1914 - Christmas Truce.

Everyone thought the war would "all be over by Christmas". Many volunteered for the British Army so they didn't miss out on the big adventure. Fighting conditions were far worse than anyone expected because the trench warfare stalemate was so different from mobile battles seen in previous wars.

Christmas was still a fond memory in soldiers' minds. After the haunting sound of Christmas carols in the German trenches at 10 pm on Christmas Eve, a sense of Christmas goodwill spread to the trenches on both sides of no-man's land.

At many points along the front line between the Belgian coast and the Swiss border, German soldiers called across for British troops to meet them in no-mans land encouraging small-scale, haphazard, and unauthorized fraternization in a series of Christmas truces.

The 5th Division War Diary records these events. Brigadier-General Gleichen, commanding the 15th Infantry Brigade, sent a secret memo on 26 December 1914, to the Commander of the 5th Division, recording:

I beg to report that an informal meeting took place yesterday between the lines of trenches of ourselves and the German, at which about 200 of our men assisted, and even larger numbers of Germans.

It appears that on Christmas Eve there was a good deal of shouting and chaff between our right trenches (Norfolks) and the Germans about La Petit Douve Farm, each inviting the other to come over. .......About 2 pm a German Officer or NCO appeared and walked over to our trenches holding up a box of cigars. He was not fired at, and one or two men went to meet him. Other' Germans and Englishmen, chimed in and soon there were large numbers in the space between the trenches nearer to the German ones than ours, talking and fraternising and taking each others' cigars and cigarettes etc. Most of the Norfolks and some of the Cheshires (on their right) from the fire trenches took part in this informal gathering including several officers.

The latter reported that the Germans refused to talk "shop" but were very friendly and appeared to have no evil intention of any sort. They said that the war would soon be over and ourselves beaten in two months and said they hadn't begun in earnest yet, although we had the best of them to the present.

108 Heavy Battery, part of the 5th Division, positioned further behind the lines was unable to take part in this unique Christmas day gathering.

Their War Diary for 25 December 1914 records:

Frost and fog, to which was probably in great measure due the fact we had a quiet Christmas Day with no firing on either side. The Kings' Christmas Cards were distributed personally by the C.O throughout the battery in the morning, and Princess Mary's presents were brought in by the supply wagon at about noon and were distributed at the men's billet.

Evidence of the truce being initiated by the Germans appears in many accounts from British soldiers' letters sent to their families. Some reasoned that the purpose of the truce was to allow German soldiers to bury their dead, many of whom lay across no-man's land.

A letter from Lance Corporal Imlah, published in the Aberdeen Daily Journal on 6 January 1915 notes:

The German officers said that they wish an armistice in order to bury their dead. After some conference it was agreed to grant the armistice, the reason being that we also had dead to bury. We were all glad of the halt anyway and soon we got started burying the dead. Any of our men lying near the German trenches were carried by the Germans to a ditch midway between the trenches where they were buried by us. Any of their dead on our side of the ditch were carried there to be taken away by the Germans for burial. Our padre, who very, fortunately, happened to come up to the trenches that morning to wish us a Merry Christmas, arranged to have a service. After the burials were completed we lined up on appointed sides of the ditch, officers in front and burial parties in the rear. I was very proud to be one of our party on such an occasion. Our padre then gave a short service, one of the items of which was Psalm XXIII. Thereafter, a German soldier, a divinity student I believe, interpreted the service to the German party. I could not understand what he was saying but it was beautiful to listen to him. The service over, we were soon fraternising with the Germans just as if they were old friends.

Lieutenant Kurt Zehmisch of 134 Saxon Infantry, a German bi-lingual schoolteacher, described a game of football in his diary.

Eventually, the English brought a soccer ball from their trenches, and pretty soon a lively game ensued,” .... “How marvelously wonderful, yet how strange it was. The English officers felt the same way about it. Thus Christmas, the celebration of Love, managed to bring mortal enemies together as friends for a time.”

A 25-year-old German soldier named Adolf Hitler, scolded fellow soldiers during the Christmas truce saying:

“Such a thing should not happen in wartime. Have you no German sense of honour left?”

On 7 December 1914, Pope Benedict's plea to hold a Christmas truce, requesting "....that the guns may fall silent at least upon the night the angels sang" was officially ignored.

A memorial, dedicated by Prince William, stands in the National Memorial Arboretum in Staffordshire commemorating the 1914 Christmas Truce.

On the 100th anniversary in 2014, the England and Germany national football teams staged a friendly match in remembrance of the many spontaneous football games played across no-man's land on Christmas Day, 1914. As unusual as the original event was the score in this friendly match where England enjoyed a 1-0 victory.