Christmas in the Trenches

by Alan Wakefield

  In some sectors the need to bury the dead was a central factor in the truce taking place. Near Frelinghien, the 2nd Monmouthshire Regiment were holding the line:

  Just imagine our feelings when we thought of home and looked out at our bleak surroundings. A yard or so from where I was standing a German soldier had been buried, and his foot had actually been sticking out in our trench until we had covered it up with earth. The stench at times was almost unbearable. (Sgt Francis Brown)

  In some places the opposing troops joined together in paying their respects to the dead:

  Near where we were standing a dead German who had been brought in by some of the English was being buried and a German officer after reading a short service in German, during which both English and Germans uncovered [their heads, he said], ‘We thank our English friends for bringing in our dead’ and then said something in broken English about a Merry Xmas and Happy New Year. They stuck a bit of wood over the grave – no name on it only ‘Vor Vaterland und Freheit’ (for Fatherland and Freedom). After a little while the German officers called their men in and we went back to our breastworks, calling in at a shelled out estaminet on the way to loot a chair and one or two other articles.8 (Rfm Selby Grigg, 1/5th Londons)

  Although cordial relations were established across No Man’s Land in many places, the truce was not universal and casualties were therefore inevitable. One of these unfortunate men was Sgt Frank Collins of the 2nd Monmouthshires:

  About 8am voices could be heard shouting on our right front, where the trenches came together to about 35 yards apart, German heads appeared, and soon our fellows showed themselves and seasonal greetings were bawled back and forth, evidently Xmas feeling asserting itself on both sides. Presently a Sergt. Collins of my Regiment stood waist high above the trench waving a box of Woodbines above his head. German soldiers beckoned him over, and Collins got out and walked half way towards them, in turn beckoning for someone to come and take the gift. However, they called out ‘prisoner’ and immediately Collins edged back the way he had come. Suddenly a shot rang out, and the poor Sergt. staggered back into the trench, shot through the chest. I can still hear his cries ‘Oh my God, they have shot me’, and he died immediately. (Sgt Francis Brown)

  Despite the bitterness caused by the shooting, the truce held on the Monmouthshires’ sector of the line and at 9 a.m. Welshmen and Bavarians exchanged gifts and season’s greetings, with many of the Germans apologising for the shooting. Sgt Collins now lies in Calvaire (Essex) Military Cemetery, Comines-Warneton, 16km from Ypres on the road to Wijtschate and Ploegsteert.

  After Boxing Day, although meetings in No Man’s Land became rarer, opposing troops who had fraternised maintained the ‘live and let live’ attitude, with little in the way of hostilities. In places it was even arranged to have another truce on New Year’s Day, 2/Lt Chater remarking in a letter to his mother that the Germans requested this in order to see how photographs taken on Christmas Day had turned out.9 For Germans, New Year brought the feast day of St Sylvester, a traditional family holiday. However, one German practice of welcoming in the New Year did lead to some misunderstanding:

  . . . things went smoothly till the night of the 31st. New Year’s Eve. On this night we decided to remove our M.G. to a new position some couple of hundred yards or so along the trench, as we had a notion that the Germans knew of its present position, and would not hesitate to shell us out as soon as hostilities recommenced. Having prepared the new gun-pit the previous night, we now made ready for the moving, and still being on friendly terms with the enemy, and our trenches being knee-deep in mud and water, we took the easiest course and travelled along the top behind our own trench. We started off, well loaded with all our kit, the gun, tripod, and boxes of belt ammunition, and our rifles slung across our backs by the slings. We made very slow progress as the ground was very heavy with mud (the snow having thawed) and in addition to this we had to negotiate the communication trenches that ran at right-angles to the firing-line. These were about 4ft wide and we crossed by taking a sort of staggering leap, and throwing the heavy stuff across to the outstretched arms of those already over.

