CHRISTMAS 1914

[7igerby7he7ail]

I wish I had listened more to my grandfather when he told me about that first Christmas of WW1.
On Christmas eve 1914, he, along with his comrades, heard shouts from the German trenches, along the lines of 'Have a good Christmas Tommy' etc.

They got out of the trenches and approached each other with caution,

My grandfather got talking to a German corporal, it turned out they were both coal miners and swappped experiences of the life of a coal miner.
They gave each other's cigarettes, my grandfather gave his 'Saints' medals to the German, The German gave his small silver and wooden crucifix to my grandfather [still in the family].
I day later, they were trying to kill each other again.
The carnage went on for another four years.

Tom G

[nutkin]

Wow, what a story.  A bittersweet tale that needs to be in your family tree.  I think I have heard about this event on the History Channel.  There are books written about how the two sides called a truce of sorts on that day. 

Happy holidays.- Kristin

[RJ_Paton]

There is more information about this informal truce and how the Military High Command tried to clamp down and stop such "fraternisation"

http://www.historylearningsite.co.uk/christmas_1914_and_world_war_one.htm

It is possible that the author of that site may be interested in this confirmation of his information.

[Sylviaann]

Some of them played football.  I believe the Germans won!!

This is a well known story and was the subject of a T V Programme just before Christmas, it being the anniversary.

Sylviaann

[RJ_Paton]

According to the site I mentioned above the most famous of the football matches took place in 1915 and the Germans won 3 - 2 .

The Germans apparently recorded the details of this match but the British High Command suppressed all mention of it allegedly to do with the propaganda that was being spun out about the "Dastardly Huns" and the atrocities committed by them. 

[Su]

Germans won 3-1, pity Becks great grandad wasn't playing !

Su

[bonjedward]

There seems to be a sudden resurgence of interest in these WWI Xmas truces. Just the other day I read a review (very favourable) about a new book on the subject. It's not been translated from the German yet, but it must be coming soon, as it's also been mentioned under an English title, "The Small Peace in the Great War" by some English-language journalists. The author is Michael Jürgs.

See http://www.rense.com/general46/cchr.htm

I wonder if the sudden interest in the subject could have anything to do with another war that no-one quite knows how we got into, that was supposed to be over long before Christmas but that is now a bloody statemate with no end in sight?

At least we have the chance these days to form our own opinions, whereas information was very restricted in WWI. British newspapers apparently carried stories about German soldiers eating Belgian babies, and people at home believed it. Obviously the soldiers in the trenches did not.

The following photo is quite a laugh - it's not actually Monty Python, but from a real World War I charity event in aid of the Belgian Distress Fund, in my home town of Renfrew. I love the German "Kultur" headpiece!

http://pressinfo.co.uk/renfrew/Kultur.jpg

My G-grandfather was very much in favour of the war, despite his socialist beliefs, and was involved in this fund-raising.

The man dressed as a wounded civilian had got the butcher to drip blood
on the bandages, which caused women to fuss over him,
believing him to be a real war casualty - according to my grandmother, who took part as a child.