaFountaine and this is History Fix where I tell surprising true stories from history you won’t be able to stop thinking about. I was planning to take this week and next week off but I wasn’t going to leave you hanging on Christmas so I have a short but powerful story to share with you this week, Mini Fix number 26. And if you’re like “26? Wait, where are the rest of them.” They’re on Patreon. If you need more to listen to, a lot of you are probably traveling for the holidays, looking for something to listen to on your road trips and what not, I want to remind you that I have tons of mini fixes and other bonus content at patreon.com/historyfixpodcast which is always linked in the description. As of right now there are 26 mini fix episodes, 15 of which are exclusive to Patreon. That's almost 5 hours of content you have not heard yet. So, if you need it, it’s there. Also, supporting the show monetarily… not the worst thing. Kind of a win win if you ask me. Anyway, here’s a heart warming Christmas story for you.
When World War I broke out in July of 1914, it was initially being fought between the, what are called the Central Powers, Germany and Austria-Hungary, and the Allies which were France, Great Britain, and Russia. The United States did not enter World War I until 1917, almost three years after the start of the war so US troops are not a part of this story, just the OGs. World War I is really characterized by its reliance on trench warfare. Trench warfare is pretty much exactly what it sounds like. It’s a type of military combat where enemy forces each hide out in essentially ditches dug into the ground, trenches, that face each other. The two parallel trenches are separated by a stretch of land often called “no man’s land” but in many cases they were very close together, sometimes as little as 30 meters apart. So if you’re fighting on the Western Front in World War I, you are essentially living in a hole in the ground being fired on from a short distance away nearly nonstop. The living conditions in the trenches were absolutely horrendous. It was often very wet and in the winter it was also very cold.
But, the men in the trenches on both sides did not think that they would be there long. When it all got started in July of 1914, they were told that this would be a short war, they would be home by Christmas. As a very wet December rolled around, it became obvious that the war was nowhere near over. And really it was the trench warfare that prolonged World War I and led to this stalemate that just went on and on for years while the casualties stacked higher and higher. World War I was like nothing the world had ever seen. This was not how wars had gone down in the past. This was beyond anyone’s worst nightmare. But not yet, December 1914, it’s still really just getting started.
During trench warfare it was fairly common for the two sides to communicate with each other. The trenches were close enough together that they could actually shout back and forth and be heard and so sometimes they did this, mostly exchanging insults. But starting Christmas Eve in many trenches along the Western Front, they began communications of a different sort entirely. And these weren’t orchestrated, planned between different trenches. These were spontaneous and unrelated happening in completely different spread out places which I find really remarkable. It started with the Germans, really. Some of the German soldiers had been sent Christmas trees by their families. And they started to display these Christmas trees lit with lanterns up above the trenches where the other side, the British and the French soldiers, could see them. A light in the dark quite literally in this case. In many places singing commenced. And for some that was the extent of it.
According to Private Albert Mroen of the Second Queen’s Regiment quote “It was a beautiful moonlit night, frost on the ground, white almost everywhere; and about seven or eight in the evening there was a lot of commotion in the German trenches and there were these lights – I don’t know what they were. And then they sang ‘Silent Night’ – ‘Stille Nacht’. I shall never forget it, it was one of the highlights of my life. I thought, what a beautiful tune,” end quote. Rifleman Graham Williams of the Fifth London Rifle Brigade reported quote “First the Germans would sing one of their carols and then we would sing one of ours, until when we started up ‘O Come, All Ye Faithful’ the Germans immediately joined in singing the same hymn to the Latin words Adeste Fideles. And I thought, well, this is really a most extraordinary thing – two nations both singing the same carol in the middle of a war,” end quote.
In some places it went a lot farther than just singing together. Marmaduke Walkinton, a soldier of the Queen’s Westminster Rifles, was there in the trenches that night. He said in an interview with Imperial War Museums, which that video is linked in the description, quote “We were in the front line. We were about 300 yards from the Germans and we had I think on Christmas Eve we’d been singing carols and this that and the other and the Germans had been doing the same. And we’d been shouting to each other, sometimes rude remarks, more often just joking remarks. Eventually a German said ‘tomorrow you no shoot, we no shoot.’ And the morning came and we didn’t shoot and they didn’t shoot. So then we began to pop our heads over the side and jump down quickly in case they shot but they didn’t shoot. And then we saw a German standing up, waving his arms and we didn’t shoot and so on, and so it gradually grew.” end quote.