  An hour had passed and we had covered about three-parts of the total distance, when without a word of warning something happened that caused us to fall as one man, flat on our stomachs in the mud. The Germans had opened fire! Rifles and machine guns cracked. They had done the dirty on us! We crouched there in the mud, and the names we called those Germans must have turned the air blue. Yet, strange, we could not feel the ‘pinging’ of any bullets around us? The explanation came in the next few moments, when a voice from our front-line yelled ‘Hi you fellows, what’s up? They ain’t firing across ’ere. They warned us what they were going to do. They’re firing in the air to celebrate the coming-in of the New Year.’ . . . Having made sure that the voice from the trench had spoken the truth, we staggered to our feet and continued our journey. How easily mistakes can be made! Being out of the trench we did not know of this midnight arrangement, and it was lucky for the Germans that we had not misunderstood their intentions, and opened fire on them with our machine gun. This certainly would have broken up the temporary armistice.

  And so this unofficial armistice with the enemy still held good. (Pte W.A. Quinton)

  When news of the truce reached senior officers there was something of a mixed reaction. A report of IV Corps operations between 22 and 31 December 1914 records that German overtures for a temporary halt to hostilities were not entertained by the 8th Division, whereas the Gen Officer Commanding (GOC) 7th Division, Maj Gen Sir Thompson Capper, sanctioned the continuation of the truce on 26 and 27 December to allow adequate time for burial of the dead and drainage of watercourses and trenches, so as to improve the condition of the front line, the proviso being that no unit was to arrange any further formal or informal truce without reference to Corps HQ.10 Once such work was completed, commanders on both sides realised they had to get the war started again before the fighting spirit of their men was permanently affected. On the German side an army order of 29 December declared that any act of fraternisation with the enemy would be treated as high treason. Similar, though less dramatic, was Gen Sir Horace Smith-Dorrien’s 2nd Army instruction stating that any officer or NCO allowing informal understandings with the enemy would be tried by court martial. With orders arriving to begin vigorous artillery bombardment, sniping and machine gunning of the enemy, soldiers realised this brief interlude in the war was almost over. Some, however, were determined to ease their way back into the war, causing as little harm as possible to their new ‘friends’ on the other side of the wire:

  The war was becoming a farce and the high-ups decided that this truce must stop. Orders came through to our Brigade, and so to my battery, that fire was to be opened the following morning on a certain farm which stood behind the German support line. Our battery was to put twelve rounds of high explosive shell into it at eleven o’clock. As luck would happen, I was the officer who would have to do this. So I said to Johnny Hawkesley, ‘What are we going to do? They’ll all be there having coffee at eleven o’clock! I see them every morning from my O.P. through my telescope.’ So he said ‘Well, we’ve got to do it, so you’d better go up and talk to the Dubs about it.’

  I went up and saw Colonel Loveband, who commanded the Dublin Fusiliers, and he sent someone over to tell the Boches, and the next morning at eleven o’clock I put twelve 18s into the farmhouse, and of course there wasn’t anybody there. But that broke the truce – on our front at least. (2/Lt Cyril Drummond, 32nd Brigade, RFA)

  From evidence in brigade, divisional and corps war diaries of the BEF for December 1914 it is obvious that a number of officers feared censure over the truce. Indeed, Smith-Dorrien had threatened action over reports of trucing that he learnt of on Boxing Day. Therefore reports sent up to senior commanders for the Christmas period stressed the usefulness of the truce as an intelligence-gathering exercise:

  Germans making a great deal of noise last
night singing and shouting. Some came towards our line and called for our men to go over to them. Two or three men went over and spoke to them and got quite close to their trenches. They reported farm S of LA of LA DOUVE occupied with considerable number of Germans round it and a number more singing east of avenue. Some of them are reported to have been wearing picklehaubes mostly caps or woollen helmets and some khaki covered shakos. Regtl number on shoulder thought to be 10 and 25. This morning several came up towards our trenches in the mist but were ordered back and warned that they would be fired at. Their Regtl numbers were 7 with green facings and shako, 134 with red facings and 10 with red facing, both the latter with caps. No helmets were seen. Reported that no wire between us and them that we cannot see. No firing at all today. R E wired right across left section last night. We have been wiring and cleaning up in the mist. (Report from 2nd Seaforth Highlanders, 10th Infantry Brigade to HQ 4th Division)11

