Spontaneous Christmas truce of World War I really happened

On Christmas Day 1914 during World War I cannon and rifle fire ceased in many sectors of the Western Front. Fighting gave way to holiday celebration in the trenches and goodwill gestures between foes. Allied and German sides let each other recover and bury fallen comrades from No Man’s Land. In some areas they chorused carols at the top of their voice in their respective languages: English, French, Deutsch. Playful soldiers crawled to the enemy line to lob not grenades but chocolates and medicines. Two weeks earlier Pope Benedict XV had called for momentary halt of hostilities to mark Christmas in peace and prayer. The warring governments ignored the appeal. But frontline troops spontaneously silenced their guns, demonstrating they all were brothers – children of one God.

Supposed scholars dispute the “Christmas Truce of 1914.” It’s no different from denials of the Holocaust and of the death of millions from Mao’s Great Leap Forward. Those refutations are futile. Long diarized firsthand stories are recounted in family histories. So much so that the event has not only an English term but also French, “Trêve de Noël,” and German, “Weihnachtsfrieden.”

How exactly the Christmas Truce of 1914 started may never be known. But countless personal and official accounts from both sides detail what transpired. One testimony is about a British regiment that spent Christmas Eve humming carols to stay awake against possible attack. At crack of dawn German soldiers climbed out of trenches and, approaching, bellowed “Merry Christmas” in English. Thinking it was a ruse, the Brits braced for battle. But when they realized the Germans were unarmed and offering cigarettes and plums, they jumped out too and shook hands with the enemy. It turned out that two of the Germans had once lived in England. One of them requested an Englishman to say “hi” to an ex-sweetheart from the same town.

In another zone the Allies and Germans spent Christmas dawn trying to outdo each other in caroling. The latter decidedly won because accompanied by a brass band. Then they emerged from trenches and met in the middle of No Man’s Land to exchange gifts, news about favorite soccer teams, and latest match results. The afternoon was spent in an impromptu soccer game.

At Eve in yet another front the enemies took turns singing carols to each other. Then the French sergeant suggested they cease firing till 4 a.m. of Christmas Day to gather their wounded and dead from No Man’s Land. They went about the task of tending to the dying and digging graves. The truce extended till dawn of Boxing Day, as they also repaired their trenches and dugouts.

Generals of both sides disapproved of the fraternizing, wary that it would soften the will to fight. In the week leading up to Dec. 25, 1914, soldiers from the British, French, and German lines would dash across the battlefield to greet and pelt the enemy with candies and bandages. In some zones meals were shared and souvenirs exchanged. The soldiers, many barely out of their teens, were simply exhausted from five months of stalemate at the Aisne region. It was their first Christmas at war, and they did not want to spend the season of joy killing each other. All initially had expected the war to last only two months at worst (it dragged on for 51). They defied warnings of stern punishment for befriending the enemy, and did what came naturally to them: to share the gift of life. The events have been immortalized in the 2005 film “Joyeux Noël.”

While the Christmas Truce was widespread, fierce skirmishes raged in some sectors on Christmas Day. Shelling and death throes marred the day of merriment. Full-scale war resumed by New Year 1915. Soon followed the use of poison gas, and the slaughter at the Somme and Verdun. The generals made sure there were no more truces in succeeding Christmases of World War I. Still sporadic ceasefires were forged among foot soldiers, not only on Christmas. There were overt displays of non-aggression on Holy Week, and tacit agreements to not shoot at troops resting or exercising.

Man’s desire for peace is irrepressible. The Battle of the Bulge in winter 1944 was one of the bloodiest during World War II. Yet there was also an unexpected truce and sharing of Christmas dinner by three American and four German soldiers under the direction of a feisty German frau. Witnessing the event in their cottage as a young boy, Fritz Vincken retold “Truce in the Forest” in 1973 (owlcation.com/humanities/About-World-War-2-A-Small-Christmas-Truce).

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A meaningful Christmas to us all!

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