Ernie Williams of the 6th Battalion Cheshire Regiment had a similar experience. He says quote “And we shared fags [those are cigarettes] and goodies with the Germans. And then from somewhere somehow this football appeared.” Then the interviewer asks quote “Was it a proper football?” and Ernie says quote “It was a proper football. But we didn’t form a team. It wasn’t a team game in any sense of the word. You know it was a kickabout. Everybody was having a go. It came from their side. It wasn’t from our side where the ball came.” The interviewer asks “How many people were taking part do you think?” and Ernie replies quote “Well I should think at least a couple of hundred.” The interviewer asks “Did you kick the ball?” and Ernie answers “Oh yes I had a go at it. I was pretty good then at 19,” end quote.
Corporal John Ferguson of the 5th Seaforth Highlanders says in Mark Adkin’s ‘The Western Front Companion’ quote “Here we were, laughing and chatting to men whom only a few hours earlier we were trying to kill. 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,” end quote.
German soldiers have relayed similar memories. A German artillery officer referred to as Mr. Rickner told Imperial War Museums in that video quote “I remember very well Christmas. I remember the Christmas Day when the German and the French soldiers left their trenches, went to the barbed wire between them with champagne and cigarettes in their hands and had feelings of fraternisation and shouted they wanted to finish the war. And that lasted only two days - one and a half really - and then, strict order came that no fraternisation was allowed, and we had to stay back in our trenches,” end quote.
Another German, Captain Josef Sewald of Germany’s 17th Bavarian Regiment said quote “I shouted to our enemies that we didn’t wish to shoot and that we make a Christmas truce. I said I would come from my side and we could speak with each other. First there was silence, then I shouted once more, invited them, and the British shouted: ‘No shooting!’ Then a man came out of the trenches and I on my side did the same and so we came together and we shook hands - a bit cautiously,” end quote.
Captain A.D. Chater of the 2nd Battalion Gordon Highlanders wrote at that time quote “I went out myself and shook hands with several of their officers and men. From what I gathered most of them would be glad to get home again as we should – we have had our pipes playing all day and everyone has been walking about in the open unmolested. Cigarettes and autographs were exchanged between some men, while others simply enjoyed the first opportunity to stretch their legs without facing machine guns in months. We had another parley with the Germans in the middle… some more people took photos. I don’t know how long it will go on for – I believe it was supposed to stop yesterday, but we can hear no firing going on along the front today except a little distant shelling. We are, at any rate, having another truce on New Year’s Day, as the Germans want to see how the photos come out!” end quote.
And that brings us to the photos. The Germans want to see how the photos come out. The British were taking photographs. We have in existence still authentic photographs showing British soldiers standing side by side with German soldiers dated Christmas of 1914. Incredible. Now I do want to point out that ceasefires like this weren’t completely unheard of, this was sometimes done, sometimes agreed upon and done so that both sides could bury their dead and repair their trenches. But in the case of the Christmas Truce it was neither necessary nor authorized at that time. These men, these soldiers just did it anyway of their own accord. And all those men that I quoted, they weren’t like all together in one trench, they were spread out all along the Western Front. They all independently reported those experiences happening in different places.
In some places the Christmas Truce lasted just a day. In others it went on through New Years. Captain Charles “Buffalo Bill” Stockwell of the Second Royal Welch Fusiliers (Few-sell-ears) says of the end of the truce quote “I fired three shots into the air and put up a flag with ‘Merry Christmas’ on it on the parapet. He [a German] put up a sheet with ‘Thank You’ on it, and the German captain appeared on the parapet. We both bowed and saluted and got down into our respective trenches, and he fired two shots into the air, and the war was on again,” end quote.
But the Christmas Truce certainly didn’t happen everywhere. There were casualties on Christmas day in many places. And in some, while one side may have tried to initiate a truce, the other side didn’t cooperate. Clifford Lane of the 1st Battalion Hertfordshire Regiment reported to Imperial War Museums quote “After a few moments there were lighted objects raised above the German parapet. The Germans were shouting over to our trench. There’s no doubt about that at all. And before we could take any action or do anything we were ordered to open rapid fire, you see. Which we did. The Germans did not reply to our rapid fire. They simply carried on with their celebrations and were having a very fine time indeed. They certainly were not going to do anymore. They thought we were idiots I suppose and we were, well not us, but the command you see,” end quote.
And the command, what of the command? They were not happy at all about the Christmas Truce. According to the Institute for Economics and Peace quote “In the wake of the events of the Christmas Truce, there was a crackdown by the military higher ups of both forces. British High Command feared that similar incidents could undermine morale and erode the antagonism between German and British troops. Steps were taken to try and ensure it would not happen again,” end quote. And unfortunately it did not happen again. That has a lot to do with these steps they took to ensure that it wouldn't, cracking down on fraternizing with the enemy. But it’s also because of what happened with the war moving into 1915 and beyond. It took a really nasty turn after that Christmas. Gas warfare was introduced, civilians started to be killed, for example the sinking of the Lusitania which was a passenger ship carrying civilians. It was sunk by a German u-boat in 1915, killing 1,198 passengers. So, it just gets really really bad which diminished this sort of empathizing with the enemy that we see happening Christmas of 1914.
According to Anthony Richards, Head of Documents and Sound for Imperial War Museums quote “You never get anything like the Christmas truce happening again and over time, not only is it seen as an anomaly but almost as a myth and it gets to the point where people are actually doubting whether it happened in the first place which continues, you know, right up to this day so there’s still a lot of confusion about whether there was a football match played and things like this,” end quote.
Even some World War I veterans doubt that the Christmas Truce actually happened. Harold Lewis of the 240th Brigade, Royal Field Artillery said quote “We didn’t cross to France until March of 1915. But I, although it would be arrogant to say that the thing didn’t actually take place, I very much doubt whether anything of the nature or magnitude that has been claimed for it took place at all. Now the purpose of that barbed wire in the trenches was to keep each side in its own place. Therefore, why would anybody try to break that? And if anybody tried, what were the NCOs doing? What were the officers doing? I think the whole thing borders on a fairytale and may be classed with the Russians with snow on their boots and the Angels of Mons,” end quote.
So, did it actually happen? Or is it merely a myth? An inspiring wartime story? Well to me, I think it’s obvious that it did happen at least to some degree. We have the letters, we have the photographs. We have reports of this truce lasting, in some places a day, in some places all the way through New Years. We have reports of soccer games, the sharing of cigarettes, exchanging autographs. Heck, we have the autographs they exchanged. There is a lot of tangible evidence that the Christmas Truce took place. And the main thing for me is we have first hand accounts coming from multiple sources, many different sources, in different places, who had no connection to each other, no communication with each other, and really nothing at all to gain from lying about this. It’s a highly corroborated story with plenty of physical evidence. I think the Christmas Truce is legit as it gets.
So why the hesitancy to believe? Well it’s a pretty remarkable thing. It’s a pretty hard thing to believe. In Great Britain, for example, people were fed a lot of propaganda that the Germans were these bloodthirsty monsters, that they ate babies, that sort of thing. So now it’s coming out through photos and letters sent home from the trenches that, in most cases, it was the Germans who initiated these Christmas truces, that just didn’t gel with what they had been told. That didn’t make any sense. Our brains tend to reject things that don’t make sense. We make up excuses. We explain it away any way we can. Because there’s no way the Germans did that. You know what they say about Germans right?
In Germany, especially in the decades that followed between World War I and World War II the Christmas Truce was seen as very shameful. This was a blight on Germany. Adolf Hitler, who fought in World War I as a Corporal of the 16th Bavarians reportedly did not participate in the Christmas Truce. No surprise there. He is quoted as saying quote “Such things should not happen in wartime. Have you Germans no sense of honour left at all?” end quote. Flash forward some 20 years and Hitler is ruling Germany. So it’s really no wonder that the story of the Christmas Truce wasn’t shouted from the rooftops in Germany. They weren’t likely to keep that one circulating.
And so I think this story entered the realms of myth for some because it’s truly so unbelievable and because many didn’t want to believe it was true. It humanizes the enemy. It reminds us that we’re all, all of us out here in these trenches, we’re all just people. We all feel cold, we all miss home, we sing the same Christmas songs even, songs about peace and love, tidings of comfort and joy, so very disparate. We can’t reconcile it. There is no comfort here. There is no joy here. It’s hard to make sense of this contradictory juxtaposition. And so we’d rather just deny. But for some men cowering in trenches along the Western Front during World War I, the Christmas Truce was very much a reality. What started as a literal light in some places, a military issue lantern hung from the branches of a small Christmas tree perched atop the parapet of the enemy’s trench, transformed into a figurative one. A moment of peace, a time to set aside our differences and just be humans together for a bit, a light in the darkness. Merry Christmas friends, whoever you are, wherever you are, whatever you believe. May you walk into that light when it presents itself. May you believe that it is possible. May you carry it with you into the darkness to light the way for your fellow humans. That is the real meaning of Christmas.
Thank you all so very much for listening to this special mini fix episode of History Fix, I hope you found this story interesting and maybe you even learned something new. As always, source material for this episode can be found in the show notes. Be sure to follow my instagram @historyfixpodcast to see some images that go along with this episode and to stay on top of new episodes as they drop. I’d also really appreciate it if you’d rate and follow History Fix on whatever app you’re using to listen, and help me spread the word by telling a few friends about it. That’ll make it much easier to get your next fix.
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