  Along with regimental identifications came information on the age and apparent fitness of enemy troops, the strength in which they were holding the front line, the state of the enemy’s trenches, locations of machine guns and sniping positions. It was even recorded that a Lt Belcher of the 1st East Lancashires talked with a sniper, asking him where he generally fired from so that he could have a pot at him, but the man was not fool enough to give the show away.12 General information gleaned from German newspapers, exchanged during the truce, was also sent up the chain of command as evidence of German morale at home and attitudes towards the British.

  The High Command need not have worried about the truce developing into a general ‘soldiers’ peace’ as the overwhelming majority of those taking part regarded it simply as a festive interlude in a war that needed to be won. Lt Col Rupert Shoolbred (1/16th Londons), writing to his brother Walter in a German prisoner-of-war camp, stated:

  Some people have different opinions as to the rightness or wrongness of this informal Xmas truce – personally I do not see that it can do anything but good, and that the more widely it is known the better it will be. It enabled our people and those opposite them likewise to discover that they are both human beings, and though now again we are each doing all we can against each other, I hope many will do it without the same feeling of personal enmity that probably was in many cases present before. I do not think a man need fight any worse for recognizing that his enemy is a man like himself and of the same home love and all the thousand other kindred feelings which the Germans have of course as well as ourselves, and which it will be for good if they will realize that we have as well as for our men to realize in them.13

  For support units, battalions at rest and those in reserve there was but a limited chance to become involved in the Christmas Truce. However, these troops were in a better position to provide themselves with additional food and comforts and some even managed to visit the front line to see if rumours of the truce were true:

  Christmas was drawing near. My bearers were billeting in a farm just in the rear of ‘Ploegsteert’ church. On the Friday we decided to celebrate Xmas the best we could so staff segt Jones and myself went to a brewery and got 2 barrels of beer, not like the good old English beer. Of course our French conversation is not very fluent when it came to the asking how much it was, the woman shouted out something which we did not understand, Still we got the beer and paid.

  We managed to get a piano from a house put it up in the loft of a farm and had a concert, drank to those at home, we spent a most enjoyable Xmas under the circumstances. Next morning we were paraded and our officer commanding, Colonel Prophet, handed us Princess Mary’s gift with Xmas cards. Hearing from the troops in the trenches that they were having a truce, I went to the East-Lancs trenches and found the Germans and English troops burying the dead between the trenches. Cigarettes and cigars were exchanged. It was so exciting in this position to be above the trenches in daylight, at ordinary times it meant sudden death. (David Lloyd-Burch, 10th Field Ambulance)

  Some troops were lucky enough to be billeted with local families, which provided them with a pleasant substitute for the Christmas they were missing at home:

  We are now in billets in a farmhouse for 3 days rest. The family is very nice – girls from 16 to 4 and one little boy. After enjoying all the loving messages which your little Christmas tree brought us, I gave it to the little girl of 4, much to the delight of the family.14 (2/Lt Wilbert Spencer)

  Away from France and Flanders, a number of unlucky members of the BEF were spending an enforced Christmas in Germany as prisoners of war. One of these was Pte Thomas Rainbird, who had served with the 1st West Yorkshires (19th Brigade, 6th Division) until he was wounded and captured in late September 1914. When 25 December arrived Rainbird was in Doberitz prisoner-of-war camp. Here he found a distinct lack of rations, but the arrival of gifts from home helped give the prisoners a much needed lift on Christmas Day:

  I must give an account of how we spent Xmas in camp. A good many of us received parcels from home containing cakes and puddings etc these were heroically put on one side, until Xmas day, then each man who had anything took a chum who had not received anything and shared with him, so that every man had a little taste of the homeland, on Xmas Eve there was a heavy fall of snow, and Xmas morning we awoke to find a fine morning and three or four inches of snow on the ground. Then the fun started. The English and French formed sides against the Russians and then commenced a right battle royal. First the English rushed the Russian lines, with a terrible shout, the same shout doing more to dishearten the enemy than the actual snowballs. Charging and counter charging was the order all the morning.

  In camps of a different kind, dotted all over the United Kingdom, many men of Kitchener’s New Army were training and preparing to spend the festive season under canvas, in huts or billets in nearby towns. At Blackdown Camp, 3 miles from the rifle ranges at Bisley and Pirbright, men of the 12th Rifle Brigade were granted a week’s home leave for Christmas. However, as only one company could be away over Christmas proper, there was much interest as company commanders drew lots. Pte Harry Gore was in ‘B’ Company and ended up having to return from home leave on 23 December. But his disappointment was offset by the festive celebrations organised in camp:

  All the preparations were made for giving the men a good time. There was a prize for the best decorated hut. After church parade we sat down to a well prepared Christmas dinner, provided by the Company’s officers. During the dinner the Colonel, with the Major, came round to wish us all a happy Christmas and we all returned the compliment.

  There was no drunkenness as on the Colonel’s orders no liquor or spirits were allowed in the huts, although men could have a drink at the canteen. The ruling was strictly enforced. After dinner there were football matches arranged and then later we sat down to a good tea. Cakes and other delicacies provided by the Officers wives. In the evening a concert was arranged, a party coming down from London to entertain us and was attended by the Officers, NCOs and men. Afterwards we had games in the huts until ‘lights out.’ Only one man came in from the canteen drunk, so drunk that we laid him on his bed and covered him over with his blankets and left him to sleep it off. He was the only one with a hangover in the morning.

  At Colchester, Pte George Wilkinson of the 10th Royal Fusiliers was also looking forward to Christmas Day, having spent the previous night on duty in the Orderly Room, while his best mate, Pte Parnell, had been on Sergeants’ Mess fatigue duty:

  When we came off duty we were told off as an Infantry Picquet and ordered to sleep fully dressed with our rifles by our sides in case of any disturbance occurring in the Garrison. In spite of our heavy boots we all slept well and were paraded at 7am on Christmas morning and dismissed, P and I went to Holy Communion at 7.15 and got back to brekker at 8 . . . At 10.45am we had a very smart Church Parade. At 1 o’clock Cookhouse sounded and we were formed up outside our houses to march to the double canteen for the Christmas spread provided by the Officers. The Sergt Maj waggishly remarked that there was no n
eed to call the roll as ‘Hevery man’s ere’ and as this caused much amusement he warmed up and gave the order ‘Hevery man undo two buttons.’ We had a jolly good feed, 500 of us sitting down together to roast beef, vegetables, turkey and sausage, Xmas pudding etc etc. Cheers were given for everybody and the whole thing passed off with more noise than I would have imagined possible. A concert was provided in the afternoon at which the Officers gave a touching sketch and a dance was arranged for the evening. P and I went out after tea and called in at the canteen on our return to see how the dance was getting on. With the exception of a few sergeants wives and two or three barmaids from the town and a programme seller from the Hippodrome there were no ladies, but the hall was full of chaps in heavy boots, some even with overcoats, dancing in couples round the room to the robust strains of our military band. P and I passed on.15

  Boxing Day for the 10th Royal Fusiliers did not begin auspiciously as they made an early start on a route march headed by the battalion band. It began to rain almost at once and the men were quickly soaked to the skin. They spent the rest of the morning drying clothing and cleaning equipment. Luckily, the afternoon and evening were free and the troops made the most of their time: